Defender of Marriage

For this assignment in my marriage and family class, we are supposed to show ways that we can defend traditional marriage as being defined as one man and one woman. I am unable to defend only that, as I am very pro marriage equality. I spent a lot of time on the readings and nothing was able to sway my feelings about it. I do think that the Latter-day Saint community blows marriage equality out of proportion. Nothing done here on earth will change what will happen in the afterlife, whatever that may entail. Heavenly Father will always know how to work things out. 

Taking personal feelings out of it, even from a legal standpoint it makes sense to have marriage equality. Separation of church and state alone should have made it a non issue. In one of the readings by President Oaks, he said,

“Office holders remain free to draw upon their personal beliefs and motivations and advocate their positions in the public square. But when acting as public officials they are not free to apply personal convictions — religious or other — in place of the defined responsibilities of their public offices,” he said. “A county clerk’s recent invoking of religious reasons to justify refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-gender couples violates this principle.” 

If you can't use a religious reason to refuse a marriage license, then I don't think religious reasons should decide what a marriage is. There are those who say it shouldn't be legal because they can't have children. Well, neither can a lot of heterosexual couples. There are so many children in the world with no parents at all, that I can think of nothing better than them being adopted into loving households, no matter what the parentage is made up of. A marriage is not sacred or Godly simply because those involved are of the opposite sex. So much more goes into it. Divorce, infidelity, and marrying for the wrong reasons are all things that threaten the sanctity of marriage, and I can't even begin to tell you how many heterosexual marriages that I know that have fallen victim to some of those things. Other's say it shouldn't be allowed because children deserve a father and a mother. However, single parents exist. I was raised by a single mom and I would have loved to have two moms instead of just one.

Many arguments against this being legalized also have many counter reasons for why it should be. I don't see it as a big deal at all, in fact I was one of those who celebrated with the supreme court decision. However, the separation of church and state should also be defended when it comes to who is marrying them. I may defend LGBT marriage, but I also will defend the right to not officiate said ceremonies due to religious opinions. 

My views on this are very different from some of my fellow Latter-day Saint members, and that is okay! I know that Heavenly Father is all knowing, and he will judge us on the contents of our hearts. as long as we treat each other with kindness, this world will be wonderful no matter what.


Elder Oaks Calls for Balance and Accommodation, Not Culture Wars #Fairness4All. (2015, October 20). Retrieved from https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/elder-oaks-balance-accommodation-not-culture-wars