Same-Sex Marriage

For this post I'd like to talk about what I read from the church regarding same-gender marriage and same-gender attraction.

Most of what I am referencing will be coming from "The Divine Institution of Marriage" (LDS Commentary from newsroom.lds.org, Jan. 2014)

It is so chock-full of great information about the church's perspective on this subject,so it is going to be really hard to condense it all, but I'll do my best to help out those with short attention spans like myself. :)

It begins by saying that since the publication of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" in 1995, there have been many challenges to the institution of marriage, particularly the legalization of same-sex marriage by several national and state governments.

It therefore outlines four purposes for the commentary released by the church in this document:

1. "to reaffirm the Church’s declaration that marriage is the lawful union of a man and a woman." 

2. "to reaffirm that the Church has a single, undeviating standard of sexual morality: intimate relations are acceptable to God only between a husband and a wife who are united in the bonds of matrimony." 

3. "to set forth the Church’s reasons for defending marriage between a man and a woman as an issue of moral imperative" (meaning, "the Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage derives from its doctrine and teachings, as well as from its concern about the consequences of same-sex marriage on religious freedom, society, families, and children") 

4. "to reaffirm that Church members should address the issue of same-sex marriage with respect and civility and should treat all people with love and humanity."

So to help you through this, I'm going to go through several important paragraphs in the document and try to summarize each in just a sentence or two.

"Marriage is far more than a contract between individuals to ratify their affections and provide for mutual obligations. Rather, marriage is a vital institution for rearing children and teaching them to become responsible adults. Throughout the ages, governments of all types have recognized marriage as essential in preserving social stability and perpetuating life. Regardless of whether marriages were performed as a religious rite or a civil ceremony, in almost every culture marriage has been protected and endorsed by governments primarily to preserve and foster the institution most central to rearing children and teaching them the moral values that undergird civilization."

Summary: Marriage not merely a contract to ratify people's affections. It is a religious and social institution whose primary purpose throughout the ages and in nearly every culture has been to rear and teach children the moral values that undergird civilization.

Super-summary: Marriage exists primarily for the benefit of children and society.

"It is true that some couples who marry will not have children, either by choice or because of infertility. The special status granted marriage is nevertheless closely linked to the inherent powers and responsibilities of procreation and to the innate differences between the genders. By contrast, same-sex marriage is an institution no longer linked to gender—to the biological realities and complementary natures of male and female. Its effect is to decouple marriage from its central role in creating life, nurturing time-honored values, and fostering family bonds across generations."

Summary: Even when marriage does not result in the creation of children, it is nevertheless closely linked with the powers of procreation and the innate differences between the genders. Male and female are both needed to create a child and naturally have complementary differences that create the ideal setting for rearing a child. To disregard this is to decouple marriage from its central role in creating life and rearing children.

Super-summary: Allowing same-sex marriages shifts the purpose of marriage from the benefit of children and society to the benefit of individual couples.

"Our modern era has seen traditional marriage and family—defined as a husband and wife with children in an intact marriage—come increasingly under assault, with deleterious consequences. ... A wide range of social ills has contributed to this weakening of marriage and family. These include divorce, cohabitation, non-marital childbearing, pornography, the erosion of fidelity in marriage, abortion, the strains of unemployment and poverty, and many other social phenomena. The Church has a long history of speaking out on these issues and seeking to minister to our members with regard to them. The focus of this document on same-sex marriage is not intended to minimize these long-standing issues."

Some more paraphrasing of what the essay says:

Many societal and religious leaders believe that redefining marriage to disregard gender will further weaken the institution of marriage over time, resulting in negative consequences for adults and children. (So basically... marriage and family are important institutions that are already on the decline, and redefining marriage will probably only make things worse.)

Legalizing same-sex marriage will affect and interfere with religious freedom.

"The possible diminishing of religious freedom is not the only societal implication of legalizing same-sex marriage. Perhaps the most common argument that proponents of same-sex marriage make is that it is essentially harmless and will not affect the institution of traditional heterosexual marriage in any way. “It won’t affect your marriage, so why should you care?” is the common refrain. While it may be true that allowing same-sex marriage will not immediately and directly affect existing marriages, the real question is how it will affect society as a whole over time, including the rising generation and future generations.[...]The all-important question of public policy must be: what environment is best for the child and for the rising generation? While some same-sex couples will obtain guardianship over children, traditional marriage provides the most solid and well-established social identity for children. It increases the likelihood that they will be able to form a clear gender identity, with sexuality closely linked to both love and procreation. By contrast, the legal recognition of same-sex marriage may, over time, erode the social identity, gender development, and moral character of children. No dialogue on this issue can be complete without taking into account the long-term consequences for children."

Summary: No proponents same-sex marriage can say unequivocally that same-sex marriage will not affect or harm traditional marriage, nor that children raised by same-gender parents will be just as well-off as children raised in a traditional home and family setting; furthermore, we believe that it will weaken these vital institutions, be a worse situation for children, and will perpetuate deteriorating morality in our society.