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Sore losers won't let go in California
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Some members seem to be under the sad impression that by taking a hard-line "zero-tolerance" stance on this issue, denouncing homosexuality and homosexuals alike, that they're defending their faith. Yet those of us in the church who have gay people we know and love tend to see a whole different side of the issue than those who don't.
Perhaps we who understand that other side need to be the ones responsible for urging TRUE love, compassion, and tolerance on this issue. That does NOT mean we should condone homosexuality, but it DOES mean that we recognize that there are still MANY gay children of God with infinite worth. We can gently stand up for their value while upholding the value of the traditional family as well.
This bitterness has subjected a lot of people to pain and hopelessness I'm afraid. I sometimes wonder if they (the church) are not trying to complete a purge of members who question some stands.
Meanwhile, I too have disassociated myself with the LDS and asked that my name be removed from the membership. I was granted that from SLC without question prior to Thanksgiving.
I read the paper on line from So. California to keep a handle on what is going on in Utah. It saddens me.
As an active member of the LDS Church there are many beliefs that I have which would receive a low vote if opened to public opinion. That doesn't mean that I would give up my viewpoint.
So.....I understand when those who feel that this vote has gone the wrong way stick to their commitment. I choose not to ridicule them but rather try harder to understand them and I pray that the only one who can provide peace, healing and true understanding will do so.
The commandment to 'love' is still in place.
In San Francisco a teacher took 4 graders to a gay wedding... during school hours. Time and discussion away from curriculum, with no parental warning. When I taught I had to get parental permission to show anything other than a "G" rated movie.
In Massachusetts where gay marriages are legal, elementary kids are taught about gay marriage without parental ok or warning and one man was imprisoned for trying to keep his kids from such discussions. And yes, no matter what our lying state school superintendent said on an anti-prop 8 commercial, teaching kids about marriage is in the mandated state curriculum.
Personally, I could care less whether gays marry or not. Of course, they can marry, they just won't have the little piece of paper from the state.
I don't want to see churches discriminate against because they don't perform gay marriages or have gay leadership.
Do your own thing, just let us do ours. I have no antagonism towards any gay.
This was such a big deal because it was the first time a right that a minority had for a period of time was stripped by a slim majority. That should never have been allowed to happen and that is what the California Supreme Court will rule on in March.
Just as God had intended (Duh -that's why there is a man and a woman)! Being Gay is a choice you have made! Nobody is born Gay I repeat It is your choice!
What you need is to get civil unions to be recognized by Law to give you the same insurance and legal rights.
If you put your effort into civil unions you will have what you are claiming you want!!!!!!
To the author and like-thinking posters - How does gay marriage affect you and your life? Is your marriage and beliefs so insecure that it would make your marriage and beliefs somehow less meaningful? How about accepting the fact that gay marriage can bring some happiness to people in a world that has so much unhappiness. The argument of children or higher divorce rates is laughable. Are you oblivious to the world around you? Watch the news tonight. How many heterosexual marriages have neglected children and end in divorce, like half!
Get off your high horse, worry about your own lifestyle and choices, and let these humans find true love and be happy.
No, what's scary is that four old guys in California can all by themselves decided that something is suddenly a binding part of California's Constitution. That so many people seem to think that they outweigh the voice of the people is equally as disturbing, but it's that principle you cited: The ends justify the means. You'll go to your grave fighting for the right of four men to dictate to the people what their Constitution says if it serves your ends. Don't be a hypocrite.
See, things get so convoluted that the truth is buried beneath distortions.
If you, Don, would have taken the time to look up what really happened in San Fran instead of taking what you heard as truth, you would have found out that it was the PARENTS of the children that organized the outing to the teacher's wedding. Permissions slips WERE handed out and two children's parent opted out. The parents were totally in control of what their children learned. This is all documented online and very easy to find.
If you told others the incorrect story, YOU are guilty of distortion and half truths. This kind of actions from so many Mormons is what has angered the gays to protest. Look in the mirror.
If I wanted to call an apple an orange, I could do so whenever I wanted, it just wouldn't make it true. That doesn't affect my agency at all, and it doesn't stop me from doing whatever I want to with my life. It just means that an apple is not legally an orange, regardless of what I want to call it.
2: an act of marrying or the rite by which the married status is effected ; especially : the wedding ceremony and attendant festivities or formalities
3: an intimate or close union <the marriage of painting and poetry
Actually in this day and age of so many different household configurations that meet the financial and familial needs of the residents, members of any household should be able to register as domestic partnerships and have equal access to tax benefits. If this seems ridiculous then eliminate tax benefits for everyone. Let each individual be taxed as such.
Living wills and medical power of attorney cost nothing other than the notary fee.
Inheritance issues always require a will and/or probate court.
There has got to be a solution that protects equal treatment under the law with which everyone can agree not based on union status. Take it out of the equation.
Let churches provide marriage according to their beliefs.
Their argument begins to crumble, their credibility to fail. So now I see the same people that argued against 8 change tactics and start saying things like "Man DN should just get off this topic"
Marriage is supposed to be a religious ceremony. Governments didn�t even perform marriages until the last few hundred years. This change probably occurred because of the stigma of those couples who wanted to start a family (the power to procreate is a natural tendency), but who refused to enter a church in order to get married. Remember that marriage is ordained of God. Personally, I don�t think government officials should be allowed to perform marriages. Let them perform civil unions to opposite-sex couples all they want. But let�s call it what it is.
Perhaps a massive campaign needs to be undertaken to unite all gay people from California and other states, have them move to Utah and become the new Utah majority. Then they can write a few new Utah laws of their own on same sex marriage. Maybe throw in a few laws stripping away some rights from the LDS Church while they're at it? Lets see what kind of sore losers they become?
Your church has a lot of money, and friends in powerful places. Why not have one of your senators submit a federal bill that would give gay unions the same RIGHTS as any other couple but uses a different word than "marriage" since that seems to be your main sticking point?
I said earlier - "if you don't come up with a solution, one will be forced on you" - and it was misconstrued. But the fact is, if you don't come up with a solution that you can live with, a solution will be made (by the courts) and you will have very little say at that point. Better to have as much say as possible.
For the record, I think gays are strange (but then I think mormons are strange, too).
While we're at it, can anyone give me a biblical citation for where the "wedding/marriage" vows are in scripture? I've never read them in the Bible.
They say they can't get married.
They can. It's just that two men or two women can't marry each other. But a gay man can still marry a woman. They still have that right.
Geeze, people two straight men can't get married either.
How's that discrimination?
I mean, not getting what you *want*, simply because you want it does not equate to discrimination. A gay man may not WANT to marry a woman, but he's still allowed to do so.
That's a far cry different than a person of color not being allowed to sit in the same seats on a bus. Proponents of gay marriage are asking for a special seat on the preverbial bus.
The ugliness is found in people's lack of awareness of or chosen ignoring of what is in favor of repeating their opinions as nastily as possible. For the most part it's congenial debate which is also an excellent blessing of living in this country regardless of whether or not opponents are banging their words against brick walls.
And being gay is simply different - not normal, not abnormal - simply different. Like left-handed or red hair, it's just different than most people.
destruction to our nation? Organized religion has brought more destruction to the world than gays could ever do.....
how is that the right thing? don't you abide by the "thou shall not lie" commandment? or is it a matter of "it's ok to lie as long as you think it's God's will" (like the FLDS do)?
Marriage can be civil or religious. Keep your religion and stay out of civil ceremonies...
you defend what YOU deem to be just. We defend what WE deem to be just.
Your idea of what's just and my ideas of what's just are different. You haven't figured that out yet? We don't all believe in seer stones, and some of us actually believe in dinosaurs. (sorry to burst your bubble.)
African Americans used to be able to ride the bus, use public bathrooms, go to public schools, and go to restaraunts.
They just couldn't sit in the front of the bus, eat in white-owned resturaunts, go to the well-kept white-only schools, or use white-only bathrooms...
should we have just left it like that?
try to think before you post....
2. Do homosexuals really want marriage, or do they want recognition by the government? If what the religions are offering (marriage) is what they want, then they need to play by the religions rules. If they want recognition by the government, calling it marriage is counter-productive. Marriage is a religious institution. The Government should license legal unions and get out of the marriage business.
3. If we discount religion, and their "fairy tale books" then looking at evolution, biology, etc. shows that homosexuality is aberrant behavior. If a species is homosexual only, then reproduction has to be asexual... and that does not and will not happen in humans. They say, "Well, look around! Other species have homosexuality!" Just because a male dog wants to hump another male dog doesn't make it acceptable. No more acceptable is the man who wants to hump every woman. We can be tolerant and accept aberrant behavior, but calling it normal does not make it so. It is giving into desires and proclivities. That is a choice.
I could compare this issue to the Nazis or the Taliban and state that the Gay issue is completely wrong... but that comparison wouldn't make sense either would it.
Each situation is different and this is a new unique scenerio. Some feel it is right and others feel it is wrong. The fact is that this Proposition passed and I do get the feeling that there are sore losers and whiners who are only hurting their own cause for the next time we vote on this.
Can you imagine Martin Luther King getting up there and throwing rocks through a Temple Window, or saying racism remarks in rebuttle to the way his people were treated? I can't! He protested in an honorable way and eventually people listened.
and most species have a small (2%) population that show homosexual tendencies. Perhaps we should shoot the male dogs trying to hump each other...
the most ironic part is that most gay relationships have very little to do with sex, yet you make it the main issue....
not all blacks were peaceful protesters - not all gays are throwing rocks...
why do you all need to make such bizarre comparisons without actually thinking it through?
Sorry but marriage IS a RELIGIOUS institution. It is a "sacrament" for Catholic and Orthodox Christians (Orthodox Christians believe that it is Christ himself who joins the man and woman together in marriage)and an "ordinance" for Mormons. Sacraments for Catholics and Orthodox Christians are not just mere rituals, but manifestations of God's grace in people's lives. "Ordinances" for Mormons are similiar, except they are regarded as eternal relationships.
To ignore the religious aspects of the discussion regarding Prop 8 is to ignore the possible attacks on religious indiviudals and communities that could come through anti-discrimination laws if gay marriage is legalized. This is more than a discussion of gay marriage, it is a discussion on possible infringements of religious liberty.
"a few mormons donated some money"? get real, stevie. you all spent over $20mil - that's not a few mormons... that's putting the full weight of your entire church into ads that were ripe with deceit. Nice church - guess the "do not lie" commandment doesn't really apply to mormons, eh?
Yes - you do have specific ceremonies that you could consider INSTITUTIONS in your church... No one goes to the courthouse to get Communion. No one is Baptised in the county clerk's office. Those are religious INSTITUTIONS.
But just because you make something a special ceremony in your church doesn't mean everyone does. Yet it's still called the same thing. Marriage. Regardless of where it is held...
Remember, from May till Nov. it was legal for gays to marry ---
Would it have been for gays to point the finger at the LDS conservative community (or any other group, for that matter) --- and call them a bunch of losers because marriage was finally allowable?
This is not a game, folks.
Another reason why I am not hetero and I don't get into the machismo bits guys play --- it's boyish and middle school.
If we turn this into a name-calling every time one side wins we're no better than the other side ---
Let's keep it in check --- put the testosterone in check --- and address the issue from a legal point.
To the religious --- respectful of your views --- all things considered.
Sodom, Gomorrah, Rome, Leviticus, we get it --- we hear you.
But how will you bring those arguments into the courtroom?
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Great comments from a great man.
I hate it when the haters come out with their hateful hate.

I myself voted Yes but have gay friends and relatives--I think it's a matter of preserving marriage and the traditional family. Sadly, that's been called "discrimination" and "hate" when those are actually far from the intent. The church has said it won't stand in the way of finding LEGAL solutions to this problem that don't have moral overtones and don't undermine traditional marriage and family.
Exactly right--THE CHILD CAN'T CHOOSE. We have no right to make that choice on our future children's behalf. We need to have traditional families available--and strong ones, too--to raise children that will contribute to society.
That's not to belittle single-parent families; most of them are doing their best. But we ideally want strong mother-father families to preserve the society in which we live. No other unit can do that--including the same-sex-couple family. We have to preserve the traditional family first and foremost, whatever else we do.
Good luck!