Un-Prop-ular 8

I've been inspired by my friend Colleen to blog about my thoughts on Prop 8. My brother in law, Josh, has too.

This is a really tough thing to write about. I've started and stopped and deleted a bunch of times already.

It's tricky enough just to talk about it, but writing about it seems so limiting to me. It's one sided, there's no rebuttal, and you may read it in a total different way than I intend it.

I guess I can't worry about those things.


I think marriage should be between a man and a woman. For centuries that has been the understood and accepted definition of marriage. Why tamper with it? Do we think we're so much better than all the other people that lived before us?

If it's about rights, don't same sex couples have all the same rights and privileges as Domestic Partners, as do married couples already? Isn't the state of California the national leader in Domestic Partnership rights? They are treated the same under the law. No one is being denied civil rights.

What happened to "It's just a piece of paper."? I guess it's not just a piece of paper after all. It does mean something, and it's important.

Important enough to defend.

The "No on 8" people say it won't affect education in California. How do they know? If it's happened in another state, why can't it happen here? It probably won't happen over night, but who's to say that somewhere down the line, someone doesn't decide that they think it should be included in elementary education. We won't get to vote on that. I don't like the that thought.

I don't want same-sex marriage to be taught as being the same as traditional marriage. It's not that same. An alternative lifestyle is just that; alternative.


Even after all that mumbo jumbo, for me the biggest reason to protect the sanctity of marriage is to avoid the eventual consequences down the road that we can't see, that will probably not be good for society. There are people that have guesses as to what those might be, but I don't know that they can truly know. Maybe there are other countries that have legal same-sex marriages, and we can see the difficulties they are having, and prepare and plan for those, but maybe not.

Maybe ultimately, it's not marriage that turns out to be a big deal, but it's the path that it starts us on. Maybe it's the door that, once opened, opens other doors we don't want opened. We don't know.

As a member of the church, this is what it boils down to for me. If the brethren that lead this church, who I believe to be men of God, who I've sustained as prophets, seers, and revelators, ask me to defend and protect the sanctity of marriage, I will do it. I trust in their leadership, and have faith that they would lead us down the path we should go. Even if it's unpopular with the rest of the world.

Prop 8 has gotten ugly. The arguing over it has not been good for either side. It's pitted neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, brother against brother, etc.

I hope you choose to vote Yes on prop 8. Either way, I'm reminded of something my brother Kyle wrote recently, "I think it's important to note we all want the same thing: To make this world a better place. We just have differing views on how to accomplish that."

Kyle has a way with words; I'm working on it.