"inborn tendencies toward the impure and unnatural"

I have been thinking about what I want to write in this blog post for a couple days now, and I haven't been able to come up with exactly what I want to accomplish with this post. Most posts that I write have some sort of a point to them. I usually have strong feelings one way or another regarding what I am talking about which makes blogging fairly easy. This is a topic that I know I want to talk about and comment on, I guess I just haven't quite figured out what to say. So I guess I will just start typing and see what comes out.

So this last Sunday, the LDS church held its semi-annual snore-fest conference. In one of the talks, Boyd K Packer decided to talk about the issue of gay marriage without actually saying the words "gay marriage". He talked about the how some people have tendencies that are "impure and unnatural" and made some comparison between voting for marriage and voting for the law of gravity.

For those that don't know this about me, I made the conscious decision to leave the LDS church a number of years ago. Because of this, I didn't bother to watch conference and didn't hear anything about this talk until later that night when people starting posting about it on bookface. I have alot of friends on bookface that are gay and so there were alot of posts regarding his talk.

I have posted alot in the past regarding Prop 8 and gay marriage because I believe that everyone should have equal rights. I believe it is discriminatory to actively work towards taking away the rights of any minority group. On that same note, I believe in the freedom of religion. I believe that we all have the freedom to worship in whichever way we choose fit, so long as it doesn't infringe on anyone else's freedoms.

When I listened online to Elder Packer's sermon, I felt very indifferent about it. I have known my whole life about what the LDS church teaches and believes regarding homosexuality, and this was not telling me anything new. If any religion feels that homosexuality is a sin against God's will and commandments, they have the freedom to share that belief and teaching to their congregation all they want.

The problem with Elder Packer's comments is that they were poorly timed. Recently there have been multiple stories in the news regarding gay kids that have committed suicide after being bullied because of their sexual orientation. This has caused quite a stir amongst the gay community and amongst various celebs in Hollywood. It saddens me to hear that some people feel they have no other options in their life other then suicide. I like that some celebs have made videos reaching out to other troubled teens urging them to keep their chin up and look forward to the future because life does get better.

There are a lot of people who are raised in the church and are struggling with the fact that they are gay. Having been raised in the church and growing up in Utah, I understand how much of the church influences the daily life of a member in high school. There is church every Sunday, family home evening with scripture study every Monday, youth group activities at the church during the week, home teachers that come by at least once a month, and then there is seminary at school pretty much every day or every other day. It must be unbelievably hard to come to terms with your own sexuality if you are gay while being indoctrinated on a daily basis by your parents and leaders telling you that homosexuality is a sin worse then death.

Last night there was a group of people who protested at church headquarters because of Elder Packers talk. They are wanting the church to change its policy and its stance on homosexuality and to apologize for what was said on Sunday. I can't say that I agree with the protesters on this one. I don't think that the LDS church or any church for that matter should apologize for stating what they believe in. (I also don't think that they should try to force what they believe in on those outside of their church like they did when they flooded money into prop 8, but I have already said my peace on that topic.) One of the greatest things about living in this country today is that we have the freedom to believe what we want and to publicly state our beliefs. And on that note, here is what I have to say to the gay teen who may feel like they are stuck in the church and feels like they have run out of options. If you are familiar with the LDS church, then you are familiar with the idea of "bearing your testimony". This is my testimony to you:

God does not make mistakes. You are not a mistake. You cannot choose to be gay any more then I can choose to be straight. On the other hand, the members of the church, including the leaders, do make mistakes. You do not need fixing or repairing because being gay does not mean that you are broken. You are not a second class citizen. You have the right to be happy. You have the right to be loved and you have the right to love another. As others have said already, things will get better. This is a great time in this country to watch people's opinions change regarding homosexuality. If you feel like you have no one to talk to about this, go to a guidance counselor at your school that you have no religious connection with and express your concerns. That is why they are there. They are looking out for your best interest, and they will do whatever they can to help you. You are not alone. Things WILL get better.

update

Sometimes I forget that I still have a blog. I started this back in the spring of 2008, and then shortly after I posted a couple times things started to heat up about the presidential election and prop 8. My feelings and rantings about that subject really took over my blog for the rest of that year. But since then, I haven't really had alot to talk about. This blog was a good outlet for me when I needed a place to vent my frustration and feelings surrounding issues that I felt very strongly about. I guess my lack of posting is a good way to show that I dont have much in my life I need to complain about. Life has been pretty good.



A lot has changed in my life since I last posted. Here are some of the highlights that have happened in the last 2 years:



Melinda and I bought a house together and live there with brother and sister. But its not just any house, it has history behind it. And that was a big reason why we bought it.



Rowdy died at the age of 16. Although he technically belonged to Kim, he was a family dog and we all loved him.



Melinda's parents were given a puppy, and he now lives at our place with brother and sister. His name is Chewie. I love that he is in our lives.



I went back to school. This is huge for me. And now I will be in debt up to my eyeballs and paying it off for the rest of my life.



I bought my first real gun. It is a Springfield XDm .40 calibur pistol.



I celebrated my 30th birthday in Las Vegas. while I was there I got my first tattoo and got to fly in a helicopter. I also played some really good poker. out of 5 tournaments I entered, I took second at Caesars, 2nd at the MGM, and split for first at Binions. I couldnt have asked for a better birthday.

A couple months ago, Prop 8 was overturned by a federal judge. This was a big step forward in protecting equal rights, but the war over same-sex marriage is far from over. People on both sides of the issue have stated that they will not rest until they get their way, which means that there will always be appeals to any judge ruling until it gets to the supreme court.

This last weekend the LDS church had its semi-annual conference, and there was a specific talk by one of the General Authorities that has stirred alot of controversy. I will create a seperate blog post about that issue specifically.

There was alot more that has happened over the last couple of years, but this is just a few of the highlights. Historically I have a bad track record in keeping up with my blog, but hopefully I will be able to do better in my updates. Only time will tell.

MILK

I went and saw this a couple days ago and loved it. Sean is almost a shoe-in for a best actor oscar. If you get a chance, I reccomend going to see it.

I only wish that this film had come out in October so that people would have had a chance to see it before they voted in November. Maybe prop 8 would have turned out differently.

mixed emotions

yesterday our country voted, and in a huge victory, Barack Obama will be our next president. this is an important chapter in history that we are witnessing by electing a black man to the white house. i am proud that i voted for him. it makes me happy to see that the majority of the country, mostly the younger generation, are able to vote for a man based on the issues at hand and his vision for the future, instead of casting their vote based on fear of the unknown and the color of a mans skin. this country has come along way since Martin Luthor King Jr. stood up in washington and told everyone that he had a dream.

"Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: - 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

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yesterday our country voted. and by a small margin, proposition 8 was passed and the california constitution will be amended to restrict the right of homosexuals the freedom to get married. at a time when i actually thought that the country was moving forward in equality, when people are more then just tollerant, but ACCEPTING of people who are different then they are, we are now back to restricting peoples rights.

proponants for the proposition argued that this is only changing the definition of marriage, and that homosexuals in a domestic partership are entitled to the same rights as a heterosexual couple. to a certain extent, they are right. but that is just like telling someone "you can ride on the bus, but you have to sit in the back". This picture was posted on Bradin's blog, and i think illustrates the point very well.



people knew that the outcome of this proposition would set the standard for more then just california. and that is why $20 million dollars was donated by members of the mormon church to support this proposition. most of that money was given by members who are not residing in californa, and because they were solicited by their church leaders to do so. the mormon church took a very strong stance on this issue, and did everything in its power to make sure that it passed. i have said alot in previous blogs concerning my feelings on the church and what it has done to support this, and i dont feel the need to say the same things over and over again. i will say though, that i am deeply saddened at this outcome. i am ashamed that we as americans still believe in hate and segregation. i am ashamed of those who voted in favor of this proposition, knowing that it was wrong, but still did so because their church leaders told them to. i am sad for my friends who now don't have the option to get married to the one they love.

i hold the LDS church responsible for this outcome. and i am sure that members of the church pride themselves in the fact that because of their donated money and support of their leaders, they succeeded in "preserving traditional family values". if you are concerned about the welfare of children in america and preserving traditional family values, why dont you now try to make divorce illegal for families with children as well. divorce is destroying gods family plan alot more then homosexual marriage ever will.

it is going to take me a while to get over this.

YES vs. NO

concerning the divine institute of marriage... pt. 2

for those of you who have not yet read any of my blog before this, i suggest you start by reading my post from Sept 4, 2008 entitled "recent thoughts". This will give you a background of where i am coming from before you read my post from yesterday as well as this one today.

on the website http://www.preservingmarriage.org/ they have 2 videos posted. yesterday i responded to the first one, and today i will attempt to respond to the second one. here is the video:




this video is set up as a Q&A format, but i think that all the questions asked were scripted so that the speaker could get certain points accross. he uses some of the same arguments as before, but i will again try to touch on some of his key points.


1- one of the questions that was asked was: "I think alot of people view the church's stance on this issue as an intollerant stance, and basically labling our (LDS) views as immoral, when we are really taking a stance for morality. How do we address that argument?" - alot of people (including myself) do infact view the church's stance on this issue as intollerance towards people that believe differently then they do. i don't see how this would be any different then trying to limit the rights of someone because of race or gender. i understand that the church has certain moral standards that they feel they need to take a stance on, but it doesnt make any sense to try and force your own moral code on someone who has a different system of beliefs. let me try to put this argument in perspective. lets say that the amish community decided that they wanted to pass a law in the state of Pensylvania prohibiting the ownership and operation of automobiles. would this pass? of course not. and why is that? because it would be forcing the amish's moral code on everyone else. now does it mean that we think the amish are immoral? of course not. they have the freedom as citizens of the United States to practice their own religion.


2- "One of the things that can occur over time is that if marriage is defined as a relationship between two of the same gender, there can be a decreasing tollerance for our beliefs as members of the Church..." - this is a reoccuring theme throughout his video. he states that eventually society will become increasingly intollerant toward the beliefs taught within the church. like i have stated before, you have a freedom of religion in this country to believe and teach what you want to your congregations. you have that right as an american. you also have the right to free speech. this is why there are still members of the KKK expressing their beliefs openly. You may not believe what they do, and you may not agree with how they go about teaching what they believe, but they have the same rights as Americans to say and believe what they want.


3- "It is not just wild and crazy to suggest that there could be sanctions against the teaching of our doctine because we focus on marriage between a man and a woman, and would not place on equal standing marriage between a man and a man, or a woman and a woman." - actually, you are wrong. the slope is not as slippery as you make it out to be. you are still trying to make the same arugument that you did before by saying that people will be intollerant of your beliefs, and that they will try to take away your right to teach what you want. read my response to #2.


4- the question was asked how this will affect our children, to which he basically says that public school curriculum will teach that homosexual marriage is equal to heterosexual marriage. to him is a "...very troubling and uncertain consequence..." - i have addressed this topic already in a seperate blog but i will address it again. just because someone is taught something in school does not mean that they will have to participate in it. if a teacher gets up in front of a classroom and teaches that it is legal for any 2 consenting adults to get married regardless of gender, then the teacher is teaching the children factual information. if the parents of these children want to then address the issue to their kids, and say that homosexual relationships are a sin, and that God does not sanction same-gender marriage, they have the right to do so. teaching children in schools about homosexual marriage will not turn your kids gay. if anything, it will reduce the hate and discrimination in this country by teaching children to be respectful to different belief systems. i don't see this as a negative in any way.


5- "Marriage, between a man and a woman is ordained of God" - i respect the fact that you believe this and that your church believes this. but please consider the separation between church and state. and also consider Doctrine and Covenants 134:9 which states: "We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens, denied."

concerning the divine institute of marriage...

there is a new prop-8 website that i just found out about this morning. this site is an official LDS church website. it is http://www.preservingmarriage.org/

at the top of the main page of the site there is a video. to save you the trouble of linking to it, i will post it here.




now, if you have read my last blog, you know that i have some strong feelings on this issue. i know that there are some people who disagree with my views, and i respect that. but i want to address some specific points in this video.

1- education on the issue - this is something that i will agree on with the makers of the video. i think that if you are going to vote on something, you should know what you are voting for and not just doing something blindly. i know alot of people personally who disagree in their heart with prop 8, yet they support it because the church told them to. the LDS church knows that a majority of its members will follow what they are told by the leaders of the church without question. why else do you think they have the statement at the bottom of the website "An Official Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"

2- protecting religious freedom - this country was founded on the fact that people wanted basic freedoms, including the freedom to worship however they choose. the video mentions multiple times that this issue is "protecting religious freedom". if you actually think about it, religious freedom is NOT what is at stake. if gay marriage is legal, any religious organization still preach whatever they want about homosexuals and whatever they want about marriage. let me try to put it in perspective how dumb this argument is. currently, it is legal to purchase and consume alcohol in the united states. as someone over the age of 21, i can legally walk into a store and purchase alcohol for my consumption. yet the LDS church teaches against it, and they have every right to do so. if something is legal, yet you find it immoral, you can preach all you want against it in your church. it doesn't matter whether that be drinking alcohol, premarital sex, or homosexual marriage. you still have the freedom to preach and believe however you wish. that is a right in this country that is not under debate.

3- children have the right to be raised by a mother and father - actually, parents have the right to raise their children the best way they know how, and to teach them what they feel is correct. you have every right to teach your children that homosexuality and gay marriage is a sin, just like someone else has just as much right teaching their children about sexual equality and tolerance for others beliefs. the justices of the California supreme court wrote that "responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individuals sexual orientation."

4- supreme court judges acting on their own against the will of California - 6 of the 7 judges on the supreme court that made the decision are conservative republicans. the statement they released as to why they overturned the ban was that: sexual orientation, like race or gender, "does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights." this is a case of discrimination. personally, i like that the will of the judges on the supreme court is to stand up for the rights of its citizens.

5- "This is the most important thing that our generation will do, because it will determine the structure of our society for the rest of our lives." - i agree with this statement. previous generations fought for equal rights for women, which in turn shaped the structure of the society. then another generation fought for equal rights for African Americans, and now we fight for equal rights for homosexuals. i do not want to be known as the generation who denied the rights of others to be counted as equals in society.



there are alot of things that supporters of proposition 8 are saying to try and justify what they are doing. there have been lists circulating via email and blogs of the "6 consequences" if prop 8 fails. most of these arguments are untrue or misleading. Morris Thurston, an active member of the LDS church, graduate from both BYU and Harvard Law, has written a commentary on these consequences found here http://connellodonovan.com/thurston_response.pdf

if you are like me and agree with what i have said, send this blog and the link to Morris Thurston's response to your friends. the LDS church has become very vocal on this issue, and i think that people who oppose prop 8 and are for equal rights should be just as vocal!


(btw... here is another video i thought was apropriate)