Mormon Church voices support for U.S. same-sex marriage bill

[speak easy]

Source: Washington Post

The Mormon Church said Tuesday that it supported federal legislation seeking to protect same-sex marriage rights, but it cautioned that the church's doctrine stating marriage should be between a man and a woman remained unchanged.

In a marked shift from decades of attacks on LGBTQ rights, though, the statement was perhaps the clearest declaration of support yet on same-sex marriage from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The church said it believes the Respect for Marriage Act is "the way forward." The bill would require same-sex and interracial marriages to be recognized across the United States as long as the marriage was valid in the state in which it was performed. It faces a procedural vote in the Senate on Wednesday.

A bipartisan group of senators announced Monday an amendment to the bill protecting religious liberties, including a provision confirming that religious organizations would retain the right to deny "services, facilities or goods" for weddings if they so choose.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/11/16/mormon-church-gay-marriage-lds/

[James48]

1. They just want to give cover to Mitt.

If they vote in the Senate, Mitt now has permission to vote yes.

[twodogsbarking]

2. Nice of them to make an attempt to join reality.

[brer cat]

3. I was shocked and don't know what caused the change.

It was suggested above that it gives cover for Mitt, and that may be the reason.

[IronLionZion]

4. Regardless of their motives, this is good

A significant portion of young homeless in the mountain states are gay Mormons thrown out of their families. The church should work on that next.

[The Grand Illuminist]

8. Be wary

The motives are more nefarious and sinister than one realizes.

[catsudon]

5. it is still

a fake religion with a fake church.....

[GregGilman]

6. They are pretending to be reasonable

As always, the Mormon Church is pretending to be reasonable -- when they are not.

Church doctrine would continue to consider same-sex relationships to be against God’s commandments. Yet it said it would support rights for same-sex couples as long as they didn’t infringe upon religious groups’ right to believe as they choose.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/mormon-church-backs-same-sex-marriage-law-maintains-relationships-still-sinful

[NullTuples]

7. The Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA) is good...but limited.

It repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act & codifies the SCOTUS decisions in Windsor and Obergefell, which stated that the federal government must recognize same sex marriages (think Social Security benefits, etc) and states must recognize other states' same sex marriages. These are already law today, so RFMA is just a bolstering against the current Supreme Court reversing those two decisions.

However, if the current SCOTUS does reverse Obergefell, the RFMA does not stop states from banning same sex marriages; it only says they must recognize marriages from other states. The obvious workaround is to go to another state to get married, but not everyone can do so, so it remains a very real civil rights restriction.

So it kinda makes sense that the LDS church would prefer this route, as it could potentially allow them to keep their state free of having to issue civil marriage licenses to people they consider sinners.

[republianmushroom]

9. LIKE

[republianmushroom]

10. figures

[AllaN01Bear]

11. the the prophet must have had a " revelation"