Voting and Proposition 8

I have a confession to make. This is the first election I have voted in! My excuses are that in the 2000 election I wasn't 18 yet when everyone was registering to vote during senior year. In 2004 I was on my mission in Canada. I know I could have voted by mail but I felt like I didn't feel informed enough to really vote. Rex and I have tried to do our best to follow the church's council "to study the issues and candidates carefully and prayerfully, and then to vote for and actively support those [we] believe will most nearly carry out [our] ideas of good government." So we figured out what we wanted to do and then we went and voted on Saturday at the courthouse. Rex has class almost all day on Tuesday so we decided to go and get it over with.


Although we haven't actively supported certain candidates we have been supporting Proposition 8. This topic has been one of concern, especially here in Berkeley. I attended a special church broadcast in October that urged church members to do everything they can to help support this cause. I have friends that deal with same gender attraction, I love them and believe that God loves us all equally. After attending the church broadcast I read an article called The Divine Institution of Marriage that I already posted about here. I also read an interview done with Elder Oaks and Elder Wickman on the issue of same-sex attraction. Both of these articles helped me greatly in understanding this important issue.


One of Elder Wickman's quotes that really stood out to me was this, "For openers, marriage is neither a matter of politics, nor is it a matter of social policy. Marriage is defined by the Lord Himself. It's the one institution that is ceremoniously performed by priesthood authority in the temple [and] transcends this world. It is of such profound importance… such a core doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of the very purpose of the creation of this earth. One hardly can get past the first page of Genesis without seeing that very clearly. It is not an institution to be tampered with by mankind, and certainly not to be tampered with by those who are doing so simply for their own purposes. There is no such thing in the Lord's eyes as something called same-gender marriage."

Rex and I believe this and feel that it is worth standing up for. On Saturday morning some of our friends that live in Oakland called and asked us if we wanted to help by holding signs at a big intersection in Oakland. Although we got soaked to the bone by the rain and got many mean glances and words, we also saw others who were in support of our cause. I've never done something like that before and I have to admit that I was a bit upset when we drove by an hour later and all of the signs we put up were taken down (isn't that illegal?). However, I am glad I did it!

We talked with a couple of the No supporters that were there and I really wished I had a picture of our friend Derek sharing his umbrella with one of the No supporters. Seeing them stand there together, each with their opposite campaign signs gave me hope that no matter what happens that we can all treat one another with respect and love.