Ten months ago Minnesota’s LDS stake presidencies told us *without explicitly telling us to vote for the marriage amendment. This week Minnesotans went to the polls in droves and said NO.
Not just no. Hell, no.
And we won! We triumphed over a hateful initiative started by our state legislature as a distraction. This stupid, stupid amendment forced millions to be spent on both sides and that sucks. But you know what else? It has laid the groundwork towards getting gay marriages recognized in Minnesota. It doesn’t end here. It just got started. So we can thank the fear-mongers for that.
I haven’t been to my LDS ward since August because I got sick of hearing jabs at the government in talks. I got tired of hearing how society is in decay and the traditional family is under attack. While I’m grateful that the church did not take the aggressive role in MN that it did in CA during prop 8, its position was clear.
I said I wouldn’t return to an LDS chapel until after the election because it hurt my heart too much. After the victories of Tuesday – Obama won, the DFL took back the majority in the MN legislature, two unnecessary state amendments didn’t pass, and a Mormon with questionable business and financial ethics lost – I’ve joked with friends that it’s tempting to go to the next fast & testimony meeting and misuse the opportunity like so many others often do and gloat. How fun would it be to say my testimony was strengthened because God answered the prayers of so many by shutting down people who seek to oppress others yet ignore their own issues, who “strain at gnats but swallow camels” ala Matthew 23:24. I’d thank members who fasted for Romney because it was God’s will that he go back to the private sector and that was a success. Then I’d do a victory dance back to my pew. Or the door. LOL Of course, I wouldn’t do any of that. But it’s fun to imagine!
To be fair, “Minnesota Stake Presidents” didn’t, yours did. Mine deliberately avoided taking a position on the issue, other than to tell people to study the issues and vote. In my neck of the woods a lot of us, including LDS, voted no twice.
Perhaps you feel I’m attacking your stake president and that’s at the root of what I’m perceiving as defensiveness. My neck of the woods is a proverbial stone’s throw from yours. Would that be Mpls or Anoka stake? I know the letter was distributed to both of those as well as others around the state. Some bishops read the letter in sacrament meetings. Some read it in auxiliary meetings.
The letter read in wards (which I blogged about at the asterisked link) was from the Minnesota Stake Presidencies. I chose the phrase “without explicitly tell us” for good reason. The wording of the letter read at church was very deliberate. Of course it didn’t come out and say, “VOTE YES!” It admonished members to, among other things, read the Proclamation on the Family. To be fair (?), there’s little room for mincing what that document defines as a proper marriage/family in the eyes of the church.
Maybe you’re less embattled by the cynicism I have based on dealing with this bs in another state where the church took a very active role on this as a ballot issue. I do know others who took from it the same message I did. But people receive things differently. If you heard the letter and took away a message entirely free of implied stance, I’m glad for you. Really. I’d have been a lot happier because when I heard the letter, the words unspoken were loud and clear. And if you didn’t hear it reinforced in more explicit terms at your stake conference last Spring (as I did), I’m glad for you on that note as well. But most importantly, thanks for voting no.
Ren, you know I LOVE YOU TO PIECES. And you know me well enough to take whatever I say with as much salt as you need. But I have to agree with Surakmn. I think the letter read in both our stakes did allow people to come to their own conclusions. I know plenty of Mormons who see the Proclamation on the Family as incomplete — making an excellent statement so far as it goes, but not sufficiently taking into account what we do know about homosexuality and about same-sex headed families. Urging people to study the document and come to their own conclusions was miles away from what happened in California, and it gave many Mormons much more lee-way to vote against Amendment 1 if that’s what their conscience told them.
More importantly, it allowed conversations and dialog to happen that I don’t think might have happened otherwise. I have definitely experienced what feels like a fundamental shift in how it feels to be gay in the Church in Minnesota over the last year.
Not sure about the Anoka Stake, but we also got official readings in the Mpls Stake from the relevant portions of the Church Handbook of Instructions reminding us the Church facilities, mailing lists, etc. are NOT to be used for political purposes (“unless” – important caveat – authorized by the First Presidency to do so). This had the effect, again, of putting a nice buffer between the Church as a religious institution, and the political choices that members of the Church make in good conscience. (This was maybe a necessary reminder as well, in light of an election year in which many Mormons might have felt obligated to vote for a Mormon candidate.)
John, you know I <3 you right back, big time. Naturally, the church allowed people to come to their own conclusions. That’s what agency is. But it wasn’t a stance-free letter by dint of the advice to read the PotF to help inform one’s decision.
It could have been a lot worse and I’m glad it wasn’t. I see changes coming too and there’s certainly more LDS today opposed the amendment than when I dealt with it elsewhere or 4 years ago in CA.
We got that way by speaking out and I’ll continue to do so. As progressives move forward to .legalize gay marriage in MN I’m certain this will be brought up again at church.
Oh, and… I’m glad you’re not REALLY going to “gloat” in Fast and Testimony Meeting. But if you feel so inclined, perhaps you could offer some prayers of thanksgiving. I know I have.
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