letter to mom and dad

Dear Dad and Mom:

Mom called me and asked me to explain how I could justify supporting gay marriage. I am leaving for Japan, and will be out of contact for the rest of the week. This is a topic that has vexed me for some time, however, and I'd love to explain to you why I am so offended by the actions of your church over the past decade.

I find failing to support gay marriage indefensible on three levels: Political, Moral, and Personal.

Political:

I hold to the fundamental belief that all people deserve to be treated fairly, and equally, under the law. I do not believe that government has a right to interfere in the personal lives of consenting adults, either on sexual, religious, intellectual, or expressive grounds.

You can dislike gays, and their activities. That is your right. You can discriminate against them personally, and I expect your church will continue to do so. But when you seek to limit the legal rights of decent, honorable people, on the grounds of fear and bigotry, you overreach.

This is an argument the church will eventually lose, just as it lost it's arguments regarding the odious practice of polygamy, and the repugnant practice of withholding the priesthood from blacks. In general, people are decent, and fair minded. In time they will recoil from the ugliness of the current lds campaign against gays.

I realize you feel obligated to defend the actions and decisions of your church leaders. This obligation will lead you to craft any number of justifications. They all come down to one word-- "yuck". You don't like that some people are gay, and you want to treat them differently under the law.

All adults should be able to marry the person they love, and should be able to expect society to support their commitment. In return, society is strengthened by increasing the solidity of the family relationships those consenting adults build.

Let your church believe what it wants- act based on the dictates of your own conscience. but don't seek to impose the dictates of your conscience on others, unless you wish to give up the right yourself as well.

Moral:

I don't like bigotry, I don't like dishonesty, and I don't like those who use fear to manipulate others. The church has done this throughout it's campaign against gay marriage, and it has warped the minds of it's members, resulting in any number of indefensible claims and arguments.

The tactics of the church campaign highlight the flimsy material behind which it hides. And it fails to answer the question at the heart of this debate: When did Jesus say it was okay to treat gay men and women with such wicked disregard for who they are? There is no biblical or christian scriptural basis for disallowing gay marriage. And if you want to argue that, I can quote reams of verses that are ignored by those cherry picking quotes that apologists pretend justify their position.

King Benjamin had a lot to say about helping others. he would certainly be disgusted by a church that thinks preventing gays from having marriage was worth 20 million dollars of mormon money. think of all the good that money could have done in helping people. It was an immoral use of resources.

As for modern day revelation- D&C 132 is still on the books, last time I looked. And the canard of revelation -"the bretheren must know something we don't" - has been used to justify other positions that were eventually reversed, again by modern 'revelation', when it became convenient.

Personal:

You have a son. He is Gay. God made him that way. He has a strong 'spiritual' marriage, with Gregg, that is stronger than many of the marriages you've claimed pride in with your other children. You could choose to praise his love, and his life, and celebrate the way his creator chose to make him.

I do.

I love you, and don't expect you to agree with me. I would like to think that you could at least respect Joe's desire to have a committed relationship, and leave your personal misgivings behind, and that you could allow him to live his life, as an honorable member of society, as he sees fit.

I do.

Love, Seth