My Dad, the Author

I love this article that my dad wrote. I share many of his same opinions and perspectives. I am so blessed to have parents who are so willing to have compassion and love towards anyone and everyone. May we all attempt to do the same and treat everyone with equality and respect.

Same-sex Marriage is About Human Rights

I feel there are misunderstandings regarding those of us who are active members of the LDS church who also support same-sex marriages. Even though I can’t understand the lifestyle of homosexuals, I do support their rights as human beings. God created them, just as he did everyone else, but He endowed them with different feelings when it comes to attraction and intimacy.

All humans, regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation deserve the same protection and rights under the law. Just as married heterosexual couples are protected when it comes to issues of joint ownership, benefits from the government or the workplace, or the authority to make life and death decisions for a partner, it is very discriminatory to say that a person is judged to be unworthy of these same rights simply because of "who" they are. Yes, gays and lesbians are different from probably 90% of us, but being different should never be the core issue when determining if a person is worthy of being treated as an equal child of God.

I have many friends and family members who are gay. Those who are in committed relationships (some monogamous for over 25 years) really just want to be able to pledge their love and loyalty to their partner and have their union recognized by the state. There is no subversive plot to somehow take away from the value of marriages that are performed as religious ceremonies. They just want to be treated fairly.

I have been told by some that it isn’t about "who" they are but what they "do". At which point I ask, "Are all heterosexuals who get married living the kind of life that is representative of the divine nature of marriage, as ordained by God?" It seems clear to me that using the logic of "not who, but what they do" does not support the intent of the church’s stand on this issue. All throughout America we recognize the marriages of adulterers, drug addicts, rapists, serial killers (some women are actually attracted to these men), sex-crazed teenagers, illegal aliens, drunken strangers in Las Vegas, or even 60-year-old polygamous men who marry young women who are at least 17 years old (the legal age in Texas) as long as they are not of the same sex! The same-sex marriage issue isn’t about behaviors, but rather about being homosexual. Otherwise the church should support legislation that would prohibit marriage between any two people who are deemed unworthy.

Jesus taught us that we are to love one another, to bare one another’s burdens, to visit the sick, the poor and the fatherless. Never has He given us charge to reject anyone. I can think of no other group of people in history who have been terrorized more, rejected more, or hated more than homosexuals. Anyone who believes the difficult challenge of being gay was chosen by that person, especially the boys and girls who grew up in our church, has never taken time to actually talk to a gay person and truly listened to his or her life story. It is heartrending beyond comprehension.

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

Carlyle Potter
St. George, Utah