Mormon Leadership Backs Proposition 8
LDS Members Asked to Support the Measure
The position of the Mormon church is not only that marriage is between one man and one woman, but that the children are entitled to be raised in the bonds of matrimony. Although the church does not back political candidates, it is active in causes it views as moral issues. On June 29, 2008, a letter was read in California Stakes asking members to support any efforts in the state to define marriage as being between one man and one woman.
LDS Efforts Backing Proposition 8
One California blogger was called into her stake president's office and asked to make a rather considerable donation of time and money to help get Proposition 8 passed. The amendment to the California constitution merely the latest step in the battle against what the church views as an attack on marriage.
Opposition to the Mormon Stance on Same-sex Marriage
When Proposition 8 was first put on the ballot in California, a measure which would define marriage as between a man and a woman, the Mormon church stepped up its efforts to speak out on what it perceived as a moral issue. In this, the church has the backing of people who are its usual opponents, such as Evangelical Christians, but gay groups have spoken up in protest, claiming that the church should lose its tax exempt status.
Affirmation, a group of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Mormons, opposes the actions church leaders have taken to get Proposition 8 and similar amendments passed. According to their web site, a BYU professor had his contract not renewed in 2006. Early in 2008, a married couple that belonged to the church and whose husband was a member of the Salt Lake orchestra, resigned from the church and from the orchestra rather than face church discipline for a letter to the editor that they wrote for the Salt Lake Tribune supporting measures that allow same-sex couples to marry.
Utah's State Constitution Defines Marriage as Between One Man and One Woman
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has maintained that marriage is between one man and one woman, and the constitution for the state of Utah drafts it as such. This definition of marriage was added to the state constitution when Utah was seeking statehood and the polygamy issue delayed the entry. The position of the modern Mormon church states that marriage is between man and woman and any other definition defies marriage as ordained by God.
Mormon leaders maintain that they have a right to speak on a moral issue and provide direction in how they believe their members should vote, and the paperwork coming from the church itself falls short of telling Mormon members how they should vote when Proposition 8 is voted on in November.
Sources:
LDS Opposition to Same Sex Marriage
Nine Moons Blog – the My Girl Bill
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