Perhaps the most challenging part about this article is the introduction, being torn either addressing people who would have already been looking for these answers, or care for drawing in those who believe God creates us sick; those who are already frowning and ready to disclaim the verses before even reading them.
I had to learn it the hard way, when I confronted my family with the verses in Arabic and they couldn't deny their meaning, but their stance on gays persisted. The more I spoke of this to people I realized it never was about verses, it's about sickness. Preceding Arab generations knew about the verses, but they hated them and hid them nonetheless, thus blocking them from all non-Arab Muslims. The verses are there, and they're crystal clear. Any person who reads them and doesn't acknowledge the fact that homosexuals have had to endure such pain because of their likes for so long, deserves nothing but absolute contempt. They have used God's name to justify their prejudice, and will continue to do so regardless of whatever evidence you bring to them.
Homosexuality is permitted in the Qur'an, and it has its own rules just like straight sex, and when these rules are broken, then that's obviously a sin. However, that sin is called an indecency (فاحشة) in the Qur'an, and it's far lighter in weight compared to adultery (زنى) which is the sin of straight people. In case you started wondering already, I'll also later use Quranic verses to clarify how homosexuals and bisexuals differ from the people of Lot.
Lesbian sex
وَاللَّاتِي يَأْتِينَ الْفَاحِشَةَ مِن نِّسَائِكُمْ فَاسْتَشْهِدُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةً مِّنكُمْ ۖ فَإِن شَهِدُوا فَأَمْسِكُوهُنَّ فِي الْبُيُوتِ حَتَّىٰ يَتَوَفَّاهُنَّ الْمَوْتُ أَوْ يَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ لَهُنَّ سَبِيلًا (١٥، النساء)
And those of more than two (females) who commit indecency among your women call on four witnesses from among yourselves to testify, and then if they do testify then hold them in their homes until death does them away or God paves a path for them (4.15)
Gay sex
وَاللَّذَانِ يَأْتِيَانِهَا مِنكُمْ فَآذُوهُمَا ۖ فَإِن تَابَا وَأَصْلَحَا فَأَعْرِضُوا عَنْهُمَا ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا (١٦، النساء)
And the two (males) among you who commit it reprimand them, if they repent and do right then turn away from them both, for God is all forgiving and merciful (4.16)
To refute any manipulative interpretations about these verses referring to straight sex or any other kinds of sex that they would rather associate the verses with, we need to understand why there's no other way these verses could be interpreted. Arabic is a gendered language, the first verse uses a feminine (اللاتي) (Al-laty) referring to three or more women, the second verse uses a masculine (اللذان) (Al-lazan) referring to two men. The other version of each proverb would be (Al-latan / اللتان) which refers to two women and (Al-lazeen / اللذين) which refers to three or more men, and we need to contemplate God's wisdom, because the Quran is in Arabic to have that level of sophistication and flexibility.
God did't forbid sex between two women, but He forbade them from having lesbian polygamous sex. This is because they don't want it, women embrace partnership and are monogamous by nature, which is also apparent in how God tells them to be in a relationship with only one man at a time. God wants to guide his believers away from what is against their nature, because they will only hurt themselves.
God did not forbid polygamous homosexual sex for men because men are polygamous by nature, they can and will fall in love with more than one man, as much as straight men fall in love with more than one woman at a time. It's their choice whether to be monogamous or not, as much as it is a choice for straight men, but there is nothing wrong about it religiously.
As stated in the verse, what's forbidden is the act that requires only two men, that is so obviously penetration, because gay and bisexual men won't naturally want it. However, because God knew what would come out of this, he gave that sin the least weight of all the sins in the Qur'an, where the community can only remind them to ask God for forgiveness and do better, and are ordered to leave them both alone once they do.
Instead, Muslims and Arabs hid these verses, buried them under a shitload of false interpretations, and essentially turned homosexuality into an abomination so hideous that it's irreconcilable with Islam. Do you see how it contrasts with the verses? This is the inevitable effect of Satan on every Abrahamic religion and its followers. It was your Lord's wisdom to write these verses in that way, give them the least weight as a sin, just to make punishing homophobes that much more justifiable in the afterlife.
The reason homosexuals cannot be accused of adultery is because it is a sin exclusive to straight couples. God refers to adultery as sin that distinctly requires a man and a woman when he says "the adulteress and the adulterer" in verse 24:2 of the book.
The People of Lot
وَلُوطًا إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ أَتَأْتُونَ الْفَاحِشَةَ مَا سَبَقَكُم بِهَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِّنَ الْعَالَمِينَ (٨٠، الأعراف)
And as Lot told his people: "do you commit an indecency that is unprecedented by anyone in the world?" (7:80)
Deluded people and enemies of God attributed this passage to homosexuality, and that is brainless to believe, given the science we now have and the next verse in the chapter.
إِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ الرِّجَالَ شَهْوَةً مِّن دُونِ النِّسَاءِ ۚ بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌ مُّسْرِفُونَ (٨١، الأعراف)
"You come to men with lust instead of women. Indeed, you people are profuse." (7.81)
That is their sin, lusting towards men instead of women. This means two things:
Firstly, men cannot be used for lust in place of women except for penetration, which means that these people penetrated men to use them as women. This can be further affirmed by the fact that God never forbade men to sleep together, but did forbid penetration.
Secondly, if lust doesn't mean penetration then approaching men with lust instead of women would mean that lust for women is replaced by lust for men, which is impossible because sexual orientation is fixed since birth, straight men will never be sexually attracted to men. Moreover, gay men don't have lust for women to begin with, that is why their sin is given far less weight as seen in their verse, even if they had anal sex. Bisexual men are not subject to these verses either because they do have natural lust for men, which means that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is exclusive to straight men.
God wants gay and bisexual men to not do it because it is bad for them, for their health and dignity, but because he knows they might still do it he tells them to only ask for forgiveness and improve. But straight men who penetrate other men, forcibly, despite having lust for women exclusively, who do have orifices that God made permissible to them, that is the abomination certainly worthy of divine wrath.
And if straight men were to have sex with other men without penetrating them, it wouldn't even be a sin anyway according to the the verses, because God didn't specify sexual orientation. He knows we couldn't tell sometimes, and knows that some people would want to experiment, and that some straight men might still fall in love with men.
These two verses further reaffirm the nature of their unprecedented sin:
وَلُوطًا إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ إِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ الْفَاحِشَةَ مَا سَبَقَكُم بِهَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِّنَ الْعَالَمِينَ (٢٨) أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ الرِّجَالَ وَتَقْطَعُونَ السَّبِيلَ وَتَأْتُونَ فِي نَادِيكُمُ الْمُنكَرَ ۖ فَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلَّا أَن قَالُوا ائْتِنَا بِعَذَابِ اللَّهِ إِن كُنتَ مِنَ الصَّادِقِينَ (٢٩، العنكبوت)
And as Lot told his people: "you are committing an indecency that is unprecedented by anyone in the world." (28) "Do you verily approach men and waylay their paths and commit evil in your assemblies?" So the answer of his people was none but that they said: "bring us God's punishment if you are one of the truthful" (29.29)
This makes it clear that those men were forced into being penetrated, but Islamic scholars manipulated the difference between sin and evil to justify homophobia and associate homosexuals with Sodom and Gomorrah, and ignorant people followed with. Not because they don't know the difference, but because they didn't like homosexuals, and I guess especially not 1400 years ago.
God made gay people that way, and he has been watching their struggles for so long, watching what we've done to them despite his instructions, just like how Muslim men used religion to brainwash women into submission. In another verse, God says that women can take off their clothes in front of gay men because they are like brothers to them, and therefore they shouldn't marry one another, and when gay men do so to please their families it translates to statutory rape.
Women & Gay men
Muslim women are sisters to Muslim gay men. They don't need to cover themselves in their presence:
وَقُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَغْضُضْنَ مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِنَّ وَيَحْفَظْنَ فُرُوجَهُنَّ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا ۖ وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَىٰ جُيُوبِهِنَّ ۖ وَلَا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلَّا لِبُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ آبَائِهِنَّ أَوْ آبَاءِ بُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ أَبْنَائِهِنَّ أَوْ أَبْنَاءِ بُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ إِخْوَانِهِنَّ أَوْ بَنِي إِخْوَانِهِنَّ أَوْ بَنِي أَخَوَاتِهِنَّ أَوْ نِسَائِهِنَّ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُنَّ أَوِ التَّابِعِينَ غَيْرِ أُولِي الْإِرْبَةِ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ أَوِ الطِّفْلِ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يَظْهَرُوا عَلَىٰ عَوْرَاتِ النِّسَاءِ ۖ وَلَا يَضْرِبْنَ بِأَرْجُلِهِنَّ لِيُعْلَمَ مَا يُخْفِينَ مِن زِينَتِهِنَّ ۚ وَتُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ (٣١، النور)
And tell the (female) believers to lower their gazes and preserve their orifices and to not reveal their adornments except for what has been revealed of it, and to use their garments to cover their breasts, and to not reveal their adornments except to their partners or their fathers or their partners' fathers or their sons or their partners' sons or their brothers or their brothers' sons or their sisters' sons or their women or those whom their right hand possesses or male attendants with no primary sexual attraction or children who have not yet become conscious of women's privates, and to not stamp with their feet to draw attention to what they're hiding of their adornments. And repent to God all of you O' believers may you be winners (24.31)
So, not only do women only have to cover their adornments and breasts to straight or bisexual males, not their heads, they don't have to cover them in front of women, male relatives, men with no attraction to women and children who haven't yet figured what they're attracted to. Given this, women can't marry gay men since they are effectively their brothers, and any instance of that is rape and verges on incest.
Now, I know some people would still deny the truth. They won't do that for God, they'll keep doing it because they despise homosexuality regardless of what God says. True homophobes; they will never change.
Homosexual people need not to take shit from anyone, not anymore. The truth was bound to come out, and it has. It is about time we fight for our God given freedom.
