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Mormons for Marriage Equality
www.MormonsForMarriageEquality.org Jan. 3, 2013

Contact:
Spencer W. Clark, Mormons for Marriage Equality
David Baker, Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons

Kevin Kloosterman

Spencer W. Clark

Randall Thacker

Statement on Legislation to Legalize Civil Same-Sex Marriage in Illinois

Mormons from Illinois join with others across the country in calling for the state legislature to pass HB 5170 which would make Illinois the 10th state to enact civil marriage equality for LGBT couples and their families.

“This balanced legislation not only addresses inequality for our gay friends, family, and neighbors but it protects and strengthens religious freedom,” said Kevin Kloosterman. “As a devout Mormon, and former bishop in Illinois, I am proud to endorse this and I stand with over 260 religious leaders also endorsing this. This grand compromise shows that Equality and Religious Freedom are not mutually exclusive.”

Over the past year, Mormons from across the US and abroad have come together to support LGBT individuals and families and to advocate for civil marriage equality. Hundreds of active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints marched in pride parades in 18 cities in 2012 and worked to help ensure victory for marriage equality measures in four states last November.

LDS Church officials have on several occasions repeated that members should feel free to follow their conscience in forming opinions on this and other public policy issues, and in 2010, language that had encouraged opposition to civil marriage equality was removed from the Church’s official policy handbook. Reflecting this policy change, the Church was silent on all the state-level marriage initiatives in 2012, and Latter-day Saints could be found working and voting on both sides as they saw fit.

We thus find it regrettable that a regional LDS Church leader in Illinois has chosen to sign on to a letter that continues to propagate vague and false claims about the impact that same-sex marriage has on families, churches and society.

“We now have nearly eight years of experience with civil marriage equality in this country and our families and churches are as strong and free as ever,” said Spencer W. Clark, Executive Director of Mormons for Marriage Equality (M4ME) and an active Latter-day Saint. “It’s time to admit that the predictions of dire harm are baseless and that the primary impact of civil marriage equality is that hundreds of thousands of families are now stronger. As Mormons, we value family, and that’s why increasing numbers of Latter-day Saints are coming around to the realization that civil marriage equality is the true pro-family position.”

Opponents of same-sex marriage often claim to be working in the interests of families and children. Yet they ignore the 270,000 children in this country who are already being raised by same-sex parents, and who are harmed when their families are denied equal protections and benefits under the law. Marriage benefits couples and their children, whether of same or opposite sex. We cannot ignore and discriminate against those whose families may look slightly different from our own.

Spencer W. Clark continued, “As a husband and father, I know how much marriage benefits my family. If my wife and I did not have access to the legal and societal benefits of marriage, my family would suffer greatly. Christ taught us to love and treat others as we would want to be treated. Measures to treat families equally are an expression of Christ-like love.” Randall Thacker, President of Affirmation - Gay & Lesbian Mormons states, “The commitment of two individuals to care for and provide for each other throughout this life is very compatible with the fundamental teachings of Christ and Mormonism.”

We encourage Latter-day Saints and other Illinois residents to contact their legislators and ask them to support this important piece of legislation.

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