Things I’ve Heard

Things I’ve heard about marriage from well-meaning, but dead-wrong members of the LDS faith*:

1. People who don’t get married in an LDS temple don’t look happy after the ceremony;
2. LGBTQ people just want to get married for the legal benefits; and
3. A good way for a woman to improve her marriage is to do housework, because housework is more stressful for men.

*I’m putting this asterisk in the middle of the post because it’s too important to put at the end. These are not things that the LDS church teaches. These are not even things that most of us believe. I worship in ward in downtown Chicago. It’s a far cry from the politically and culturally conservative mountain west. Nevertheless, every one of these things has come straight from the mouth of a woman in my ward in the last month. This sort of blows my mind, but maybe it shouldn’t. For what it’s worth, I’m not the only woman in my ward in a part-member family. There are also quite a few unmarried women. I suppose I should also be grateful that someone (not me) objected vocally to statement #3.

Things I’ve heard about marriage from members of the LDS faith that are right on:

1. Marriage is ordained of God;
2. Marriage will bless your life; and
3. A good way to improve your marriage is to serve your partner.

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