Standing For Something

Our children got the chance to "stand for something" on Nov. 3, the night before elections in a Prop 8 rally in front of Target on Kettleman lane encouraging people to protect marriage.

This November, California voters had to vote AGAIN on how they wanted to define marriage. We did it in 2001, and the vast majority of the population voted to have it be between a man and a woman. But, this last spring, activist judges in the California Superior Court ruled that unconstitutional and flipped it, resulting in thousands of gay couples getting married these past few months. The proper way to handle it would have been for them to put another proposition on the ballot in November for the people to vote on. They probably knew it wouldn't pass, so they did it the back-door way. Thus, Proposition 8 appeared, but this time it would change the actual California constitution to recognize marriage is only between a man and a woman. It became clear that if we couldn't pass this, then there would be a lot of ramifications not only on society, but for religion itself. If it was a constiutional law to marry same sex couples, and a church refused to do it, they would lose their tax exempt status, etc. etc. Massachusetts allowed gay marriage a few years ago, and it has been discussed in their elementary schools. That was NOT okay with me. Religious adoption agencies had to shut down there because the state mandated that they place babies with gay couples.

So, the church took a big stand and asked the members to support it any way they possibly could. Members donated money and lots of time by making phone calls, knocking doors, inputting data, putting up signs, etc. It was a 3-month long proccess and it absolutely consumed our lives for those months. Every lesson on Sunday was somehow related to "prop 8". :) It was tedious and time-consuming for those involved, but the prophet had asked us to stand up and declare what we believed to be true. It got ugly, very ugly. The No on 8 people were pretty hateful. They were accusing us of no tolerance, but that's exactly what would happen if we allowed gay marriage-our church would not be tolerated for it's beliefs against it. It has to go both ways. It's such a touchy subject, and I realized that without our knowledge of God's plan for us and modern revelation, people wouldn't really have a problem with it. They believe it is a human right-to marry whom you choose. They compared it to black segregation. If it's not okay to discriminate against blacks or any other race, why is it okay to discriminate against gays? Moral issues are hard to debate on a political level and I see both sides, but since I have a testimony of living prophets, I have to do what the prophet asks. It led us to some interesting conversations with our kids. It's tricky to teach tolerance to children, but yet provide clear guidelines and standards. Fortunately, our area is fairly conservative and there were Prop 8 signs everywhere around Lodi. The kids would count them as we passed and be shocked when they would see a No on 8, another opportunity to explain that everyone believes different things and that's okay and that's what makes America so great: we can all think differently and live "peaceably" together. Well, Prop 8 passed and we were releaved for a time. But, it appears to be far from over, the other side will not give up. I doubt this fight will ever end, but I take courage and have peace that we did what we were asked and that we are right and that will all be made known eventually...