My beliefs about same sex marriage

This is an uncomfortable topic for me. When I think about my feeling and beliefs about same sex marriage and factor in the media and opinions of friends, my mind becomes muddled, my heart hurts. That is because I feel that in defending my beliefs, I will be viewed as uncompassionate. However, when I listen to our modern-day prophets, my mind clears and my heart rejoices in the truth. From The Family: A Proclamation to the World, here are the words from living prophets and apostles about marriage and gender identity:

"We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife."

To me this means that marriage is between a man and a woman. And that this was God's plan from the beginning. No matter how much society wants to change perceptions or laws, God's law does not change. We are created in the image of God. Wow! We are His spirit sons and daughters. How he must love us to send us to this earth to learn for ourselves to make choices. How hard it must have been for Him to let us leave and how hard it must be to let us make our own choices. I was a female before this life. My spirit is a female spirit. My body is female. My identity is as a female. Gender matters. Gender defines who I am. God wants us to have children, to have families within the established order of legal marriages. Sex is a good thing within marriage between a man and woman.

This does not mean I hate people who are gay. I do not understand the desires of same-sex attraction that are strong enough to compel a person to be gay. I understand a little bit the strong attraction between man and woman, and I understand feeling confused about attraction to a person as the same sex as me.

Within the church, members are allowed to be attracted to members of the opposite sex or the same sex. But to receive all the blessings of membership, we must live the law of chastity. Which is that sex is between a man and woman who are legally married.

I received the courage to write the blog today because of a talk given at Stake Conference by President Kiehl, the president of our stake, and from a talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland during the Saturday morning session of General Conference. President Kiehl said that many of our children do not know what we as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe about gay marriage and therefore they do not know how to defend their beliefs. For me, that is because of what I stated at the beginning of this blog. It is an uncomfortable topic, and I don't want me or my children to be viewed as uncompassionate. Elder Holland said, "Defend your beliefs with courtesy and compassion, but defend them." I hope that's what I have done. He also said, "Christlike love is the greatest need we have on this planet, in part because righteousness was always supposed to accompany it."

Friends, family, acquaintances, members of our church, non-members: Let each of us defend our beliefs and love one another. Let us respect one another. And let us act with Christlike love and compassion.