I’ve noticed a not-insignificant number of members, both orthodox and heterodox, assume that the Church’s position on human sexuality is a “just because the prophet said so” issue, and aren’t aware of any well thought out defenses of the Church’s (or conservative religion’s in general) position written by non-church leaders, so I’ve gone ahead and thrown together a collection of pieces that speak to the subject that I’m posting here.
I’m intending for these sources to speak primarily to theological issues; I recognize that legal same-sex marriage is a whole other can of worms, and that the political arguments vis-a-vis same-sex marriage are related, albeit ultimately distinct. from the theological arguments surrounding same-sex sealings. However, since a lot of treatments of the subject touch on issues germane to both there is some political mixed in the batch too, but that’s not the primary intent.
A note on the comments: yes, I’m aware that for many people literally any argument defending the Church’s position is arbitrary and capricious. I don’t have a ton of time to puppy guard the comments, so while I’ll keep them open I’m not going to be a super active presence there.
Cassler, Valerie H. “Plato’s Son, Augustine’s Heir: ‘A Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology’?” SquareTwo 5(2): 2012.
https://squaretwo.org/Sq2ArticleCasslerPlatosSon.html
Dyer, W. Justin. “Shifting Views on the Male-Female Relationship: Same-Sex Marriage and Other Social Consequences.” Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel 18, no. 2 (2017): 31-51.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1791&context=re
George, Robert P. “The Philosophical Basis of Biblical Marriage.” Public Square Magazine. January 6, 2022. https://publicsquaremag.org/faith/gospel-fare/the-philosophical-basis-of-biblical-marriage/
Girgis, Sherif, Robert P. George, and Ryan T. Anderson. “What is Marriage.” Harv. JL & Pub. Pol’y 34 (2011): 245.
https://www.issues4life.org/pdfs/whatismariage.pdf
Hancock, Ralph. “A Familiar Eternity” SquareTwo 9(1): 2016
https://www.squaretwo.org/Sq2ArticleHancockFamiliarEternity.html.
Hancock, Ralph. “”When Following the Prophet is Too Easy: Against the Identification of Reason with Progressive Liberationism”” SquareTwo 1(1): 2008.
https://squaretwo.org/Sq2ArticleHancockProp8.html
Hedelius, Cassandra and Jeff Bennion. “Treasuring All that God Has Revealed” Public Square Magazine. January 21, 2022. https://publicsquaremag.org/dialogue/tolerance/treasuring-all-that-god-has-revealed/
Hypatia. “Faithful Answers to Common LGBTQ+ Questions.” Public Square Magazine. December 1, 2021. https://publicsquaremag.org/sexuality-family/faithful-answers-to-common-lgbt-questions/.
Thayne, Jeffrey. Latter-day Saint Philosopher. https://www.ldsphilosopher.com