Yes on Prop 8

This blog may seem like a haphazard mess most of the time but trust me, there is an order to things. And the first order is to keep it light and funny. I prefer to stay away from hot topics and instead focus on the state of my felt collection and my love of bacon. I do this because I love you and I don't want to beat you over the head with my overbearing opinions, which, if you have spent more than 5 minutes in person with me, you know I have in abundance. And my natural reaction to things is to go for the joke. That's how I deal with life. I'm emotionally crippled.

So I've refrained from discussing politics and the upcoming election because 1.) it's exhausting for me to fight my natural inclination to be a cynic, 2.) there are certain topics that are hard to make a joke out of and 3.) there are people I'm close to and love very much who would be hurt by it. But last night an apostle of the Lord sent out a call to action and asked that all people with the means of communicating via the Internet (is there anything cuter than the Brethren talking about blogs? No, there is not.) use those means to discuss Prop 8, which is an initiative to amend the state constitution to read that only marriage between a man and a woman would be recognized. He specifically requested this of young adults with blogs. I initially thought, "Um, I'm not a young adult anymore." And then he went and raised the age to 35. Thanks, Elder Ballard. That was sweet. I'm taking that as permission to skip the single adult (the 30 to the grave crowd) Christmas brunch this year.

Now, I have been involved in the Yes on Prop 8 campaign for a while and have gone out and knocked on neighborhood doors and have spent hours on the phone (the phone people! This is how important it is.) canvassing the area for it. And it's been enlightening and kind of entertaining to get out and talk to people (Note to people opening doors: Please put on some pants). But I have refrained from writing about it here because I don't want to come off sounding like a bigot and I've been afraid of hurting people who read this who feel differently. To those people I want to say that I love you. I don't do well writing about serious things and I don't want my inability to find the right words to come off as me not loving you. I do love you. But if you think I ramble when I'm being funny it's unbearable when I'm being serious. It's like a really bad girls camp testimony meeting - only there are no leaders jumping up to make the announcement that they "saw bears by the kitchen" to cut it short.

And there's the whole issue of writing about sacred things. Because I don't take much seriously here I don't want those things that are sacred and important to me to lose any value by lumping them with the crazy antics of my boss or women with facial hair. But there comes a time when you need to publicly stand up for sacred things. And marriage and the family are very sacred and this is the time.

So, I'm voting Yes on Prop 8. I'm voting yes because I believe that marriage is a sacred commitment, not just a temporal institution, that is ordained by God to be between a man and a woman. I'm voting yes because children have a right to be reared by a father and a mother. I'm voting yes because I have an obligation to stand up for moral issues based on eternal principles.

I'm not going to write about the ramifications of this law and how if will affect the nature of families, the education of children, or our religious and personal freedoms. I'll leave that to other people better versed in those types of arguments. But, if you believe in this too, I will ask you to register to vote and remember to vote on November 4th. Voting is fun and you get to feel all civic minded and neighborly. And you get a sticker. And, it's kind of important. And I will ask you to talk to your friends and neighbors about it. If you live out of state and have friends or family in California, you can help by talking to them about it. The rift between those who are willing to stand up for what is right and those who sit by and watch is going to get bigger and bigger as time goes on. I want all of us to be on the side of those who are standing.

Have I mentioned that I love you. Seriously, I do.