Vote Yes on Proposition 8
Listed below are some posts and articles that illustrate why I feel it is important for every California voter to vote Yes on Prop 8 this November:
Six reasons why voting yes is necessary
How prop 8 affects the country, families, and religious freedom
“There is no other arrangement that meets the divine purposes of the Almighty. Man and woman are His creations. Their duality is His design. Their complementary relationships and functions are fundamental to His purposes. One is incomplete without the other.” President Gordon B. Hinckley
The Divine Institution of Marriage
“Tolerance as a gospel principle means love and forgiveness of one another, not “tolerating” transgression. In today’s secular world, the idea of tolerance has come to mean something entirely different. Instead of love, it has come to mean condone – acceptance of wrongful behavior as the price of friendship. Jesus taught that we love and care for one another without condoning transgression. But today’s politically palatable definition insists that unless one accepts the sin he does not tolerate the sinner.” (Thanks Stephanie K.)
“Ultimately, however, the purpose of marriage – and of sex – is not to be “happy,” “satisfied” or “fulfilled.” It is to sustain our civilization by reproducing. A society of homosexuals cannot perpetuate itself; it is doomed to extinction. Hence, same-sex marriage is an oxymoron. Marriage is about having children and reproducing – one generation is transmitted to the next. The crisis of our age is that we no longer understand this – or care to.” (Thanks Luci)
When Gay Rights and Religious Liberties Clash
“Medical services: A Christian gynecologist at North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group in Vista, Calif., refused to give his patient in vitro fertilization treatment because she is in a lesbian relationship, and he claimed that doing so would violate his religious beliefs. (The doctor referred the patient to his partner, who agreed to do the treatment.) The woman sued under the state’s civil rights act. The California Supreme Court heard oral arguments in May 2008, and legal experts believe that the woman’s right to medical treatment will trump the doctor’s religious beliefs. One justice suggested that the doctors take up a different line of business.” (Thanks Audra)
Outline for Prop 8 by Stephanie K
I. Civics Review
II. In re Marriages case
III. Free exercise jurisprudence
IV. What does this all mean?
V. What about Prop. 8?
Discussion of changing law and culture
“The decision that gave us the right to marry today, in fact, was even more sweeping than just giving marriages, what it effectively did was it is gave gays and lesbians a protection under the law that will extend to other areas of the law such as employment and other contexts. And so it is actually an even bigger deal than it seems on it’s face. It’s not just about getting married, it’s about all sorts of ways we can protect people from our community.” -homosexual activist
“As states have legalized same-sex partnerships, the rights of gay couples have consistently trumped the rights of religious groups” -National Public Radio
“…Now what’s taking place in this country, that was built on religious liberty, we see that it is being thrown away for the purpose of sexual liberty.”
What happens here in California is not going to stay here: “More states will follow California’s example, The US Supreme Court will rule in favor of same-sex marriage” -Constitutional law professor
Newt Gingrich – Stop Imperial Judges
“I want to talk to you about an issue that is central, not just to California, but to our very civilization… On November 4th, the people can overrule the judges and undo what they did…To restore California’s long standing history of protecting marriage.” (Thanks California Marriage Defense)
Protecting Marriage to Protect Children
In this sense, marriage is a gift that society bestows on its next generation. Marriage (and only marriage) unites the three core dimensions of parenthood — biological, social and legal — into one pro-child form: the married couple. Marriage says to a child: The man and the woman whose sexual union made you will also be there to love and raise you. Marriage says to society as a whole: For every child born, there is a recognized mother and a father, accountable to the child and to each other.
I saw this a while ago, and was just recently reminded of it again. An inspiring message to voters of all faiths.
Obama/Biden Intolerant and Hateful?
All four potential leaders of the United States of America agree:
Marriage should not be redefined to include gay marriage.
When he was asked about supporting gay marriage, Biden said: “No. Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage.”
Palin agreed, “My answer is the same as his and it is that I do not,” she said.
My thoughts after a bumper sticker was taken off my car while it was parked in my driveway.
“…It still boggles my mind how the No supporters can justify their stance when marriage rights have been refused to many groups already. For example: a polygamist, or cousins, or a brother and sister, or minor and adult, or owner and pet… All can say that they love each other and deserve the right to marry. Do No supporters really believe that allowing this right to every group of people is the best idea, or is it because the homosexuals have become popular that they deserve it over all of the other “alternative” lifestyles?”
African-American leaders on the comparison of homosexuality to civil rights
My favorite quote from this is the man who states that comparing the complexion of his skin to a sin is offensive to him as an African American.
I understand that most gays believe that they were born the way they are and it is not a choice for them. I acknowledge that every person came to earth with a unique personality and I believe that some are born with a tendency toward homosexuality. Just as some are born with a tendency for an angry temper, an addictive nature, or feel a great desire to steal or lie. The latter are attitudes that we as a society agree are hurtful and immoral. Acknowledging that the feelings of people are real, does not mean that their actions are right. Excusing homosexuality for this reason seems illogical to me.
David Bednar discusses Prop 8 with young adults
A Question & Answer with David Bednar. Notice his comments on the tyranny of tolerance at about 4 minutes.
Preserving the Divine Institution of Marriage: Proposition 8
What is Prop 8?
What Prop 8 is not
Why vote yes on 8
What you can do
I especially liked to video with segments from the Church broadcast to California members at the bottom of the page.
The following interview was conducted with Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church, and Elder Lance B. Wickman, a member of the Seventy.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS: On the issue of a Constitutional amendment prohibiting same-gender marriage, there are some Latter-day Saints who are opposed to same-gender marriage, but who are not in favor of addressing this through a Constitutional amendment. Why did the Church feel that it had to step in that direction?
ELDER OAKS: Law has at least two roles: one is to define and regulate the limits of acceptable behavior. The other is to teach principles for individuals to make individual choices. The law declares unacceptable some things that are simply not enforceable, and there’s no prosecutor who tries to enforce them. We refer to that as the teaching function of the law. The time has come in our society when I see great wisdom and purpose in a United States Constitutional amendment declaring that marriage is between a man and a woman. There is nothing in that proposed amendment that requires a criminal prosecution or that directs the attorneys general to go out and round people up, but it declares a principle and it also creates a defensive barrier against those who would alter that traditional definition of marriage…
ELDER WICKMAN: …The fact of the matter is that the best way to assure that a definition of marriage as it now stands continues is to put it into the foundational legal document of the United States. That is in the Constitution. That’s where the battle has taken it. Ultimately that’s where the battle is going to be decided. It’s going to be decided as a matter of federal law one way or the other. Consequently it is not a battleground on such an issue that we Latter-day Saints have chosen, but it has been established and we have little choice but to express our views concerning it, which is really all that the Church has done. Decisions even for members of the Church as to what they do with respect to this issue must of course rest with each one in their capacity as citizens.
New blog: Proposition8.net more articles, videos, and conversations
Awesome description of the issue
…several comments made on a post called Countdown to California’s Prop 8 Showdown that were particularly interesting and thought provoking. Just thought I’d share:
…10—“The adoption of same-sex marriage would topple a long-standing system of shared values. It would change assumptions and expectations by which society has long operated–that men and women are not interchangeable, for example, and that the central reason for marriage is to provide children with mothers and fathers in a safe and loving environment. . . .My foreboding is that a generation after same-sex marriage is legalized, families will be even less stable than they are today, the divorce rate will be even higher and children will be even less safe. To express such a dire warning is to be labeled an alarmist, a reactionary, a bigot and worse . . . .but it is not bigotry to try to learn from history, or to point out that some institutions have stood the test of time because they are the only ones that can stand the test of time.”
Jeff Jacoby in Boston Globe…
…While eating out with my family tonight, I overheard a conversation between two women comparing the reasons they were “good” growing up. One of the two said she had no choice but to be good, or dad’s whip came out. She then laughed about how that could never happen today without her dad being hauled off to jail, and went on to say that for better or for worse, parents today are afraid to discipline.
Somehow that thought turned my mind to Proposition 8. For better or for worse, we are afraid to bring out the whip, so to speak, to draw a line in the sand. By we, I mean society as a whole, as it has become mainstream to accept alternative lifestyles, and ANY lifestyle, for that matter, really, with one important exception (an exception that goes back to the aforementioned whip). By law, we must not harm our children. Thank goodness for that, and yet…how to define HARM?…
Recent Comments