Same sex activity is often perceived by Christians as a lifestyle choice, like eating pork, circumcision or having long hair. The book of Acts records the debate in the early Church about whether gentile Christians should be prohibited from eating pork. Saint Paul thought long hair was "unnatural" for men. The debate about circumcison was long and inconclusive.

The Church has always debated what constitutes acceptable behaviour - how should Christians live? The conclusions are always different; sometimes priests were prevented from marrying, sometimes priests were required to marry.

Psychologists refer to a person's sexual orientation to describe how a person expresses their sexuality. Like skin color or gender, sexual orientation is determined before a person is born.