Doesn't "The Family: A Proclamation to the World"
Denounce Civil Same-Sex Marriage?

The only controversy comes from "The Family: A Proclamation to the World"'s closing paragraph which states - "WE CALL UPON responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society."

This is a less than subtle call for lawmakers and voters to vote against laws legalizing Same-Sex Marriage.

The issue is whether to promote the ideas of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" via persuasion through our words and example or by using force (which passing a law is. Laws are enforced by men with guns. Law and government is force). Brigham Young said the following regarding force vs. persuasion, "There is not a being upon the face of the earth who is made in the image of God, who stands erect and is organized as God is, that should be deprived of the free exercise of his agency so far as he does not infringe upon others' rights, save by good advice and a good example." (Brigham Young, JoD, 10:191). D&C 121:41 agrees when it states that, "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;" Those that use force and threats are condemned a few verses earlier as exerting "unrighteous dominion". 1 Cor. 10:29 and D&C 134:4 also condemn the use of force to impose subjective moral tenets on others.

Regarding D&C 134:4, consider this quote from a Doctrine & Covenants commentary -

"Religious freedom does not imply nor provide license to infringe or impose upon the rights and liberties of others."
(L. G. Otten and C. M. Caldwell, Sacred Truths of the Doctrine and Covenants [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1982-1983], 2: 375.)

Denying Civil Same-Sex Marriage violates another First Presidency Statement:

"We say again, as we have said many times before, that we believe that all men are the children of the same God and that it is a moral evil for any person or group of persons to deny any human being the rights to gainful employment, to full educational opportunity, and to every privilege of citizenship, just as it is a moral evil to deny him the right to worship according to the dictates of his own conscience.

We have consistently and persistently upheld the Constitution of the United States, and as far as we are concerned this means upholding the constitutional rights of every citizen of the United States.

We call upon all men everywhere, both within and outside the Church, to commit themselves to the establishment of full civil equality for all of God's children. Anything less than this defeats our high ideal of the brotherhood of man." - (Conference Report, October 6, 1963, Third Day - Morning Meeting 91.)

The bottom line is that "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" is doctrinally sound unless one interprets its call for "citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote" family friendy laws as a green light to "infringe upon the rights and liberties of others...” (D&C 134:4), which is in obvious contradiction to scripture.