“Which is how the “ever virgin Mary” sounds to me. But for some, she HAS TO BE ever-virgin or a lot of their deeper beliefs collapse, as with the homosexual example.”
Is it significant to you that the only Church which teaches that contraception is wrong AND homosexuality is wrong, also teaches that Mary was perpetually virgin?
>>But for some, she HAS TO BE ever-virgin or a lot of their deeper beliefs collapse...<<
I asked someone else, “Why this apparently irrational need to believe she died a virgin?” Their explanation was similar to what you say above.
I have no beliefs that depend on her being ever-virgin so I am able to read about her in the Bible with an open mind, avoiding reading too much between the lines.