Traditional Marriage, Mormon Edition

Mitt Romney's disapproval of gay marriage is based fervently in his religion, which is odd considering that the definition of acceptable marriage has changed so often in Mormon history. For most of the 19th century, they didn't limit marriage to one man and one woman, but rather to one man and as many women as he wanted to take as brides, including some who were under 15 years old. The Mormon church officially forsook polygamy in 1890, but many "plural marriages" were sanctioned until 1904.

Even then, the LDS church didn't sanction interracial marriages until 1978 -- before then, blacks weren't even allowed to marry other blacks -- and there are still many Mormons who believe it to be more than wrong, though they don't go as far as Brigham Young, who once sermonized that whites who married blacks should be put to death on the spot.

So, when a Mormon speaks of "traditional" marriage, it's fair to ask them which tradition they hew to and why, if their church has changed its policies on who can marry before, it can't change them now.  Romney's own great-grandparents were polygamists, and if you go back one more generation, you'll find a Romney man with 12 wives. How is that better than a gay man with one husband or a lesbian with one wife?

One other thought. In Romney’s mind, corporations are people, and there are no laws preventing companies from entering into a partnership that offers both parties all sorts of legal rights. Perhaps every gay American should incorporate. Then they'd be free to merge with anyone they like!

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