This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I would like to offer some advice that could calm the troubled waters of the marriage debate for a good while for the LDS Church and its government: Find a better group to discriminate against!
Seriously, just think this one over. As things stand right now, if you're a Nazi, neo-Nazi, skinhead, KKK member, murderer, rapist, thief, pedophile, lawyer or politician, there is nothing getting in your way of marrying and, even worse, starting a family. You can even be incarcerated and, with a lot of persistence, manage to pull off a prison wedding.
If the biggest reason for getting married is to procreate, then we should never want these types of people to do just that and, let's face it, I find nothing about the above-mentioned folks that is natural or normal in their behavior.
Whether it's traditional or same-sex marriage, shouldn't we keep the worst of our society from marriage and family life, rather than the LGBT community? And if the LDS Church would maybe just start with the pedophiles, I think we could all unite on that position.
Karl R. Walker
Salt Lake City