Making sense of the LDS church's mixed messaging for LGBTQ Mormons | Opinion | Salt Lake City Weekly

Making sense of the LDS church's mixed messaging for LGBTQ Mormons 

Opinion

Pin It
Favorite
click to enlarge news_opinion1-1.png

Despite assertions of immutability and consistency, the positions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint on sexuality and gender have proven fragile and changeable across time.

Throughout much of the 19th century, for example, plural marriage between a man and multiple women was taught as an "everlasting covenant" that would never be abolished. Under intense scrutiny and pressure from the U.S. government, the church officially abandoned the practice in 1890 and currently teaches that only marriage between one man and one woman is ordained of God.

Another fundamental shift in Latter-day Saint teachings on sex and gender is reflected in its discourse around homosexuality. Since the 1950s, Latter-day Saint elites consistently framed homosexuality as an evil and viral contagion that would destroy individual, familial and societal well-being. They demonized and condemned "homosexuals," implementing policies that promoted conversion therapy and made identifying as homosexual, gay or lesbian an excommunicable offense. Today, the church allows people to identify as gay or lesbian and engages in far more accepting and inclusive rhetoric, by comparison.

Teachings condemning oral sex, birth control and interracial marriage have also undergone massive changes, if not full reversals, within the past half-century. Simply put, doctrines and policies around sexuality and gender are moving targets that have been clumsily and contradictorily managed throughout the Latter-day Saint church's 200-year history.

As a result, the modern church anxiously finds itself at a crossroads concerning its LGBTQ stances. Its leaders simultaneously cling to anachronistic theology that asserts the sinfulness of same-sex relationships and gender transitions, while striving to stay culturally relevant in an increasingly social-justice-oriented world.

In navigating this untenable position, modern church leaders have propagated mixed and contradictory messages. On the one hand, LDS President Russell M. Nelson and his first counselor, Dallin H. Oaks, have continued to hammer anti-LGBTQ teachings, declaring that marriage between a man and woman is "irrevocable doctrine." On the other hand, the church has made a series of moves that show greater acceptance of LGBTQ individuals and allies than ever before.

The recent hiring of Aaron Sherinian as head spokesperson for the church is a powerful example of this tension. Sherinian's social media accounts are saturated with bold LGBTQ activism, including his personal use and support of inclusive pronouns, unequivocal affirmations of transgender individuals and celebration of the country's legalization of same-sex marriage. In June 2015, he tweeted: "Way to go #SCOTUS. Gay marriage now legal across all 50 states! #LoveisLove #MarriageEquality." Sherinian also fearlessly promotes Pride events, symbols and slogans, which directly contradicts the directives of other church leaders.

In a remarkably controversial address delivered at Brigham Young University in 2021, LDS Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland called for "musket fire" directed at those who oppose the faith's teachings on marriage and sexuality. He spoke derisively of "flag-waving and parade-holding" and warned "that love and empathy [should] not get interpreted as condoning and advocacy." Recent reporting suggests that Holland's address will be added to the required reading of all incoming BYU freshmen.

If LDS church leaders continue to denounce same-sex marriage and LGBTQ activism, why then would the church hire such an outspoken LGBTQ advocate as their head spokesperson?

First, it is likely that top leaders do not act as a monolith and have significant disagreements about LGBTQ-related teachings and policies. While there are several high-profile leaders who refuse to abandon their anti-LGBTQ worldviews, there are others who have demonstrated far more nuanced and compassionate perspectives. Local, congregational leaders also demonstrate this ideological diversity and treat LGBTQ members with tremendous variability, a dynamic that is sometimes referred to by church members as "Bishop Roulette."

Second, this mixed messaging represents a gradual, yet successful, struggle toward equality within the church—a decades-long battle that courageous LGBTQ individuals and activists have been fighting and even dying for. There are numerous recent examples of same-sex couples receiving callings and taking the sacrament in their congregations, privileges that gay and lesbian members would have only dreamt of in previous years. Furthermore, transgender individuals were given permission in recent years to be baptized, with their preferred name and pronouns acknowledged on the formal membership rolls of the church.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. taught that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." While it is not inevitable that the LDS church will ever fully embrace LGBTQ relationships and identities, mounting sociocultural and political pressure are at least causing the church to see the damage caused by clinging to its anti-LGBTQ teachings. I sincerely hope that their mixed messaging represents a gradual dying of old homophobic and transphobic teachings in favor of steady evolution toward full acceptance of LGBTQ Latter-day Saints.

Private Eye is off this week. Send feedback to

comments@cityweekly.net

Pin It
Favorite

Tags:

About The Author

Keith Burns

Latest in Opinion

Readers also liked…

© 2024 Salt Lake City Weekly

Website powered by Foundation