I don't really have anything else that has occupied the deep thoughts of my mind, so I'm going to write about the one thing that has been there: Gay people. Yeah, weird huh? Here's why.
Last weekend I went up to visit family, and as a result (long story) I would up being around a bunch of gay people. I just happened to eavesdrop on a lot of the conversation, so finally I thought I would put my opinion of the whole subject out there for everybody to read. Let there be no more debate about where I stand on the whole thing.
First off, you might as well know that I am not going to vote for gay marriage. It just isn't right and nothing is going to convince me otherwise. I'm a "God fearing man," and I really can't go against my principles.
That being said, I'm mormon, which to many people is just as if not more controversial than being gay. I probably stick to my beliefs as much as anybody else does. Trust me, I've heard it all. We get just as much flack as anybody else in the world does. Therefore I can sympathize with the gay community when they talk about equal treatment and especially bullying.
So therefore, I'm going to treat this subject from a mormon vs. gay people point of view. Please don't think that I represent the church on the matter. It's just how all my thoughts have congealed.
The fact of the matter is that the bullying against gay people should not be happening. I don't agree with that at all. No matter who you are or what your status in life is there is no reason for you to treat another person like dirt. This is especially true in the church. We are taught to apply things like "do unto others as you would have done unto you" and things of that nature. None of us would like to go back to the Missouri days were the church was basically given an extermination order. That was cruel and inhuman. Yet driving somebody to suicide because of insults and bad treatment doesn't really seem that much better to me.
That being said, it goes both ways. I really haven't heard to many genuinely positive things about the church from anybody in the gay community, and I'm talking about before prop 8.
Recently Boyd K. Packer gave a talk that pretty much set the homosexuals on a rampage. Apparently they collaborated to send 150000 letters to president packer to try and get him to retract his statements.
Here's my problem with that. First off, he was talking about porn, not homosexual relations. It was taken out of context to begin with. Second, these apostles have been pushed against the wall for their beliefs for their whole lives. Why would a bunch of letters make him correct his statement? Third, why get all hurt about the whole thing anyways? Gay people don't believe in the church's doctrine...so why are they complaining about what he said? It really shouldn't even matter to them. It ridiculous.
That being said, there was a response to the whole event. There was a facebook group started that tried to get people to write 100000 letters of support to president packer. Sure that could be considered a gesture of kindness and support, but when has fighting fire with fire worked? Maybe during a war...but it this a war? If you really want to "do unto others as you would have done unto yourself," why are we even responding to this? From my experience the whole "turn the other cheek" idea works just fine. Let time sooth things over. Don't throw more gasoline onto an already burning fire.
Like I said before, the church is not going to change it's stance on the issue. I wouldn't expect them to. That being said, I can't excuse some of the things that I have seen members of our church do and the judgmental attitude towards those who are not of our faith. I also cannot excuse some of the things that have been said about our church, particularily from the gay community. It bothers me that this has turned into a debate. I think there are better ways of handling the issue from both sides.
Personally I have found the adage "live and let live" to be the best solution to the whole situation. I very much appreciate those who are not of my faith leaving me alone about the whole issue. Part of my religion is to preach the gospel, but I am not going to heckle about my beliefs, and I would only expect the same. If people want to talk about it, I'm all for it, but until then I'm not going to force my beliefs on other people. That doesn't work.
I don't have a solution for those who want equal rights with straight people. I do understand their plight, but I can't come up with something that will make everybody happy. I won't vote for same sex marriage. I can't. But I do believe that things would be better if everybody treated everybody like humans, which is what we all are. We think and feel. Wouldn't those feeling be better off unhurt?
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