I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, and I support marriage equality. That is, I support the passing of laws
throughout the United States (really, throughout the world) that give same-sex
couples the same right to marry as opposite-sex couples, and with the same
benefits before the law.
As it happens, I am heterosexual; I don’t have a horse in
this race, as it were. I have held this position for a long time. I have said
nothing about it publicly because the Church supports the idea that marriage
should only be between a man and a woman, and on occasion leaders in the Church
(local and otherwise) have taken the position that to differ publicly with the
Church on issues like this is itself an offense that merits either an official
review of one’s membership status or a withholding of a temple recommend. I
have felt very uncomfortable keeping quiet about this important social issue, especially
for this reason.
However, the Tuesday, March 17th, 2015 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune published a story in which Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stated unequivocally that expressions in support of marriage equality on social media do not endanger one’s standing in the Church, as long as such expressions do not attack the Church or support organizations that do.
However, the Tuesday, March 17th, 2015 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune published a story in which Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stated unequivocally that expressions in support of marriage equality on social media do not endanger one’s standing in the Church, as long as such expressions do not attack the Church or support organizations that do.
Wow. So much could be said about this statement and its
ramifications—but all that is for another time.
Here and now, I will explain why it is that I support
marriage equality.
Marriage Is a Civil Right
Marriage is a civil right. It is just that simple.
Sure, as a Latter-day Saint, I believe that God the Father
instituted marriage in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. This is a
scriptural belief based on writings in the Bible and the Pearl of Great Price,
among the LDS scriptures, and also on the LDS temple ceremonies. I am not
questioning any of this here.
But when we talk about marriage equality, we are not talking
about divinely performed marriages. We are talking about marriages recognized
by the civil authority, by the state, utterly independently of any religious
authority. This makes marriage a matter of civil rights, not religious doctrine.
On civil grounds, there is no reason to deny same-sex
couples the right to marry. There is no compelling interest that the state has
to ban same-sex marriages.
“Oh, but the state should strengthen families!” some have
said. I believe that completely—which is why I believe the state should permit
people of all sexual orientations to marry and form families, rather than
forcing some people to remain single by banning same-sex marriage.
Here are some blunt truths that need to be stated, perhaps
repeatedly:
- Same-sex marriages do not weaken opposite-sex marriages. (How could it be otherwise? How could someone else’s marriage make my marriage weaker?)
- There is no legal justification for confining marriage to people who might conceive children. (I am 58 years old. Any woman I am likely to be involved with in the future will be beyond childbearing years. Should we be barred from marrying because we cannot conceive children? Of course not.)
- Legalizing same-sex marriages doesn’t mean “anything goes”; same-sex marriages would have the same rights, responsibilities, and restrictions as opposite-sex marriages. (So, no, this is not a step in the direction of people marrying their pet ostriches, or pedophilia, or any of the other nonsense that some opponents of same-sex marriage have put forth as being ‘the next step’ beyond marriage equality.)
Marriage Equality, Mormon Doctrine, and the Law
“But what about the Church’s position?” some might say. “Even
though you are free to state your opinion, aren’t you taking a stance against the
Church’s position?”
No, not really. The core of the Church’s position is that
marriage should be between a man and a woman. It is the Church’s prerogative to
take this position—as a doctrinal statement. Let marriage be between a man and a
woman, within the Church. The Church
has every right to define what marriages it will recognize or not, for
religious purposes. None of this has to have an impact on the law, which must apply
to all people, including those not of the LDS faith.
I will leave it for another time to consider the issue,
should the Church attempt to influence legislation on this matter? Because that
is part of a much larger issue, one with a long history to take into account to
do it justice.
On the matter of marriage equality, I have made my position
clear. I do not attack the Church, nor do I support organizations that do. But
I do hope that my taking this position will provoke reflection on the part of other
Latter-day Saints.
Readers are welcome to comment on this post, below.
I invite you to become a “follower” of this blog through the
box in the upper-right-hand corner of this page, to be informed of future
posts.
I discuss the growth of the Church of Jesus Christ in my
book, The Rise of the Mormons, and I discuss another important issue in my book, Latter-day Saint Women and the Priesthood of God (both available
here).
Visit the page of “That Mormon Guy Mark” on Facebook.
Visit Mark
Koltko-Rivera’s website.
See Mark Koltko-Rivera’s
LDS bio.
[The photo of the rainbow flag was taken by
Benson Kua, and appears here under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 2.0 Generic license.]
Copyright 2015 Mark E. Koltko-Rivera. All Rights Reserved.
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