In our present world however, it is a touchy issue, and a pertinent one in today's society. Gays and Lesbians in American have their own groups, their own marches, their own clubs, and if they obtain minority status they will have a lot more than that. I will explain many of the positions about this along with a few ways that Christians shouldn't approach it.
It's obvious that homosexuality is not normal, because a majority of the people are not homosexual. I would agree that it is an alternative lifestyle, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Defining it as an alternative lifestyle removes it from being normal and majority by it's own definition.
Further proof that it is not normal is that by no matter what means, it cannot possibly propagate the human race on it's own. Without artificial insemination, the human race would die out in 100 years or less. This makes it not only an alternative lifestyle, but an unsound one as well.
We do however find homosexuality in nature, but just because something is natural, does not make it normal. Natural just means it occurs in nature without human intervention. You will find all sorts of bizarre things in nature sometimes, like an internet video of an elephant naturally trying to mate with a rhino. If this were normal in nature, both elephants and rhinos would go extinct. Bonobos (a type of ape) are promiscuous and bisexual. If a homosexual advocate would like to use bonobos as support for homosexuality, I must also point out that bonobos engage in all types of incest as well.
In nature you will also find infanticide, patricide, and general cannibalism.
Homosexual advocates sometimes wish to claim that gays and lesbians are just peaceful people that want to be left alone, and that they are not causing any harm to society in any way, I would partially agree. However there have been acts of violence and vandalism by gays at their demonstrations for decades, such as in Harry Reisner's 60 Minutes case around 1980, where he had to take shelter inside the news van. More recently the Proposition 8 rioters eliminated all possibilities of defending the lifestyle on the grounds of 'peace'. So while homosexuality may involve a different lifestyle, it does not make one resistant at all to typical human responses, emotions, crimes, drugs, and other faults. It's folly to categorize them on the same level with devout Buddhists, Hari Krishnas, Christians, and Ron Paul supporters, generally speaking.
Another reason why I would only partially agree with considering homosexuals peaceful as a group, is because while many of them preach tolerance, they will not tolerate me disagreeing with their lifestyle. They only preach tolerance as a one way street. This is hypocrisy. If I have to tolerate Bobby and Jimmy making out in public, they should at least extend the courtesy to me to talk about their behavior in a civil manner to others, without inciting violence and hatred against me.
I believe in and practice Romans 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. and I wish many would do the same.
Some facts about recent American history.
There was a public education film from the 50's that listed homosexuality as a sickness and portrayed gay men as being ostracized from the public. Most psychology books prior to 1973 listed homosexuality as a mental illness, and every mainstream psychologist could recognize the common threads amongst all gays. For example, a distant, abusive, or absent father, coupled with a mollycoddling mother was one of many generic background traits. Then it became politically incorrect to identify people with such a method, and the ideas started springing forth that homosexuality could be developed in a person through pre-natal hormones, brain chemical imbalances, or genetics.
The myth of the gay gene still continues today, though no genes have ever been found (much like Iraq and its WMDs). Some in the gay community have begged these theories to be removed from possibilities, because if they find it to be genetic, then homosexuality could be bred out of society. If it's found to be irrefutibly hormonal, then it could be medicated out of society. So many in the gay and lesbian community like the idea of it being a personal choice. As far as whether or not alternate sexuality is hardwired into a person....
Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, conducted a study and titled his report ‘Can Some Gay Men and Lesbians Change Their Sexual Orientation? 200 Participants Reporting a Change from Homosexual to Heterosexual Orientation’, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 32(5), 2003, page 411. Spitzer reported that 84% of participants went straight after psychotherapy. Ironically, Spitzer was also chairman of the 1973 APA committee which recommended that homosexuality be removed from the official diagnostic manual of mental disorders. I know the study has come under a considerable amount of criticism, sometimes saying it was not thorough enough, but nevertheless it was concluded by the prominent man himself.