Latter-day Saints back same-sex marriage law, but other faith groups have concerns
Final vote in the Senate expected after Thanksgiving
by Bobby Ross Jr.
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(ANALYSIS) Over a decade ago, I wrote a piece for Christianity Today headlined, “Should the marriage battleground shift to religious freedom?”
In that article, University of Virginia law professor Douglas Laycock made the case that Christian conservatives who opposed same-sex marriage should shift their focus to fighting for religious freedom.
I was reminded of that discussion when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — in what the Salt Lake Tribune characterized as “a stunning move” — “gave its support Tuesday to a proposed federal law that would codify marriages between same-sex couples.”
The story by the Tribune’s Tamarra Kemsley and Peggy Fletcher Stack notes:
The Utah-based faith’s doctrine “related to marriage between a man and a woman is well known and will remain unchanged,” the church stated in a news release. “We are grateful for the continuing efforts of those who work to ensure the Respect for Marriage Act includes appropriate religious freedom protections while respecting the law and preserving the rights of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters.”
At Religion News Service, Bob Smietana traces the Latter-day Saints’ surprise backing of the federal law to the fallout from the church’s 2008 support for Proposition 8. That California ballot measure was aimed at banning same-sex marriage.