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In this article we will be discussing the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and how some people are using it to blur the distinction between rape and sex. So be warned: this is a Triggering Topic, and will include both Old Testament and New Testament references from the Bible.

All over the country, some people are pushing for a law that outlaws homosexual marriage. They hold up signs that read, "Remember Sodom and Gomorrah!" The media carries these images into thousands of homes, perpetuating one of the most damaging mis-conceptions about sexual assault. On behalf of every survivor of sexual violence, it's very important that we set the record straight.

Sodom and Gomorrah -- the condensed version

Grab your Bibles if you want to follow along and verify what I write. I'll be using the New Revised Standard Version.

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah begins in Genesis 18:16, and ends at Genesis 19:29. Here's a quick summary:

• Abraham negotiates with God to spare the city if ten righteous people are in it, down from the fifty God originally planned.
• Two angels (in the form of men) come to Sodom. Lot, Abraham's nephew, persuades them to spend the night with him.
• Just before bedtime, a mob forms outside Lot's house and demands that the two men be turned over to them "so that we may know them" (verse 19:5).
• The mob is a big one: "the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man" (verse 19:4).
• Lot pleads with the mob to go away, and even offers his daughters to the mob.
• The mob refuses the offer and tries to break down the door.
• The angels strike the mob with blindness, and tell Lot that they have come to take him from the city.
• Lot doesn't want to go, but they insist. They offer to take away anyone he says.
• Lot tells two guys, his future sons-in-law, what's going to happen, and tells them to go with him. But they think he's kidding.
• The angels finally almost drag him out of the city, bringing his wife and two daughters with him.
• Lot doesn't feel like going very far, so he selects a nearby small town that was also scheduled to be destroyed, and suggests they go there. The angels reluctantly agree and take that town off the hit list.
• Sulfur and fire rain down on Sodom and Gomorrah and "all the Plain" (verse 25), destroying everything there.

Let's Define the Crime

The first thing to notice is the mob plans to have sex with the two men without their consent. Therefore we can immediately label that as rape. (In this case, attempted rape.) It's also clear that this is gang rape. Gang rape is a horrible crime of physical assault and torture and degradation and violence. Sometimes, in ancient wars, soldiers of the winning army would rape the soldiers of the losing army -- not because they were gay, or because they wanted sex -- but because rape was the ultimate act of domination, humiliation, and degradation.

Nowadays, we seem to have forgotten this point. Rape isn't sex. The distance between rape and sex could be measured in light-years. Rapists target a victim's sexual organs because the rapist knows that will cause the most physical and emotional pain. It is no more sexual than a torturer who decides to push bamboo slivers up under the victim's fingernails. In both cases, the goal is the maximum infliction of pain.

Let's Define Sex

Sex, by definition, requires consent. Without consent, sex is, by definition, rape. This is a vital distinction, but attorneys, judges, juries, and society in general just can't seem to grasp it. Defense attorneys seek to exploit this confusion, and survivors have to be alert to these attempts to manipulate the jury's perspective. "So he dragged you to the bedroom, and that's where you had sex?" the defense attorney will ask. "No," the survivor must reply, "he dragged me to the bedroom, and that's where he assaulted me!"

Another Biblical Perspective

Judges, chapter 19, has a similar story, featuring a Levite and his concubine who are traveling and are invited into a man's home in the city of Gibeah. In this version, a mob demands that the homeowner turn over the visitors to be raped. To save himself, the Levite throws his concubine out to the crowd. "They wantonly raped her, and abused her all through the night until the morning" (verse 25). She dies on the doorstep.

Nobody, I hope, would consider that to be consensual sex. It is gang rape and murder. You haven't heard the story of Gibeah much, probably because the rapists are men and their victim is a woman. It is important to recognize, however, that the gender difference does not make this any less horrible in any way. In both Sodom and Gibeah, the issue is gang rape, one of the most brutal and cruel crimes imaginable.