Not Easily Washed Off
The visibility of Mormons on LGBT issues speaks to the depth of the Mormon identity, says Dan Wotherspoon, 2001-08 editor of Sunstone magazine and current host of the Mormon Matters podcast, a weekly panel discussion on contemporary issues in Mormonism.
Wotherspoon views Mormonism almost like an ethnicity. Just as the Jewish identity runs deeper than its beliefs, Mormonism is not something that easily “washes off.” He asks, “How else can one explain the depth of feeling that causes many Latter-day Saints to stand up and try to be witnesses within the church for the truths they’ve come to feel in their hearts about the [LGBT] identity (it not being a sin or something chosen)—even if their standing against the tide causes friction with family, friends and fellow ward members?”
He notes that when tensions arise in other religious traditions, members might seek a new congregation that better fits their theological or political leanings. “But just as most of us, when we are at odds with our family on something, don’t usually abandon our … family,” Wotherspoon says, “many church members care enough about their fellow community members, their ‘people,’ to stick around and be voices that call for more compassion and more thinking.”
Further, Wotherspoon feels that LDS doctrines are not nearly as “settled” as some think they are. The church’s own Articles of Faith contain a claim that there are many “great and important things” yet to be revealed. Wotherspoon isn’t sure that Mormon activists will bring about a theological shift on the LGBT front, but you never know. “Perhaps it will turn out … they are much like those church members who, for decades before the 1978 revelation, stood for re-examination of the priesthood and temple ban for black church members.”
Changing Attitudes
The Mormons Building Bridges Facebook page now has 2,000 members. “We have assembled a core group who is now working together and sharing the labor,” Munson says. They’re using their Facebook group page to support each other (gay and straight), as well as share strategies and successes with starting conversations in individual wards. They’re also gathering personal stories on the page.
Mormons Building Bridges will support the Pink Dot Event in Liberty Park on Oct. 13. The original Pink Dot Event took place four years ago in Singapore, where it is a crime to be gay. Pride’s Larabee says it involved “a brave group of straight people,” everyone wearing pink and forming a circle. “When we saw the video that was produced, we knew that we had to do this event in Utah,” she says.
Laura Compton, webmaster of the marriage-equality group Mormons for Marriage, has been a straight ally for 25 years. She sees Mormons Building Bridges as encouraging LDS people to talk more and understand this issue. “People are having the courage to step out and be public, and it makes a difference. If your home teacher has a bumper sticker on the car that says ‘I am a Mormon Building Bridges’ and you do, too, then you know that there is somebody that you feel safe to talk to. As people connect on the Internet, they are able to talk in ways that they couldn’t talk when they were feeling like they were the only person in the ward who is gay.”
Compton feels that the church is following the same pathway as society in general, in that homosexuality has moved from being “a crime to a disease to a challenge to part of who you are.” Compton adds that, today, the official statement is “we don’t know why people are gay.”
A recent survey from the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy from Brigham Young University indicates that while the majority of Utah voters oppose gay marriage, attitudes toward some legal recognition of same-sex marriage have changed dramatically over the past eight years. The poll found that while 72 percent of Utah voters oppose gay marriage, 71 percent now favor some form of legal recognition. The number of Utah voters opposed to legal recognition of same-sex relationships continues to drop each year, from 54 percent in 2004 to 29 percent in 2012.
Feeling Safe
Munson says her children were pleased with the march. Her daughter has a photo of the group on her refrigerator in Los Angeles. “They proudly e-mailed their friends about it. My son called me on march day, just as we finished, and was just so surprised and happy at the huge number of people who chose to march. He continues to find his spiritual practice outside the LDS Church,” she says.
“My children inspired me to consider making a safe place for LGBT people in my church, but my work in Mormons Building Bridges has never been about ‘bringing back’ those of my children that have chosen a different path.”
The night before the parade, Munson’s youngest daughter who lives at home was hanging out with neighbor kids. When they said, ‘See you in church tomorrow,’ she replied, ‘I won’t be at church. I’m marching in the Pride Parade.’ ”
Munson recalls an LDS neighbor said, “‘What? I thought we hated gay people. I don’t hate gay people, but I thought we were supposed to.’ ”
Her daughter replied that she loved LGBT people and wanted to show it.
Just like the discussion that took place between her daughter and her friends, Munson would like to see individuals in wards talking about this issue. Along with seeing gay kids feeling safe and supported by their families, Munson would like to see gay people “feeling welcomed in our congregations and feeling safe in our pews.”
Gay or not. Why should the gay community tell what Mormons should do or believe? Just except the fact that if u choose to act in a way that is not accepted by the mormon folks they may not want you o be part of their club! Get over it and move on. Or, just open your own church. Why should we change when u don't want to? Not everyone will accept the life style you decide to have. That's life, get over it. And why in the hell can't you people talk about something else for Gods sake! Don't you people have other interests besides being Gay? Most straights folks never get married anyways what's the fuss about it. Go read a book or something.
All of this ceases to be a conflict when we realize that, in reality, the gay identity is based on a fiction. As someone who experienced what some would call "same sex attraction" I am absolutely convinced that experiencing a sexual response in the presence of a same-sex stimulus does not have to result in the logical jump of infering a specific identity (self-imposing the label of "gay"). In reality, so called "gays, lesbians, etc. " are no different from everyone else. To be gay is to accept an idea, belief, or philosophy. Virtually everyone is capable of being sexually aroused in the presence of non-traditional stimuli. LGBT-identified people do not represent a discretely different type of person, and therefore, already have all the same rights every body else enjoys.
Sure, Ms. Munson claims that she "loves" gays, just as she preaches that her God loves all His children unconditionally. Then again, her loving God demanded that gays be killed (Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1: 24-32); and her church promotes these same biblical passages as Mormon "basic beliefs".
"Love," as in Leviticus: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. "
And, "love," as in Romans 1, of the New Testament: "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly…Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death. "
I state unambiguously, unequivocally, that the Mormon God is wrong, not only now, but then.
Munson won't. As a faithful Mormon, she can't. She is beholden and inferior to the bigoted God she worships, who is never, ever wrong. (Even though He changes His mind a lot. )
MBM mouth-meister Kendall Wilcox took it one step further, explicitly stating that the Leviticus death command was "possibly" right, back then. Yes, you did, Kendall. Yes, you did. No matter how much you now try to deny it. But, hey, no problem: You're welcome to pop onto the CW comment boards again, and share your testimony. Deny your God. Say it loud, and say it proud: "The Mormon God was wrong, not only now, but then. "
And then there's MBM's ever-amazing, full-of-love Sister Stephanie Lauritzen, who, when it comes to Leviticus, explicitly stated, "I don't think God was wrong. "
So, yeah, Munson "loves" gays. And "God is love," and Heavenly Father "loves all His children unconditionally. " So long as "love" means demanding that your gay children be killed.
Feel the love! With love like that, who needs hate?
But there are many for whom this lovefest doesn't suffice. Count me among them.
Because, despite its declarations to love thy neighbor, MBB still faithfully supports the Church in its deliberate discrimination against gays in both employment and marriage. In Mormon practice as well as preaching, gay lovers aren't even good enough to pick up Mormon gym trash; and they certainly shouldn’t be allowed the basic human right to marry one other.
In the end, those are the basic beliefs that the Mormon Church itself practices as well as preaches, and the basic beliefs to which MBB is faithful.
Sorry, Mormons: Marriage is a civil right, not just a religious ceremony. Within broad limits, you can practice your bigotry in your church. But you can't use your ridiculous theology as grounds to deny gays a marriage license and its associated civil benefits, any more than you can use it to deny gays a driver's license, or (now-a-days, at least), deny whites and blacks the right to marry, as you did till 1963.
Religious bigotry is still bigotry. Even if you call it "love. "
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For a follow-up to my original CW guest op-ed, see "Deceptions, Devils, and Delusions: Mormons Building Bridges, 2": UtahfreethinkersDOTcom/deceptions-devils-and-delusions-mormons-building-bridges-2/ (Replace the "DOT"; CW doesn't allow live links. )
Mikee,
Are you intimating that we Mormon's are racists? If so, here is my answer -The vast majority of all anti-Mormon statements can be traced back to the early and mid 1800’s where they were fabricated by hate filled murderers, and those who love to make a lie. Thus, they persecuted the Mormons even unto death with their carefully crafted words.
Mormons have never have been, and never will be racists, and don't believe anyone who tells you differently. Here's why:
1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has never forbidden blacks from joining the Church, or forced them into separate congregations.
2. In 1833 Joseph Smith received a revelation from Jesus Christ that said "Therefore it is not right that one man should be in bondage to another. " See Doctrine and Covenants Section 101:7
3. In 1838 the Mormons were expelled from the slave state of Missouri under threat of extermination (Executive Order 44 issued by Gov. Boggs). You might ask why did Boggs issue this order? Well in this case one of the main reasons was that the anti-Mormons were complaining that the Mormons had invited “free negroes and mulattos” to join them in Missouri. That complaint sounds like those people were of the same mindset as the KKK doesn't it?
4. Then, in 1844 Joseph Smith ran for President with a plan to free all slaves by 1850. His plan was for the federal government to purchase them, and set them free. He was murdered four months later. That sounds like what happened to Martin Luther King.
5. Like so many Mormons, I also had three ancestors who died as a result of that persecution, and other family members who almost lost their lives as well. So you see, Mormons have always been the black man's friend.
6. To all of these things I would add my testimony that during my 45 years as an adult in the Church (1967 to present) I have never seen anything but brotherly love extended to our African American members and black visitors in any of the various ward congregations I have lived in. And, I have moved around a lot.
7. Furthermore, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that every man, woman, and child on this earth is literally a child of God. That means we are all brothers and sisters, and any black person who has ever met with our missionaries or attended our church services can testify to you that they were treated with brotherly Love and kindness. 8. Now, our detractors will tell you that the Church did not ordain those of black African decent to the ministry from 1830's until 1978. That is basically correct. The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that he should refrain from doing so. Then, in June of 1978 God gave a revelation to the Prophet Spencer W. Kimball that the time had finally come when all worthy men in the Church should be given the Priesthood. So, the question arises, why did the Lord wait so long to give that revelation?
9. First, let me say that the Lord has never given his reasons for this delay. However, it is my "personal opinion" that if blacks had been called and ordained to the Priesthood, and later become leaders within the Church, then every Mormon both black and white would have been lynched or shot instead of being forced to leave the state of Missouri under threat of extermination.
Not only that, but we have sent our missionaries throughout the United States and around the globe from the very beginning of the Church to the present day. With that in mind, note that by 1860 the KKK came into existence with a vengence. Now imagine the persecution, beatings, lynching's, etc. , that they would have carried out against mixed Mormon congregations led by black priesthood holders prior to the Civil Rights movement. So you see, our not ordaining blacks of African descent prior to 1978 had absolutely nothing to do with Mormons being racists. In fact, according to my way of thinking, it was exactly the opposite.
10. The persecution of our Church and its members took on a new form when the main body of our Church membership moved beyond the reach of the rapists and the hate filled murderers of the 1800's. Since that time, we have mainly been persecuted by anti-Mormon publications which are built upon misinformation, out of context quotes and private interpretations of our doctrines by non-members, atheists, excommunicated members and former members who have left the Church after being sucked into the circle of hate.
Just read the postings in this thread and you will get an idea of what I am talking about. Notice how we Mormons are only posting to defend our faith while others attack us. That's when you will start to understand what's really going on in the media today.
11. Last of all, the detractors of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will point to past views and opinions which were expressed by leaders of our Church as to why the Lord didn't want us to ordain those of black African descent. Of course, the truth is they didn't really know, because the Lord had never revealed his reasons. The Apostle Bruce R. McConkie was present in June of 1978 when the Lord finally gave the revelation instructing the Church to ordain all worthy men to the Priesthood. The revelation was received by the Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, and confirmed by revelation to all of the Apostles at the same time by the power of the Holy Ghost. Elder McConkie of the Twelve later wrote the following:
"Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon or whosoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world. We get our truth and our light line upon line and precept upon precept. We have now had added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don't matter any more. It doesn't make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June 1978. It is a new day and a new arrangement, and the Lord has now given the revelation that sheds light out into the world on this subject. As to any slivers of light or any particles of darkness of the past, we forget about them. We now do what meridian Israel did when the Lord said the gospel should go to the gentiles. We forget all the statements that limited the gospel to the house of Israel, and we start going to the gentiles. "
In other words, the gospel was at one time only preached to the Jews. Then, after the crucifixion of Christ, the time came when Peter received the revelation that it was time for it to be preached to the gentiles. That's the way it was with us. At first we were instructed not to ordain those of Black African descent, but on the first day of June 1978 the Lord said the time for doing so had arrived. That revelation was received 34 years ago, and we have been ordaining all worthy male members to the Priesthood ever since.
" Oaks was asked if parents should allow children to bring their black partners home for the holidays. “I can imagine that in most circumstances the parents would say, ‘Please don’t do that. Don’t put us into that position,’ ” Oaks said. “Surely if there are children in the home who would be influenced by this example, the answer would likely be that. ”
Oaks went on to say, “I can also imagine some circumstances in which it might be possible to say, ‘Yes, come, but don’t expect to stay overnight. Don’t expect to be a lengthy houseguest. Don’t expect us to take you out and introduce you to our friends, or to deal with you in a public situation that would imply our approval of your ‘partnership. ’ ”
Fixed that for ya, Oaks.