Taking a Stand

I had an epiphany this morning, or at least the edges of one.  I'll probably get in trouble for this post, prevailing winds being what they are and all.
I'm trying to collect my thoughts on it and they are all over the place  and this has taken me a few days to write.  The GLB lifestyle has become a conundrum for me.  I didn't understand it or want to.  Oh, there are certain aspects I think I get-- it is much easier to live with a woman than a man.  Women pick up things, both emotionally and physically.  As much as having roommates was a pain, at least they didn't expect me to clean up after them and take care of them.  They are also a great emotional support.  That's why I value my female friendships so much.  I need them as much as I need Dan. 
Here is the background to my epiphany.  Personal morality is based on the belief system that one grows up with or finds.  To someone who feels that family can be defined as any group of people that lives together or spends time together and loves one another, they are right.  In so many ways, we can have so many families that are encompassed in this definition.  Work families.  School families.  Friend families. 
I am not saying that traditional families are perfect.  I am not saying that by the world's standards the nuclear family is the best.  What I am coming to understand is my religion's view on family.  I am not speaking for my religion as a whole.  This is me and my epiphany.
The Plan of Salvation is central to God's Plan for our happiness.  I don't want to get into the whole of it, just this:  the family is specifically designed and defined toward one purpose.  Our goal as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints is to return to God with our families, sealed together in one long chain of covenants through our ancestors and progeniters.  We believe that in saying families can be eternal, they literally are.  Eternal increase (though daunting from my mortal perspective) is a blessing for those who keep the covenants they make.  Those things simply are not possible with the GLB lifestyle.   Our genders are not given on earth alone or for this life alone.  If we are female on earth, we were female in the spirit world and will continue to be so.  Upon death, our spirits do not retreat into an amorphous being. 
I fully believe that Satan will do anything to stop this process of eternal families from happening.  I'm not saying that everyone who lives a GLB life has personally gone to the devil and made a bargain.  I'm not saying that anyone has.  I don't think that those who follow this course are bad people.  Some of the brightest, most loving people are homosexuals.  However, I do believe it is a tool used by Satan to destroy the family that God designed, just like alcholism, drug use, gambling, selfishness, and my laziness and anger are his tools.        
I read this article yesterday:  "Crossing the Plains and Kicking Up Dirt, A New Mormon Pioneer" by Jessica Ravitz of CNN.  It set me off on this search for how I feel and understand my "Mormon Morality".  I agree with some of what Joanna Brooks espouses as "an accidental, unofficial, and admittedly unauthorized source for all things Mormon".  I don't agree with a lot of it.  What I really don't want is her speaking for me.  I want it clear that her understanding is not mine.   I know people praise her for tackling the topics of feminism and homosexuality, but to me I see her as a person who wants the blessings of the covenants she's made because she believes them, but she doesn't know why they are made.
I was thinking about this article and the stuff that surrounded Prop 8.  One of the circulating emails that I got was scare tactic based.  Lots of bad things would happen if Prop 8 didn't pass, including the LDS church being forced to go against it's beliefs and marry homosexuals.  That's kind of where my thoughts had gone, so I went with it.  Yesterday, my exact epiphany to the question, "Why do we oppose same sex marriage?" was this:  For the same reason it is opposed in the Old Testament-- as a protection for the family. 
As the Isrealites wandered around in the desert, they destroyed many other cultures and cities on the command of God.  Not a God who hated some of his children and loved some of his children a little bit more.  A God who needed his children to make covenants and return to him-- specific covenants made in the right place with the right authority.  The time and place being what it was (biggest mistake people can make is applying our current morality on a different culture and time), cleaning the slate was the solution.  The Isrealites were already steeped in Egyptian religion.  The laws are exact.  God's mercy allows us to repent and come to Him, but even He cannot break those laws.
We are not asked to go around clearing out neighborhoods so that we can have a nice heterosexual Mormon Utopia.  We aren't asked to blindly believe what our church leaders say.  We are asked to know the gospel through diligent study, prayer, temple attendance, and living it.  We are asked, to once we know the gospel, to stand up for it, no matter how the winds blow.  So here I am.  Standing up.  Explaining why I am taking the stand I am.
I am not accountable to the world.  I am accountable to God.  Through the scriptures and church leadership, we have been asked to guard the family against all evils.  I am accountable if I do not teach my children to understand what a family is and why.  Most importantly why.  That no matter how others define family, God's definition is the only one that can lead to eternal happiness. In teaching my children, I also need to teach kindness and love; that in taking a stand they remain empathetic to the feelings of others.  There isn't room for cruelty or pride.  It's not a personal attack.  It is standing firm on principles as the world changes around us.  I thank the heavens that I live in a country where it is still possible to express my belief and to live my religion.  I thank my Heavenly Father for the blessings he has given me all my life.  I am thankful for the knowledge of the gospel that is a part of me as much as the air that I breath and the blood flowing through my veins.  I am grateful for the strength it gives me in raising my family.