Evolving

Like President Obama, my views on gay marriage are still "evolving." Yesterday, North Carolina passed a state constitutional amendment that was extreme by any yardstick. Not only did it formally ban gay marriage from the state, it also banned any other sort of alternate arrangement (civil unions, domestic partnerships, etc.). (See my pre-summary of yesterday's NC primary here. (PS I wrote this on Monday.)) This made me feel outraged and absolutely incredulous. The implications of this amendment will be felt by people both gay and straight.

I've struggled for years to reconcile my faith with what I think I feel about gay marriage, but I always wonder...

If I support gay marriage,

• Does this mean I'm going against the gospel?
• Am I promoting that some people live a lower law? (Law of Moses vs. Law of Christ- type?)
• Do I stand against the Church if I believe/support this?
• What is the right thing to do???! (And what does this all mean for me as a Mormon Democrat??)

Here in Maryland, gay marriage will be on the ballot in November, and I feel pressure to formally pick a side. As a straight, LDS woman, I often struggle with dating and with thinking about if I'll ever get married. I can't imagine on top of that having the added measure of NOT being able to legally marry. And sure, gay people can technically still legally marry... Just not each other. My friend David (who is an openly gay, active Mormon) often asks me to think about how I would feel if someone told me I had to marry a woman, and he explains that's exactly the same way he feels about marrying a woman.

When I'm done with "finals," I'll share an article I'm working on about a conference I recently attended for LDS LGBT folks and their allies. (I meant to finish it a while ago, but school and job searching got in the way.) I'm not sure I should be sharing all of these rambling thoughts on the worldwide web, but, well, here they are. More to come, I guess...

For now, an interesting clip from Sunday's "Meet the Press" wherein VP Joe Biden discusses his personal views on gay marriage: