Same-sex marriage coming to Utah

[Jeff Lebowski]

I remember a year ago when I voiced concern that if SSM was legalized, the Church would be forced to conduct gay marriages. JL pooh-poohed this concern. I wonder if he still feels this way.

Yes, I still strongly doubt that the church will ever be "forced to conduct gay marriages".

[Paperback Writer]

I remember a year ago when I voiced concern that if SSM was legalized, the Church would be forced to conduct gay marriages. JL pooh-poohed this concern. I wonder if he still feels this way.

Maybe I don't see the issue. As LDS, you or I don't have a right to get married in a Catholic Church by a Catholic Priest. Even a Catholic may not have that right if he or she has been divorced. Their church, their rules. I see more of an issue with something like the BYU honor code that stipulates a student can only have sexual relations within marriage with the threat of expulsion if they break that rule. Now that gay marriage is legal, what happens to a gay BYU married student? Could BYU get away with expelling gay students who marry? Could BYU deny their application to live in married student housing?

[Shaka]

I predict that eventually the church will perform sealings but not marriages.

[Jeff Lebowski]

An odd coincidence.

On this day in Salt Lake City in 1848, Porter Rockwell rode a handmade unicycle around the temple lot six times wearing nothing but his cowboy boots, a leather holster and and a cowboy hat. He fired two shots into the air, one from each pistol, every time he passed a giggling Eliza R. Snow. Brigham Young watched from the center of the lot, remarking to Wilford Woodruff, "What a goddamn idiot." (Brigham Young Diaries. Volume 7, page 83. LDS Church Archives).

[Goatnapper'96]

I predict that eventually the church will perform sealings but not marriages.

Which would be a good thing, IMO.

[Shaka]

Which would be a good thing, IMO.

I agree.

[TripletDaddy]

I predict that eventually the church will perform sealings but not marriages.

i agree. and whats the big deal if that happens anyway. ultimately, the church is in the sealings business anyway, not really the marriage business.

[BigPiney]

An odd coincidence.

That is impressive. I tried to ride a unicycle once and failed. And it wasn't even handmade.

[Shaka]

i agree. and whats the big deal if that happens anyway. ultimately, the church is in the sealings business anyway, not really the marriage business.

No big deal to me at all. When I was on the mish you couldn't marry in the temple in South Africa. Marriages were performed civilly first and the couple had a week to get to the temple for the sealing. Yes they usually went on their honeymoon in between. This arrangement didn't make the marriage any less special as far as I could tell.

I suspect though that it will drive many in the church crazy.

[old_gregg]

short-circuited the democratic process.

this is the reason why courts exist

[Sullyute]

An odd coincidence.

On this day in Salt Lake City in 1848, Porter Rockwell rode a handmade unicycle around the temple lot six times wearing nothing but his cowboy boots, a leather holster and and a cowboy hat. He fired two shots into the air, one from each pistol, every time he passed a giggling Eliza R. Snow. Brigham Young watched from the center of the lot, remarking to Wilford Woodruff, "What a goddamn idiot." (Brigham Young Diaries. Volume 7, page 83. LDS Church Archives).

That is too funny.

[Bo Diddley]

Maybe I don't see the issue. As LDS, you or I don't have a right to get married in a Catholic Church by a Catholic Priest. Even a Catholic may not have that right if he or she has been divorced. Their church, their rules. I see more of an issue with something like the BYU honor code that stipulates a student can only have sexual relations within marriage with the threat of expulsion if they break that rule. Now that gay marriage is legal, what happens to a gay BYU married student? Could BYU get away with expelling gay students who marry? Could BYU deny their application to live in married student housing?

Perhaps a more pertinent scenario would be a couple of gay Mormons wanting to get married by the Church. What then?

This is why I agree with everyone else, that eventually the Church will get out of the marriage business.

[Jeff Lebowski]

That is too funny.

I need to figure out a way to work that into a talk.

[thesaint258]

An odd coincidence.

They should put that on Hell on Wheels.

[Paperback Writer]

Perhaps a more pertinent scenario would be a couple of gay Mormons wanting to get married by the Church. What then?

This is why I agree with everyone else, that eventually the Church will get out of the marriage business.

Do you mean a gay couple wanting a LDS Bishop to officiate a wedding? Or getting married in a LDS chapel? I don't think a gay couple could force the LDS church or any church or their clergy to do it. In my area, Mormons can't use LDS chapels to get married or even host wedding receptions. Perhaps a better question is: what would happen to a LDS Bishop who married a gay couple?

The gay couple could always get married by a JP or anyone else who has authority in a given state to perform marriages. Why would a gay couple insist on an LDS Bishop to perform their wedding when they could hire the services of any number of people to do it?

I don't see why the church would need to get out of the marriage business. Bishops can marry people. No one has the right to force church clergy to marry them when those services can be provided by anyone authorized by the state.

If it's temple marriage being referred to, I still don't understand the problem. The LDS church can deny a temple marriage to a hetero couple for any number of reasons.