Vote for Marriage

Recently the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have asked that Church members in California “do all [they] can to support the proposed constitutional amendment,” (Proposition 8) to ensure that only marriage between a man and a woman would be legally recognized. Members of the Church in Arizona and Florida will be voting on similar constitutional amendments (Newsroom, The Divine Institution of Marriage, August 13, 2008, available at: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-divine-institution-of-marriage).

Instead of asking what the Church is doing by engaging in support of these marriage amendments, members of the Church living in California, Arizona, and Florida, should ask why they are doing it. Why, at this time, on this issue, having rarely done it before are the brethren encouraging church members to take a stand and “do all [they] can to support the proposed constitutional amendment” to protect the traditional definition of marriage?

The gay rights movement is seeking, like the women’s rights movement and the civil rights movement to establish being gay or lesbian as a civil right, a right that no person or no organization can deny. The article previously cited explains it well.

Legalizing same-sex marriage will affect a wide spectrum of government activities and policies. Once a state government declares that same-sex unions are a civil right, those governments almost certainly will enforce a wide variety of other policies intended to ensure that there is no discrimination against same-sex couples. This may well place “church and state on a collision course” (The Divine Institution of Marriage).

Taken one step further, this could possibly mean that if a gay couple, who has a civil right to be married, is denied the ability to be married in the temple (discriminated against), the government will have the right to enforce the gay couple’s right to marriage or, when the Church will not allow it, stop the Church from performing any temple marriages at all.

This is in no way a partisan issue. The gay rights movement is not a liberal vs. conservative battle. It is not a tolerant vs. intolerant war. Rather, the gay rights movement is the most charged, subtle, conspiratorial, and targeted weapon that the Adversary has ever used to bring about his most desired objective- to prevent God from accomplishing His work and His glory- “to bring to pass the eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).

So to those who live in a state where this constitutional amendment is on the table- think twice before you vote, because what you decide may not change your life or opportunities, but it could drastically alter the choices and opportunities of your children or your childrens' children for generations.