What is Marriage?

From Tom Stringham. He replied to a FB post.

"What's a marriage then? What's irreplaceably missing in a same-sex marriage?" 

I've written about this before, but to answer your questions briefly: marriage is, in form, a permanent, sexually exclusive union of a husband and wife. What's missing in a same-sex marriage (so to speak) is a husband, or a wife. 

"Most of us take it for granted that homosexual marriage is possible; it's a matter of allowance." 

Maybe that's true, but in my experience it's not, and people who affirm the gendered/conjugal definition of marriage like I do are almost universally misunderstood. It's not that we accept the modern formulation of marriage as a formalization of attraction and love but don't want gay people to have that--it's that we have a different view of what marriage is. 

You can see all this pretty plainly in "The Divine Institution of Marriage", which Bryce attempted to respond to in his blog post. There's very little about orientation, nothing about attraction in it. There's only one reference to love in the romantic sense. 

Rather, the claim is that marriage is an institution which is sociologically fundamental "for transmitting to future generations the moral strengths, traditions and values that sustain civilization". There are thirty or so references to children in the document. 

The church is quite clearly trying to communicate a view of what marriage *is*. 

"One purpose of this document is to reaffirm the Church’s declaration that marriage is the lawful union of a man and a woman." 

"Marriage is far more than a contract between individuals to ratify their affections and provide for mutual obligations. Rather, marriage is a vital institution for rearing children and teaching them to become responsible adults." 

It even specifically refutes the idea that this is about "allowing" or "rights": 

"In view of the close links that have long existed between marriage, procreation, gender and parenting, same-sex marriage cannot be regarded simply as the granting of a new “right.” It is a far-reaching redefinition of the very nature of marriage itself." 

"The Church’s affirmation of marriage as being between a man and a woman “neither constitutes nor condones any kind of hostility toward gays and lesbians.”[25] Church members are to treat all people with love and humanity. They may express genuine love and kindness toward a gay or lesbian family member, friend or other person without condoning any redefinition of marriage." 

(See "The Divine Institution of Marriage", Mormon Newsroom, Accessed 31 Aug 2017)

We've all been saying this stuff for years.

 See also http://discussingmarriage.org/

And http://wisegoodhonest.blogspot.com/2015/04/defend-what-marriage-used-to-mean.html