{"id":1421,"date":"2011-08-29T11:51:44","date_gmt":"2011-08-29T15:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flunkingsainthood\/?p=1421"},"modified":"2011-08-28T21:55:48","modified_gmt":"2011-08-29T01:55:48","slug":"can-mormonism-make-a-place-for-same-sex-marriage-guest-blogger-brad-carmack-says-yes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flunkingsainthood\/2011\/08\/can-mormonism-make-a-place-for-same-sex-marriage-guest-blogger-brad-carmack-says-yes.html","title":{"rendered":"Can Mormonism Make a Place for Same-Sex Marriage? Guest Blogger Brad Carmack Says Yes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Guest blogger Brad Carmack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Hi, my name is Brad Carmack, calling on behalf of Protect Marriage Maine.\u00a0 Will you vote to maintain the traditional definition of marriage as between a man and a woman?”<\/p>\n

This was my phone pitch in October of 2009.\u00a0 Calling from Provo, Utah, I volunteered in the effort to persuade voters in Maine to oppose same-sex marriage (a\u00a0bill permitting same-sex marriage in Maine had been signed into law five months earlier).\u00a0 Question 1, a Maine referendum, repealed the state law on November 3 by the narrow margin of 53% to 47%.\u00a0\u00a0 Victory!<\/p>\n

It’s coming up on two years since my anti-same-sex marriage activism, and I now find myself on the opposite side of the fence.\u00a0 Last year while at BYU, I risked my diplomas by writing and openly distributing a book about same-sex marriage and homosexuality entitled Homosexuality: A Straight BYU Student’s Perspective<\/em>.\u00a0 As I wrote I discovered the science behind sexual orientation, the social arguments for and against same-sex marriage, and the heart-wrenching stories of gay Mormons.\u00a0 This experience of writing and sharing my book, along with some soul-searching and prayer, eventually convinced me to support same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n

To my surprise, I’ve learned that same-sex couples can and do make wonderful parents.\u00a0 Homosexual orientation is about more than just lust; it’s about companionship, emotional intimacy, and romance, just like heterosexual orientation.\u00a0 The gay couples I know experience the same troubles and joys as my opposite-sex -couple friends.\u00a0 Same-sex couples (and their children) stand to gain from the mutual caretaking, community support, and stabilizing effects of marriage.\u00a0 Risky mixed-orientation marriages and lifelong celibacy are more of a threat to healthy marriage than monogamous same-sex partnerships.<\/p>\n

Mormonism is unequivocally pro-family: so is same-sex marriage<\/em>.\u00a0 I feel that this is the strongest reason Mormonism can abide gay marriage.<\/p>\n

Also, contrary to my initial suppositions, I discovered that there is<\/em> room within LDS theology for embracing gay families.\u00a0 Yes, I know the Church vigorously opposed same-sex marriage in Hawaii, Alaska, and California.\u00a0 Yes, many cite the Family Proclamation and the 2010 Church Handbook of Instructions as clear condemnation of all homosexual behavior.\u00a0 However, the Church’s law of chastity is explicitly tied to legal<\/em> marriage — in which case a monogamous, legally married LDS same-sex couple in Massachusetts is arguably already abiding the law of chastity.\u00a0 Also, the best example in the universe of the intersection of love, commitment, and unity is not of a married man and woman, but of three men: the Godhead.<\/p>\n

What about scripture?\u00a0 We have no record of Jesus condemning homosexuality during His ministry.\u00a0 The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price (Restoration scripture) are silent about same-sex relationships.\u00a0 As many scholars have argued, the five or so Bible verses frequently referenced do not condemn homosexual conduct per se<\/em> in a way that’s binding on the latter-day church.\u00a0 The Family Proclamation is not doctrine (compare to both Official Declarations, which were voted on by general church membership), and even if it were, does not provide an applicable test for discerning spiritual sex (witness intersex persons).\u00a0 Unfortunately, space doesn’t permit here the further, more formal discussion needed on this subject (more can be found in the narrated YouTube PowerPoint, “Why Mormonism Can Abide Gay Marriage”).<\/p>\n

To conclude.\u00a0 Last weekend I attended a social event with a group of my gay friends, many of whom were on a same-sex date.\u00a0 I asked how many had served missions — all but one raised their hands.\u00a0 Not one of them is still active in the Church<\/em>.\u00a0 The exodus of gay Mormons and their supporters from the Church is of great concern to me.\u00a0\u00a0 I believe this issue is one of, if not the<\/em>, moral issue of my LDS generation.\u00a0 After all, it is my (mostly straight) generation that will become the parents of tomorrow\u2019s gay and lesbian children.\u00a0 Along with many of my peers, I am fiercely committed to building a world where a robust opportunity for a healthy marriage is not limited to my straight children. \u00a0I pray for the day when more Mormons come to see the value of same-sex relationships, and seek to match an institution to the reality of homosexual orientation that will yield the same personal and societal benefits we believe flow from matching heterosexual marriage to heterosexual orientation.\u00a0 Jesus taught that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).\u00a0 Can we make a Sabbath<\/span> marriage that is made for man — gay\/lesbian man?\u00a0 As Latter-day Saints, I for one believe that we can: and I hope that we will.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Biology graduate Brad Carmack presented “Why Mormonism Can Abide Gay Marriage” at the Sunstone Symposium in Ogden, Utah on 6 August 2011.\u00a0 He recently graduated with his MPA and JD from BYU, and earlier this year published Homosexuality: A Straight BYU Student’s Perspective (available for free to watch or read at bradcarmack.blogspot.com<\/a>).\u00a0 Brad is an active member of the LDS church and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.<\/em><\/p>\n

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“Hi, my name is Brad Carmack, calling on behalf of Protect Marriage Maine.\u00a0 Will you vote to maintain the traditional definition of marriage as between a man and a woman?” This was my phone pitch in October of 2009.\u00a0 Calling from Provo, Utah, I volunteered in the effort to persuade voters in Maine to oppose…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24,671,672,675,22,668,676,673,669,21,678,677,674,670],"class_list":["post-1421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mormonism","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-brad-carmack","tag-byu","tag-church-handbook-of-instructions-and-homosexuality","tag-flunking-sainthood","tag-gay-mormons","tag-gay-mormons-who-leave-the-church","tag-gays-at-byu","tag-homosexuality-and-mormons","tag-jana-riess","tag-mormons-involved-in-protect-marriage-maine","tag-protect-marriage-maine-2008","tag-same-sex-marriage-in-maine","tag-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints"],"yoast_head":"\nCan Mormonism Make a Place for Same-Sex Marriage? 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