This is a musing I had while sitting in Elder's Quorum this morning. The night before my wife and I had watched a documentary called "8: The Mormon Proposition". Ever since proposition 8 and even some time before that I have had mixed feelings regarding homosexuality. I am not a homophobe or anything like that. I am really more concerned with the cause (if any) of homosexuality and the draw that homosexual couples have towards the heterosexual institution of marriage. I decided to try and identify what the norm is for heterosexual relationships and see how it is different if at all from homosexual relationships. Here are my notes:
Heterosexual relationships
-emotional connectivity aka. love
-physical intimacy
-children (optional)
Homosexual relationships
-emotional connectivity aka. love
-physical intimacy
-children (optional through adoption only)
In what other kinds of situations is marriage restricted?
-marriage to: objects, animals, close family members, when one or both partners are under legal age, plural heterosexual marriage
-Marriage is not defined by the type of physical intimacy between partners. In other words, the way in which you have sex does not define marriage.
-Sexual morality is not a prerequisite for marriage. Many married heterosexual couples practice sex in ways that would be deemed immoral by others. Hence, the variations in sex used in homosexual relationships has nothing to do with their eligibility for marriage.
-The institution of marriage has a spiritual/religious origin
-Governments are comprised of people who carry their own belief systems. In a democratic society it only makes sense that individuals with certain beliefs will strive to perpetuate their beliefs politically. It is an error to think of the government as a separate entity. It is an imaginary construction. In all reality the government is us. This is why I have a hard time with pleas to keep religion out of politics. People cite the phrase "separation of church and state". My understanding of the phrase is to avoid a state religion. But if people think that those with religious belief will leave their beliefs at the door before entering the voting booth they are mistaken. In a nation that is primarily of Euro-Christian descent it is no surprise that a) marriage as an institution has entered the political realm and b) that it is strongly defended.
-Marriage in western society has been romanticized. Hence, it makes sense that people who are homosexual and feel a strong romantic connectivity seek marriage since marriage for many is the climax of romantic emotional intimacy.
-Questions:
1-In societies that do not romanticize
marriage do homosexual
individuals still seek out marriage?
2-Why do homosexual individuals want to
replicate a heterosexual romantic
construction? Why have we/they not
explored creating their own romantic
construction and then tie it to the
political equality they seek?
3-What is the general opinion of homosexual
individuals towards heterosexual marriage?
If proposition 8 was reversed and
heterosexual marriage was being banned
would the homosexual community have shown
the mercy they claim is lacking in their
current situation?
4-Since governments are comprised of people
and some people are religious why is it
then wrong for religious organizations to
lobby to support political propositions?
5-Homosexuality is a belief system just
like religion. If homosexual organizations
had used similar tactics to influence
proposition 8 would it have been criticized
in the same way?
Notice that I have not put a conclusion at the end of this post. I will never put a conclusion. I do not need to state my opinions because they come out in the notes I take and the questions I ask. I do this to show that I really am just trying to sort through my own thoughts and the thoughts of others. Please feel free to comment and post your own questions. I welcome this, I want this, it is the whole point of this blog. I am far from settling my opinion on this issue.
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