How about when Mormons spent millions of tax free dollars trying to get Californians to vote to add marriage inequality to their state constitution?
Oh yeah. Mormons have definitely tried very hard to force their religious beliefs on us gay people.
What. You think only gay people have the right to say what they think, fund political action groups and advocate for their own positions?
.......and it didn't WORK, now, did it? So, given that, would you like to revisit the 'forced on' thing again?
Or is freedom of speech only applicable to those with whom you happen to agree?
The thing is, columbus, at the time it was VERY much feared (and gay marriage advocates made it very clear that this is what they wanted to do) that the government would force the church to celebrate gay marriages in the Temples, and to recognize them theologically...this, in a state where gays ALREADY had all the rights of straight married couples. Every one of them.
Certainly I ran into quite a few people who wanted to do precisely that. Scared ME spitless, and I don't have a problem with gays getting married and having those rights.
I just don't want YOU guys to force (and I do mean 'force,' as in, legally mandate with nasty consequences if we don't comply) YOUR marriage ideals on us. We had enough of that sort of thing back when we were polygamists. If there is any group of people on the planet who has a right to be paranoid about this sort of thing, it has to be us.
Good grief; the federal government went so far as to confiscate all the church property and assets, (including those of private people, using the excuse that since we didn't have a 'paid' clergy, then everybody was clergy and thus everything belonged to the church and was thus eligible for confiscation by the feds, so that nobody who had more than $50,000 worth of assets, including land, could keep it).
I kept getting told that the government wouldn't 'force' us to perform gay marriages in our temples....but given our history and what the government DID do?
What did you expect us to do? Roll over and let you guys determine our beliefs, our doctrines, and punish us with fines if we said 'no thank you?"
No.
Thank you.
You go get married. Have a nice life. You are married, until death do you part, with all the fun that goes with that. Be happy.
Get all the tax advantages. I'll make your cake and my daughter will photograph your wedding. No problem. We've both done that.
But do NOT tell us, when you don't agree with our beliefs, that we have to adhere to YOUR beliefs and allow you to marry in our temples.
Not going to happen....but it almost did.
......and in terms of polygamy, it DID happen. Do NOT tell me that we wouldn't have been forced....because we would have been. We have been. You are so darned convinced that you are the persecuted minority here, bub, but YOU didn't get put in jail because you decided that you wanted 'marriage' instead of 'domestic partner' (or whatever California called it) with PRECISELY THE SAME LEGAL RIGHTS.
My great grandfather was, however, and my great grandmother had to give birth to her first baby while hiding in a cabin in the woods, alone, because the feds wanted to arrest her. The baby died.
Do NOT start bleating to me over this.
I have no, repeat, NO, sympathy for gays who claim that MORMONS tried to force anything on them, when what we were doing is attempting to keep the government, YET AGAIN, from dictating to us what OUR doctrine/belief/marriage customs should be.
If I seem to be over reacting, I'm not a bit sorry.
You may get married. Enjoy. I have no problem with it.
WE don't have to recognize your marriage theologically, or 'seal' them in a Temple. Win/win.
But it almost wasn't, and back when Prop. 8 was being fought, it was a very close thing. Almost every single gay marriage advocate I spoke to at the time had two things to say:
1; that the government would NOT force the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints to perform gay marriages in Temples or to recognize gay marriage theologically.
2: that forcing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints to perform gay marriages in Temples, and to recognize gay marriage theologically, and to 'not discriminate' against gays in church employment, even when it would be legal for the church to 'discriminate' against hiring an adulterer or a murderer or....say, in a position teaching Institute or Seminary (church theological classes), an evangelical preacher who hates Mormons.
I hope you can see that the two statements are mutually exclusive.
and I?
dial it back, columbus. You got what you wanted. You were not 'forced' to do anything. Political action committees advocating for a change in a law is NOT 'force.'
Having the feds come in, steal your land and money and break up families, causing death, destruction, famine and poverty? THAT'S force.
You haven't faced that.
We have.
We just didn't want to see it happen again.
Get over it.