Prop 8: From The Mind of a Mormon

Sometimes I'm goaded into debating.
It has to be an issue I'm passionate about.
for some reason, I'm especially concerned about Gay Rights.
The following is the opinion of a Mormon man named Kurt Keyser followed by my rebuttal.


Why Proposition 8?
I propose that marriage was not originally intended simply as a legal contract. It has been around longer than law itself, regardless of which culture you take as an example. The reasons we have for wanting to protect it for what it truly was intended as go much deeper than a simple civil rights discussion. Modern ideas and political pressures should not be used to trample under a religious rite, which, to many, represents far more than a method of obtaining civil rights. It is a covenant. A sacred three-way covenant in which only a man, woman and God can enter into. That the state additionally recognizes it and affords benefits to it as a contract between two people was convenient at a point in history but is showing its age in our changing social climate.

Redefining marriage to include discriminated individuals or groups does not eliminate the discrimination. It simply gives it a new name.

What Prop 8 does is open the way to change existing discriminating legislature (laws giving benefits to married couples but not civil unions) without defacing the institution of marriage. You don't change the included list of people in a discriminatory law to include your group; you change the law and the definition of that group stands separately. The laws regarding segregation didn't get changed to say, "Blacks are now White and therefore are given rights." Saying that homosexual couples should be included in the definition of marriage is the same argument.

ProtectMarriage.com:
"...Prop. 8 will not “rob” anyone of anything. Gay couples in domestic partnerships have and will continue to have the same legal rights as married spouses. We’re not here to stop anyone from expressing their commitment or responsibility to another. We’re simply here to protect the definition of marriage ... - a union between a man and a woman."

While I understand that the federal government may currently discriminate, this is a state law, not a federal law we're voting on. People deserve equality from the state on both sides of the issue. Supporters of Prop 8 believe marriage is a religious institution and not just a contract recognized by the state between two consenting adults. As a religious rite, it deserves full protection from the state. The same is true of other religious rites, be they whatever they may be.

Civil Unions and the rights thereof are a totally separate discussion - one which you'd find me and my church on the same side as homosexual couples.

Kurt Keyser


Marriage is not a "sacred three-way covenant" as you would suggest. If this were true, only religious people would be allowed to marry. As you know, anyone (male/female) can get married.

"We’re simply here to protect the definition of marriage"... It would be great if the law said, only a man and woman who love and respect each other can marry. Unfortunately Kurt, the law does not say that. At this current moment in time, Americans are getting married for frivolous unholy reasons... to save someone from deportation, to save money on taxes, because someone got pregnant, for money, out of spite or stupidity.

Just go to Las Vegas, see who's allowed to get married. You'll be horrified at what you see. I can tell that you and you're family are good and honest people. You yearn for a world in which only good and honest people exist. But the sad truth is, the "sanctity of marriage" has been a warped concept for many years. You can't 'protect the definition of marriage' it simply does not exist.

If degenerate drunks can do it in the middle of the night in Las Vegas, or Anna Nicole Smith can do it with an old man for money, what are you trying to protect? Who would want to protect this?

I'm sure the deeper concern is your desire to protect your religious beliefs. I know that the Bible frowns upon Homosexuals. This isn't as much about marriage as it is about Gays, and there's nothing wrong with trying to protect your beliefs. I for instance stand firmly against abortion. I believe it's murder, therefore it should be illegal. Of course I want to see my views expressed as law. I do understand your position, Kurt. However, you're going about it the wrong way. You can't protect something that doesn't exist.

Jeri Beumel