The next few months are going to be a bit arduous I do believe. Yesterday at church during Priesthood meeting the bishop stood up and made an announcement about people supporting Proposition 8, and how the church has encouraged us to give of our time, talents and "means" to support the prop. Proposition 8 is the amendment to the California constitution, defining marriage as between man and woman - i.e. no gay marriage.
It appears that the area presidency requested that our stake donate $100,000 towards the cause. The bishop was pretty tactful in presenting the announcement, but unfortunately other people in the audience were not. Later on when the new people visiting that day were being introduced, one elderly gentleman stood up, introduced himself, and said, "I fully support what you guys are doing against this proposition. I was molested when I was 12 years old, and it devastated me." (or something like that)
Sigh. It bothers me that people still equate "gay" with "child molester". That's a big problem. And I think that's one of the reasons why so many people are against gay marriage - ignorance about what it really is.
Time to talk to the bishop and relay my concerns to him about the whole ordeal. I don't want church to turn into a gay bashing arena. If it does, I honestly won't be able to go.
28 July 2008
16 July 2008
Standing Up for Tolerance
Today I received a mass email from my uncle with a link to this video in it. He knows that I'm gay.
He's never been one for anything other than black/white. No gray in his life. Nor does he have a filter that keeps him from being rude to people.
I decided that I couldn't let this opportunity slide. Here's the response that I sent via "reply to all". I knew half the emails on the list, the other people are just going to wake up tomorrow morning with a random email from some strange person. How exciting for them to meet their first gay person! I hope I get some responses. :D
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Sorry, but I can't let this one slide. I find this video to be offensive and moronic.
The love that two people of the same sex can feel for each other is every bit as real, honest and sincere as the love that each of you feel for your spouse. If two people love each other, then they as adults should be able to freely choose who they want to share their mortal life and legal rights with. God loves them every bit as much as he loves any of you, maybe even more because they've been given special challenges in this life.
It boggles my mind that we as a church can recite the 13 Articles of Faith, but we don't seem to actually believe number 11: We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
You don't have to like gay marriage. You don't have to accept it as part of your beliefs. But you do have to respect the freedom of choice that God gave all his children in this life.
This is just another lame, holier-than-thou video made by the same "Christian" bigots who think that Mormons are all going to hell. Plus, this song is scientifically inaccurate anyway. There are a multitude of case studies of same-sex coupling in the animal kingdom. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15750604/
Kevin
He's never been one for anything other than black/white. No gray in his life. Nor does he have a filter that keeps him from being rude to people.
I decided that I couldn't let this opportunity slide. Here's the response that I sent via "reply to all". I knew half the emails on the list, the other people are just going to wake up tomorrow morning with a random email from some strange person. How exciting for them to meet their first gay person! I hope I get some responses. :D
--------------
Sorry, but I can't let this one slide. I find this video to be offensive and moronic.
The love that two people of the same sex can feel for each other is every bit as real, honest and sincere as the love that each of you feel for your spouse. If two people love each other, then they as adults should be able to freely choose who they want to share their mortal life and legal rights with. God loves them every bit as much as he loves any of you, maybe even more because they've been given special challenges in this life.
It boggles my mind that we as a church can recite the 13 Articles of Faith, but we don't seem to actually believe number 11: We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
You don't have to like gay marriage. You don't have to accept it as part of your beliefs. But you do have to respect the freedom of choice that God gave all his children in this life.
This is just another lame, holier-than-thou video made by the same "Christian" bigots who think that Mormons are all going to hell. Plus, this song is scientifically inaccurate anyway. There are a multitude of case studies of same-sex coupling in the animal kingdom. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15750604/
Kevin
07 July 2008
Sunday Funday
We had a great one in Fast and Testimony meeting today.
I sat there in Fast and Testimony meeting today, and was quite bored. The people getting up to talk were none too interesting. The microphone was not turned up very much, so it was mostly mumbling that you heard from them anyway. My seat was uncomfortable. I really just wanted the meeting to end so I could go get candy from the clerk's office.
I started texting a friend to do something to keep myself from falling asleep. We traded a few messages. Then at 10 after the hour, I sent him anther message that said, "It's 10 after! Why do people keep on walking up there." This of course referred to it being 10 after the hour, and people being told at the beginning of the meeting that we were ending at 5 after the hour. They should not have been walking up there any more. His reply was, "Ha ha. Don't worry. That's when the good one happen." And he was a prophet.
No sooner did I get that message from him than the last person to share their testimony got up to speak. She has only been a member of the church for a little less than a year, so isn't quite into all of the culture of it. She gets up and introduces herself and says, "Now, I'm not sure if this is appropriate or not..." Stop! Rule number 1: If you ever find yourself saying "I'm not sure if this is appropriate" then you are most likely correct.
She continues on saying that there is someone, a young man, who she has felt really strongly about. He needs guidance and help. He needs our prayers. The thing she wasn't sure about was to have all of us right then join in a prayer with her.
That's a little out of the ordinary, to have a random prayer in the middle of the meeting. Spontaneous prayers are something that you don't normally see in one of our meetings, since everything is scheduled out. I thought, "Wow. This should be interesting." So I bowed my head.
She started praying, and almost instantly I felt that twinge of discomfort inside of me. Do you know that twinge? It's the one where someone is doing something that makes you feel really uncomfortable for them because they don't know that they should be feeling uncomfortable. Yeah. I felt that twinge because she started praying for David Archuleta while he is on the American Idol tour.
I knew I shouldn't laugh. I knew that she was relatively new to the church, and maybe didn't understand the finer aspects of Mormon's churchy traditions and methods and manners. I knew it, but I couldn't help myself. I am a bad person, and I'm probably going to hell for laughing. It was actually a really nice prayer, and she was praying for him to be safe and to be a good missionary and was so sincere about it. But, it was just so bizarre to have that happen randomly in the middle of testimony meeting.
Good times. Good times.
I sat there in Fast and Testimony meeting today, and was quite bored. The people getting up to talk were none too interesting. The microphone was not turned up very much, so it was mostly mumbling that you heard from them anyway. My seat was uncomfortable. I really just wanted the meeting to end so I could go get candy from the clerk's office.
I started texting a friend to do something to keep myself from falling asleep. We traded a few messages. Then at 10 after the hour, I sent him anther message that said, "It's 10 after! Why do people keep on walking up there." This of course referred to it being 10 after the hour, and people being told at the beginning of the meeting that we were ending at 5 after the hour. They should not have been walking up there any more. His reply was, "Ha ha. Don't worry. That's when the good one happen." And he was a prophet.
No sooner did I get that message from him than the last person to share their testimony got up to speak. She has only been a member of the church for a little less than a year, so isn't quite into all of the culture of it. She gets up and introduces herself and says, "Now, I'm not sure if this is appropriate or not..." Stop! Rule number 1: If you ever find yourself saying "I'm not sure if this is appropriate" then you are most likely correct.
She continues on saying that there is someone, a young man, who she has felt really strongly about. He needs guidance and help. He needs our prayers. The thing she wasn't sure about was to have all of us right then join in a prayer with her.
That's a little out of the ordinary, to have a random prayer in the middle of the meeting. Spontaneous prayers are something that you don't normally see in one of our meetings, since everything is scheduled out. I thought, "Wow. This should be interesting." So I bowed my head.
She started praying, and almost instantly I felt that twinge of discomfort inside of me. Do you know that twinge? It's the one where someone is doing something that makes you feel really uncomfortable for them because they don't know that they should be feeling uncomfortable. Yeah. I felt that twinge because she started praying for David Archuleta while he is on the American Idol tour.
I knew I shouldn't laugh. I knew that she was relatively new to the church, and maybe didn't understand the finer aspects of Mormon's churchy traditions and methods and manners. I knew it, but I couldn't help myself. I am a bad person, and I'm probably going to hell for laughing. It was actually a really nice prayer, and she was praying for him to be safe and to be a good missionary and was so sincere about it. But, it was just so bizarre to have that happen randomly in the middle of testimony meeting.
Good times. Good times.
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