A hot political topic going into next month's election is Proposition 8. Now I'm no political guru and I don't claim to be. However, this issue has caught my attention. Should same-sex marriage be legal? Personally, I'm torn on the matter. What I think isn't going to make a difference anyway, at least in this election because I'm not a resident of California. You might be asking yourself "why is Hannah blogging about a political issue that she isn't even decided on?" Well, I'm blogging about it to express my surprise in the LDS church's involvement in the issue. The LDS church has always stayed passionately neutral in every political issue that I can remember. So when the brethren came out and actively supported proposition 8 (to make same-sex marriage illegal again) I was naturally interested. On one hand, I really don't care if homosexuals get married. They're people too and they have rights. On the other hand, I'm an active member of the LDS church and it just doesn't feel right to go against what the leaders are saying. In all of my confusion, my Dad showed me this article by Robert Kirby, humor columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune. I think this article is hilarious and I agree with a lot of Kirby's points of view. So, for your enjoyment, here it is. Let me know what you think.
Kirby: I don't care if gays get married
A couple of years ago, I wrote a column in which I announced my official position on gay marriage. Basically, I don't care.
Not only do I not care if gays get married, it is none of my business. As a flaming heterosexual, it's a full-time job for me just to keep my thoughts clean in church. I don't have the energy to fret about somebody else's libido.
The column must have resurfaced on the Internet. I'm getting mail again telling me what a failure I am as a Mormon because I'm not solidly behind Proposition 8. As I understand it, the California ballot item would prevent the domestication of homosexuals. Or something like that.
Here are just a few of the attempts to get me to see reason.
"Are you a member or not? Do you want gays to get married in the temple? Please follow the brotheren's [sic] council [sic] on Proposition 8. This is a important gospel principal [sic]." G., e-mail.
"No unclean thing can enter the house of the Lord. Gays are unclean because of the Scriptures. You have to be hot or cold about it or the Lord will spat you out." T., e-mail.
"Were you listening in church when the letter was read from the First Presidency about supporting proposition eight?" R.Y., e-mail.
"Get with Prop 8 or your [sic] a homo." Anonymous, letter.
Not only do I not care if gays get married, it is none of my business. As a flaming heterosexual, it's a full-time job for me just to keep my thoughts clean in church. I don't have the energy to fret about somebody else's libido.
The column must have resurfaced on the Internet. I'm getting mail again telling me what a failure I am as a Mormon because I'm not solidly behind Proposition 8. As I understand it, the California ballot item would prevent the domestication of homosexuals. Or something like that.
Here are just a few of the attempts to get me to see reason.
"Are you a member or not? Do you want gays to get married in the temple? Please follow the brotheren's [sic] council [sic] on Proposition 8. This is a important gospel principal [sic]." G., e-mail.
"No unclean thing can enter the house of the Lord. Gays are unclean because of the Scriptures. You have to be hot or cold about it or the Lord will spat you out." T., e-mail.
"Were you listening in church when the letter was read from the First Presidency about supporting proposition eight?" R.Y., e-mail.
"Get with Prop 8 or your [sic] a homo." Anonymous, letter.
Hard as it is to counter such brilliant logic, my position hasn't changed. The only serious concern I have about gays getting married is that they'll register someplace pricey.
The church is serious about the sanctity of marriage. I get that. But aren't more potentially "dangerous" marriages already being performed out there? For example, I hear in church all the time about marriage being ordained of God. But I also hear about how the glory of God is intelligence.
Shouldn't it be against the law for stupid people to get married? What's more harmful to society - two well-dressed men getting married and settling down, or two idiots tying the knot and cranking out any number of additional idiots?
You should have to pass a harder test to get married than the one we currently have. Essentially, there are but two questions: "How old are you?" and "Is that your sister?" Hell, you could pass this test just by guessing.
There are drawbacks. Most people get married when hormones and youth make them about as dumb as they'll ever be. So, even a relatively easy test would by default raise the age limit to about 40.
With an increased marriage age limit, there would be fewer births. Genealogy would become easier to do. With fewer births, there would be fewer children born gay. Hey, isn't that what Heavenly Father would want?
OK, I was just kidding about that. But if you're really serious about putting a stop to gay sex, let them get married.
rkirby@sltrib.com
3 comments:
Should we care about gay marriage? I rememeber living in California when Prop 22 was being voted on, which is the same thing as prop 8. The church was a huge support for prop 22. They read statements over the pulpit stating that members should vote for it. If the church doesn't get involved politicaly than shouldn't their involvement in any political issue mean there is something important about it? Especially when the Church tells you how to vote on that issue? how many times has that happened? Off the top of my head I can think of only proabition that the prophet of the church came out right and told the members how to vote. So is this an important issue? Yes it is.
Hey miss Hannah, Im proud of you for writing about something political. Im not one for deep politics in fact I usually try and pretend that nothing is happening because a lot of things really bug me. But the issue of Gay Marriage is one that I can't ignore. I am strongly against Gay Marriage... I know that the Church/ the prophet are making such a bold statement for a very important reason, and that is Marriage between a man and woman is sacred... Gay Marriage is a mockery of the lords plan for us on the earth. This issue in California is a major tacktic satin is using to fool us all into thinking it is alright. Hold strong to your beliefs and don't let little things like that shake your opinion. It is alright to have a strong opinion in matters like this...Thanks for getting me thinking
Thanks for your comments guys. It was interesting to see that the proposition passed. I had my doubts because California is usually such a liberal state. I bet we'll be seeing more of this same issue on a national level pretty soon.
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