Help Protect Marriage!

There are a few things I feel EXTREMELY passionate about, one of them is to support the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. We, as citizens of the USA, are free to believe in whatever we want, but we are not free to do whatever we want- obviously. Those who favor gay marriage say it is their right to be married. To me, this is in the same vein as saying an angry man has a right to kill if he is provoked! We have NO rights if our actions take away the rights of others.

The following are examples of how allowing gay marriage is taking rights away from these people.

Adoption services: Because the Catholic Church in Massachusetts refuses to place children with same-sex couples as required by MA gay marriage law, Catholic Charities has been forced to close its adoption program.

Housing: As a Jewish institution, Yeshiva University in NYC banned same-sex couples from its married dormitory on religious principle. New York's highest court invalidated the schools regulations as a form of unlawful discrimination.
*This example is particulary important to our privately owned church school, BYU.

Medical services: A gynecologist in California refused to give a lesbian patient in vitro fertilization treatment on the basis of his religious beliefs. (The doctor referred the patient to another physician.) The doctor has been sued and is likely to lose.



Also, what about the rights of children?

Changing the definition of marriage to include people of the same sex is being disguised as a rights issue, distracting from the social and moral consequences associated with such a step. Even if you are not religious, this is a moral issue because of the effects on children raised in homes without the support of a father and a mother. Studies cited in this article support the fact that kids need the dynamic that is between a man and a woman who love each other and love them. So if we are going to talk about rights, let's talk about the rights of children: The Family: A Proclamation to the World states, "Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother..." The right to undermine a social foundation that has successfully perpetuated our existence for millennia seems to be a flavor-of-the-month(s) (and unfortunately years) political agenda and should be treated with skeptical caution.

My unsolicited opinion about Proposition 8 is as follows: To Latter-day Saints-The First Presidency issued a statement asking our "best efforts" to support the passage of the Proposition. It therefore behooves us to gain our own spiritual confirmation that this is indeed inspired council and to act accordingly. To everyone-the passage/non-passage of this Proposition will have profound effects on California and subsequently on other states and conceivably on other nations. It therefore deserves an objective, serious examination of the pros and cons.

We urge you to find out more about proposition 8 and to donate to Protect Marriage!

Also we invite you to blog about this to help spread the word.
*This was written by both Deanna and Charles