Why Mormonism Can Abide Gay Marriage
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I make a case for why the LDS Church could embrace gay marriage in harmony with it's pro-marriage, pro-family stance. The narrated presentation is on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1jDUcBKml0).
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Why Mormonism Can Abide Gay Marriage
- 1. Why Mormonism Can Abide Gay Marriage
- 5. Taylor and Jessica Jessica Taylor
- 9. Mormonism ≠ gay marriage
- 16. Same-sex marriage: more stable than cohabitation
- 19. Procreation argument “ [S]exual relations within marriage are divinely approved not only for the purpose of procreation , but also as a way of expressing love and strengthening emotional and spiritual bonds between husband and wife.” -CHI 21.4.4 Same-sex couples, like any infertile married couple, stand to benefit from the bonding effect of sexual relations .
- 22. Procreation argument How about this infertile couple?
- 27. Providing reliable caregivers If marriage means anything, it is that you’re there for each other “in sickness and in health,” in the ups and the downs. Compared to celibacy, this means lifetimes of caretaking which would otherwise be neglected or picked up by the state.
- 28. Providing Reliable Caregivers “ A husband or wife is the social worker of first resort, the psychiatrist of first resort, the cop and counselor and insurer and nurse and 911 operator of first resort.” Jonathan Rauch, Gay Marriage: Why it is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America , 2004, pg. 23.j In my view, this is the #1 reason to support gay marriage in Mormonism.
- 29. Settling young men Unmarried men between 24 and 35 are three times as likely to murder another male, and are more likely to rape and rob, among other risks, than their married counterparts. Some gay men, rather than celibacy, would instead choose marriage were it encouraged and available.
- 61. “ Pull your pants down” test- look at the genitals
- 65. The stats
- 70. So, let’s vote!
- 73. Bishop’s dilemma Jessica Taylor Perform the marriage or not?
- 74. Jessica Taylor
- 75. Jessica Taylor
- 76. Jessica Taylor
- 77. Jessica Taylor Excommunication Exaltation Jessica Taylor If physical appearance cannot ground the bishop’s decision, the criterion of appearance must be rejected, not just the “fringe” cases .
- 78. Jessica Taylor Conclusion from uncertainty : perform both marriages, or perform neither; choosing only one couple is irrational. Jessica Taylor Spiritual sex of each?
- 79. Jessica Taylor Excommunication Exaltation Jessica Taylor At the judgment bar, shouldn’t these couples’ fate be determined by their behavior toward each other, rather than on the level of a hormone present in the womb ?
- 96. Why Mormonism Can Abide Gay Marriage
Editor's Notes
- By raise of hands- those six and above, those 5 and below. Note awareness of eventual audio audience.
- Ambitious argument. This is a persuasive presentation. If successful, you will walk out of this room with a greater belief that gay marriage CAN fit into Mormonism, than you did when you entered the room.
- Briefly, wasn’t informed about homosexuality issues until about two years ago. Started researching, quickly became convinced of the moral gravity of this issue in the Church. Note my book goes into greater depth than I have time for today- but you’re welcome to read it for more, 600 references, online and selling here.
- I want to tell you about this couple. Their story will come in more later- for now, I want you to know that about a year and a half ago, Jessica and Taylor fell in love. They’re both members of the church. They’ve been dating since that time, and now they want to get married. The couple lives in Colorado.
- Ambitious argument. This is a persuasive presentation. If successful, you will walk out of this room with a greater belief that gay marriage can fit into Mormonism than you did when you entered the room.
- Foreshadow that we’ll talk about the reproduction argument later. (call attention to equation). This is where I got the idea for my title.
- Okay, so we’re going to get into more detail later, I hope I’ve recognized fairly the steepness of the mountain I endeavor to climb with this presentation. Spoiler, I really do think Mormonism can abide gay marriage- and I’m not alone in that belief. (wayne schow, clay essig, and others) . Speak slowly, clearly, deliberately.
- Peculiar People: Mormons and Same-sex Attraction , edited by Ron Schow, Wayne Schow, and Marybeth Raynes, pg. 125-126.
- More healthy for the partners, better for children
- Couples like this don’t have to “break the odds” as much: stability is more normal among married couples than it is cohabiting couples.
- Describe the pictures for the audio audience
- Talk about cheek swabs, genetic material for spermatogenesis and oogenesis. Males have all the genetic material needed to manufacture a human egg. I’ve confirmed this with several academics, but it doesn’t take much of a logical leap. First 22 chromosomes are the same, second X turned into a Barr body…
- Because such families wouldn’t be formed- instead, spouses and children would be in compatible-orientation marriages.
- And converts that don’t join
- I know I do. I want my kids, gay or straight, to have a robust option of an authentic, stable marriage.
- I know I do. I want my kids, gay or straight, to have a robust option of an authentic, stable marriage.
- It’s up to you to decide, audience!
- This topic, as could many others, could be an entire presentation on its own. I’m not going to provide all the support I could, because we have an ambitious schedule. Harold B. Lee, The First Area General Conference for Germany, Austria, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Spain of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in Munich Germany, August 24–26, 1973, with Reports and Discourses , 69.
- Some perhaps don’t find this reason satisfying. However, it is entirely possible that God could ordain both man-woman marriage, woman-woman, man-man, and man-women (plural).
- SSM will likely be a minority phenomenon, since most are heterosexual.
- Now stay with me. Some of my rehearsal audience has found this one a bit tough to wrap your head around. If the Family Proclamation is true, we are concerned with marrying female and male SPIRITS.
- I’m used to these types of images because of my anatomy and biology training- but you may choose to avert your eyes.
- This is Pat of SNL fame. You may be familiar with the sketch- the point is that you can’t tell if Pat is male or female by looking, and the voice doesn’t help you either. Share my SLC story – met a person that had a sex change operation, a woman that used to be a man, my brain had no space for just a person - only a male or a female.
- Tell story I asked my dad once how to tell if a cat is a boy or girl. He said the same way you tell if a person’s a boy or girl. “But how do you tell that?” I pressed. “Well, pull your pants down and then you can tell,” he replied.
- Dr. jeffery gave a sunstone presentation on this subject a decade ago- can listen to it if interested. I borrowed these slides from embryologist professors at BYU. I’m going to summarize what he did in 90 minutes in less than five.
- You that are familiar with the biology will be familiar that sexual orientation determination is a subset of sex determination.
- At week five, the embryo could turn into a male or a female. Sex is not determined at conception, like many people assume.
- Fold a piece of paper. The same structure becomes either a penis or a clitoris. Another structure becomes either the labia majora, or the scrotum.
- Hold up paper- every stage between clitoris and penis, between scrotum and labia majora: between male and female.
- Stay at a basic level- reference details in my book or Dr. Jeffery’s lecture from a decade ago
- This is the promised summary.
- This is the promised summary.
- There are examples of abnormalities for 2 and 3 as well
- Remember, I’m asking you for SPIRITUAL gender, not physical gender!
- Repeat the highlighted person.
- Remember Jessica and Taylor, the couple in Colorado that fell in love and now want to get married? Now, Taylor is both a boy’s name and a girl’s name. I have a female and a male friend, both named Taylor. Did you think of…
- Remember Jessica and Taylor, the couple in Colorado that fell in love and now want to get married? Now, Taylor is both a boy’s name and a girl’s name. I have a female and a male friend, both named Taylor. Did you think of…
- Remember Jessica and Taylor, the couple in Colorado that fell in love and now want to get married? Now, Taylor is both a boy’s name and a girl’s name. I have a female and a male friend, both named Taylor. Did you think of…
- Or this?
- WE DON’T KNOW SPIRITUAL GENDER
- False positives, false negatives. Picture a human making a decision based on bat echolocation. All gay couples are intersex in one important way- atypical orientation.
- WE DON’T KNOW SPIRITUAL GENDER
- Remember, we’re skimming since other scholars have developed these points. (SKIM) Just let them look at this for a few seconds
- Brigham Young, J of D (emphasis added). August 17, 1949 FP statement. Possible, irrespective of likelihood.
- Footnote 452 in my book. Lach, Homosexuality and Scripture from a Latter-day Saint Perspective , quoted in Rick Phillips, Conservative Christian Identity and Same-sex Orientation: The Case of Gay Mormons , 2005, pg. 98.
- I think it’s disgusting and repulsive. Note I almost avoided this argument, since it struck me as weak.
- Gross to me does not = immoral for another.
- You’re married to one spouse? If God’s married to many, then you may have to take on more spouses yourself, or if you’re a woman, let your husband take on additional wives.
- Give ‘em a minute to write this down. Say it out loud for the audio audience