This question is almost never abstract. Behind it is usually a person — a friend, a son, a daughter, a self. The Church owes you both honesty and love. Anything less is not Christian.
What the Bible actually teaches
The texts (Gen. 1–2; Lev. 18:22; Matt. 19:4–6; Rom. 1:18–32; 1 Cor. 6:9–11; 1 Tim. 1:8–11) are not isolated proof-texts. They are part of an unbroken biblical pattern: sexual union is designed for the lifelong covenant of a man and a woman, mirroring the union of Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:31–32).
Jesus did not relax this. When asked about marriage, he reached back to Genesis: "From the beginning, the Creator made them male and female… What God has joined together, let no one separate" (Matt. 19:4–6).
Every branch of Christianity — Orthodox, Catholic, mainstream Protestant — held this teaching unanimously until very recently. It is not a minor cultural artifact; it is the consistent witness of Scripture, the Fathers, and the conscience of the Church.
What the Bible also teaches
Every person bears the image of God (Gen. 1:27). Sexual sin is one sin among many — Paul lists it alongside greed, slander, drunkenness, and gossip (1 Cor. 6:9–11). The Church has often been worse at addressing pride and greed than lust. We do not get to be selective in our holiness.
The Catechism distinguishes between attraction (not in itself chosen, and not in itself sin) and action. Same-sex attraction is not a unique disqualification; it is one of many ways human desire was wounded by the Fall. The call to chastity applies to every unmarried person, gay or straight.
The Orthodox lens
The Orthodox Church calls every human being to theosis — to be conformed to Christ through ascetic struggle. The married and the celibate, the gay-attracted and the straight-attracted, are all on the same path: denying self, taking up the cross, following Jesus into eternal life.
Christians like Wesley Hill (Spiritual Friendship) and Eve Tushnet have shown that there is a profoundly Christian way to live this calling — including deep friendship, vocation, community, and joy. The teaching is not a sentence to loneliness. It is an invitation into the same costly love every Christian is called to.
If you have been wounded by Christians
Some Christians have spoken about this issue with cruelty, contempt, and even hatred. That is sin. The Church must repent of it. Christ went to the cross for every person reading this — and the cruelty done in his name should not be confused with him.
A pastoral word
If you experience same-sex attraction, the Church does not see you as more broken than anyone else. We are all wounded; we are all loved; we are all called. You are not less wanted. You are not less needed in the Body of Christ.
If you have a friend or child who is gay, do not choose between loving them and the historic teaching. Both, always. The teaching is hard. The love is non-negotiable. Christ holds them together in his own body.
If you are wrestling with this in your own life, find a wise priest who will walk with you in honesty and love. The path is real. The God who walks it with you is real. And the kingdom waiting at the end is more than worth the road.