This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I was impressed with LDS apostle Dallin Oaks' General Conference talk on the importance of focusing on children ("Mormon leader decries divorce, abortion, same-sex parents," Tribune, Oct. 6). He stated that research shows that a child is best raised by a stable two-parent family of a man and women, but he acknowledged that that ideal is not always possible.
His concern for children of divorced and single parents, and of parents who have never been married, was rooted in studies. As for children of married, two-parent same-sex couples, his statement that they are also disadvantaged was mere assumption and speculation.
I am friends with several married, two-parent, same-sex couples who are raising children with as great a care as the best Mormon family I know. That each of these economically stable and well-educated couples has adopted children to raise in love is something to be applauded in this world, not dismissed, as Oaks did.
If you focus on an ideological ideal, as Oaks did, you miss and even damn much goodness. As Voltaire said, "The perfect is the enemy of the good."
Would Oaks have these orphan children be raised in foster care rather than by loving gay couples?
Mike Brown
Park City