I was, frankly, shocked by the letter from Todd Reitzel (“On same-sex marriage: Move beyond bias,” Oct. 12) claiming that the Bible and Jesus allow same-sex marriage.

May I suggest that he read Leviticus 18: 22-30, “I am the Lord. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination. You shall not have carnal relations with an animal. ...” and so on.

Also, read Romans 1: 26-27; 1-Corinthians 6:9; Jude 7. With regard to Genesis 19, does Mr. Reitzel truly believe that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because they were “inhospitable” as opposed to their practice of “sodomy”?

In Matthew 19, Jesus states that it is the natural course for a man to be joined to one woman as his wife but that some cannot for various reasons. To interpret this as allowing homosexual behavior is to rewrite the text. Similarly, Luke 10:12 is totally misinterpreted by Mr. Reitzel.

Mr. Reitzel, you have the right to your opinion, but please do not lecture others by distorting the Bible and the words of Jesus.

Marco Colombini, Sandy Spring