Particularly gay men from male-privileged cultures like the United States are uncomfortable thinking of themselves as not fully male. Masculinity means much more to them than just procreative power. But as people of faith in scripture-based religions, we are forced to deal with these ancient ways of thinking in order to understand the scriptures we profess. We will more reliably identify our counterparts in these scriptures if we look for people who refrained from heterosexual acts. The word almah , which has a masculine form elem meaning boy, denotes a boyish girl.
Eunuchs are present throughout the Bible, almost always working on the side of good.
But to fully find ourselves in the Word, we also have to deal with the scriptural texts that have been used to condemn homosexual acts. What these prohibitions do address is the sexual exploitation and even castration of boys that often occurred in the ancient Mediterranean, and the humilatory rape of enemies. All of these victims are at least potentially male, and the abuse of them to satisfy the lusts of aggressive men for sexual gratification and power should certainly be prohibited, like all abuse and sexual assault. One of these prohibitions seems to include even some consensual acts, however. This is bad news for the bisexual man who wants to receive.