Is Jesus pleased?

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I support same-sex marriages.

Even though I don’t understand homosexuals, I support their rights as human beings. God created them, just as he did everyone else, but he endowed them with different feelings of attraction and intimacy.

All humans, regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation, deserve the same protection and rights under the law.

Married heterosexual couples are protected in issues of joint ownership, government or workplace benefits, and making life and death decisions for a spouse, and it is discriminatory to judge a person unworthy of these same rights simply because of who they are.

Being different should never be the core issue when determining if someone is worthy of being treated as an equal child of God. Jesus taught us to love one another, to bear one another’s burdens, to visit the sick, the poor and the fatherless. Never has he charged us to reject anyone.

When we tell someone they are unworthy of the same human rights and protections we enjoy simply because they live and act differently than we do, I wonder if Jesus is pleased with how we are handling this issue.

Carlyle Potter
St. George, Utah
By Permission

9 Comments

Steven D on July 25, 2008 at 3:38 pm

Amen.

Chino Blanco on July 25, 2008 at 4:52 pm

My hope is that Jennifer Kerns, or Jeff Flint, or Frank Schubert might notice this letter from a Mormon father who wrote it because he wants to do right by the son he loves.

And I only mention Jennifer, Jeff and Frank because if they won’t notice, at least Google will, and I’m damn close to getting Google to rank my “Schubert Flint” diaries above their own lame website.

Check intrade on Prop 8. It’s toast. Got about as much chance as McCain when it comes to winning in California. All I’m doing now is celebrating the humanity of it all.

Chino Blanco on July 26, 2008 at 12:23 am

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/25/BA5511V2DO.DTL

The fearmongering and fabrications are coming out of the Yes on 8 campaign thick and fast now.

Chino Blanco on July 26, 2008 at 1:04 am

http://laist.com/2008/07/25/gay_marriage_ban_proposition_langua.php

http://boifromtroy.com/?p=7394

Here’s what Prop 8 is now going to look like on the ballot:

ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY.
INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry. Provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. Fiscal Impact: Over the next few years, potential revenue loss, mainly sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of millions of dollars, to state and local governments. In the long run, likely little fiscal impact to state and local governments.

Chino Blanco on July 26, 2008 at 4:10 am

http://laist.com/2008/07/23/lapd_cheif_bratton_donates_money_to.php

Los Angeles’ top cop donated money to Equality California … “The Constitution guarantees life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Bratton said. “I see no reason why gays can’t pursue happiness through marriage.”

Chino Blanco on July 26, 2008 at 4:46 am

Josiah Greene over at the California Majority Report calls out the Yes on 8 campaign for their kindergarten lies:

http://www.camajorityreport.com/index.php?module=articles&func=display&aid=3275&ptid=9

Proponents of Proposition 8, the mean-spirited attempt to amend our state constitution to ban gay marriage, are falsely claiming that failure to pass the measure would mean kindergarteners would be taught that gay marriage is equivalent to traditional marriage … We only hope these lies will catch up with them.

Chino Blanco on July 26, 2008 at 5:38 am

Mormons believe in marriage “for all eternity” (LDS Temple marriages are believed to extend beyond death and can involve more than one wife in the hereafter).

It’s this belief that makes this recent letter to the Salt Lake Tribune so friggin’ hilarious:

Celestial polygamy

Marriage for all eternity is being threatened. Many male members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are married to multiple women in heaven. Even today, prominent LDS general authorities are also polygamists in heaven. I believe in the importance of eternal marriage; therefore I would like to propose a “Celestial Marriage Amendment” that would define marriage in heaven as “one man married to one woman.” This is a moral issue that certainly threatens to undermine the sanctity of heavenly unions. I encourage all people everywhere to use their time and means to bring this to pass. After all, I’d hate the LDS Church to develop a reputation for hypocrisy.

— T.W.
Salt Lake City

Indianadem on July 26, 2008 at 8:01 am

Sounds a bit like a variation on this middle eastern theme:

They shall recline on jewelled couches face to face, and there shall wait on them immortal youths with bowls and ewers and a cup of purest wine (that will neither pain their heads nor take away their reason); with fruits of their own choice and flesh of fowls that they relish. And theirs shall be the dark-eyed houris, chaste as hidden pearls: a guerdon for their deeds… We created the houris and made them virgins, loving companions for those on the right hand… Qur’an 56:12-39, Penguin ed

I wonder how the Salt Lake Tribune letter writer intended to enforce the thing?
- Chino Blanco on July 26, 2008 at 10:19 am
  I came across something today about Ali Gomaa, Egypt’s grand mufti, and three Koran verses he referred to when arguing that Muslims are free to choose a religion other than Islam:
  
  ‘Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion’
  ‘Whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve’
  ‘There is no compulsion in religion’
  
  I wonder what Gomaa would say about the involvement of American churches in the Prop 8 battle?

Steven D on July 25, 2008 at 3:38 pm

Amen.
Chino Blanco on July 25, 2008 at 4:52 pm

My hope is that Jennifer Kerns, or Jeff Flint, or Frank Schubert might notice this letter from a Mormon father who wrote it because he wants to do right by the son he loves.

And I only mention Jennifer, Jeff and Frank because if they won’t notice, at least Google will, and I’m damn close to getting Google to rank my “Schubert Flint” diaries above their own lame website.

Check intrade on Prop 8. It’s toast. Got about as much chance as McCain when it comes to winning in California. All I’m doing now is celebrating the humanity of it all.
Chino Blanco on July 26, 2008 at 12:23 am

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/25/BA5511V2DO.DTL

The fearmongering and fabrications are coming out of the Yes on 8 campaign thick and fast now.
Chino Blanco on July 26, 2008 at 1:04 am

http://laist.com/2008/07/25/gay_marriage_ban_proposition_langua.php

http://boifromtroy.com/?p=7394

Here’s what Prop 8 is now going to look like on the ballot:

ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY.
INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry. Provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. Fiscal Impact: Over the next few years, potential revenue loss, mainly sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of millions of dollars, to state and local governments. In the long run, likely little fiscal impact to state and local governments.
Chino Blanco on July 26, 2008 at 4:10 am

http://laist.com/2008/07/23/lapd_cheif_bratton_donates_money_to.php

Los Angeles’ top cop donated money to Equality California … “The Constitution guarantees life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Bratton said. “I see no reason why gays can’t pursue happiness through marriage.”
Chino Blanco on July 26, 2008 at 4:46 am

Josiah Greene over at the California Majority Report calls out the Yes on 8 campaign for their kindergarten lies:

http://www.camajorityreport.com/index.php?module=articles&func=display&aid=3275&ptid=9

Proponents of Proposition 8, the mean-spirited attempt to amend our state constitution to ban gay marriage, are falsely claiming that failure to pass the measure would mean kindergarteners would be taught that gay marriage is equivalent to traditional marriage … We only hope these lies will catch up with them.
Chino Blanco on July 26, 2008 at 5:38 am

Mormons believe in marriage “for all eternity” (LDS Temple marriages are believed to extend beyond death and can involve more than one wife in the hereafter).

It’s this belief that makes this recent letter to the Salt Lake Tribune so friggin’ hilarious:

Celestial polygamy

Marriage for all eternity is being threatened. Many male members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are married to multiple women in heaven. Even today, prominent LDS general authorities are also polygamists in heaven. I believe in the importance of eternal marriage; therefore I would like to propose a “Celestial Marriage Amendment” that would define marriage in heaven as “one man married to one woman.” This is a moral issue that certainly threatens to undermine the sanctity of heavenly unions. I encourage all people everywhere to use their time and means to bring this to pass. After all, I’d hate the LDS Church to develop a reputation for hypocrisy.

— T.W.
Salt Lake City
- Indianadem on July 26, 2008 at 8:01 am
  
  Sounds a bit like a variation on this middle eastern theme:
  
  They shall recline on jewelled couches face to face, and there shall wait on them immortal youths with bowls and ewers and a cup of purest wine (that will neither pain their heads nor take away their reason); with fruits of their own choice and flesh of fowls that they relish. And theirs shall be the dark-eyed houris, chaste as hidden pearls: a guerdon for their deeds… We created the houris and made them virgins, loving companions for those on the right hand… Qur’an 56:12-39, Penguin ed
  
  I wonder how the Salt Lake Tribune letter writer intended to enforce the thing?
  - Chino Blanco on July 26, 2008 at 10:19 am
    I came across something today about Ali Gomaa, Egypt’s grand mufti, and three Koran verses he referred to when arguing that Muslims are free to choose a religion other than Islam:
    
    ‘Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion’
    ‘Whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve’
    ‘There is no compulsion in religion’
    
    I wonder what Gomaa would say about the involvement of American churches in the Prop 8 battle?

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