This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
If we Mormons recognized that our own scriptures suggest gods don't procreate, perhaps we'd be less inclined to cite the inability of gays to procreate as a reason to oppose same-sex marriage.
Contrary to uncanonized speculation about a heavenly mother, LDS Standard Works teach that we as spirit children were created by just one parent, God the Father, who possesses an immortal physical body.
Even if he had produced his children through a procreative process involving an immortal female, natural law dictates that we would have been born with bodies, not as spirits. (Imagine the shock in the maternity ward if a woman gave birth to a spirit child. "Hey, nurse, I'm checking the birth weight ... it's zero!")
Similarly, in LDS scriptures (example: Ether 3:14-16) the premortal Christ declares that he alone created the physical bodies of Adam and Eve. The church also rejects the notion that the mortal Messiah was conceived through intercourse.
In Holy Writ, gods create; they don't procreate. This puts our gay brothers and sisters in good company.
Steve Warren
West Valley City