This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
There's been a brouhaha on the Internet about the decision by the Associated Press to recognize same-sex couples and in news stories refer to a gay man's spouse as "husband" and a lesbian's spouse "wife."
Christian fundamentalist Marvin Olasky wrote that this action by the world's leading wire service was not being neutral but was "endorsing same-sex 'marriage.'"
"The Bible has a different understanding," Olasky wrote. "God created … human beings male and female — that's a biblically objective fact. He created Adam and Eve and made their union 'marriage' — that's biblically objective fact." Maybe. Maybe not. That's a matter of personal belief, not a public rule.
But in this country, we call people by what they want to be called. It's black, not Negro. It's first The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not Mormon Church, because LDS officials ask it to be so. If a man calls his spouse "husband," what's it to you, especially if they're legally married? What else are you going to call him — "wife"?
Christians don't have a copyright on the word "husband." What's in a name, anyway? A Christian by any other name could still be petty and mean-spirited.
Henry Denton
Charleston