The Church of the Latter Day Saints has very similar views to the Catholic Church on homosexuality and along with it seems to be determined to try and hold back the tide of approval of same sex marriage that is sweeping the country. You may recall that it was one of the strongest backers of California’s Proposition 8 initiative, pouring money and personnel into getting that measure passed.
While the Mormon church has made some tentative steps towards the acceptance of gays, they are still pretty rigid and antagonistic as can be seen from this story of a straight young Mormon Emmett C. who was denied the opportunity to serve as a missionary (an important rite of passage) simply because he “believes that LGBT people are equal in the sight of God and should [be] treated the same as straight members of the LDS Church.” What a horrendous heresy! As a result he will likely not receive a ‘temple recommend’ and would not be allowed to marry in the temple.
The church issued a statement last Tuesday on the day that the Proposition 8 case was being argued before the Supreme Court that said, “We firmly support the divinely appointed definition of marriage as the union between a man and a woman because it is the single most important institution for strengthening children, families and society. We hope the court will agree, and we look forward to the decision on this important matter.”
But even they are facing defections. Marie Osmond, leading member of one of the most prominent Mormon families in the entertainment business, said that she supports same-sex marriage and it turns out that the reason for her stance is a familiar one, that her daughter is gay. Emmett C. also had a gay brother and sister among his ten siblings and talks about how this influenced him.
They are waiting for a revelation. It will come eventually; it always does for the Mormon Church.
The Mormon church keeps a prophet on call for just such occasions.
Yes the revelation will eventually come, but remember, they didn’t decide that blacks were equal until 1978. That second digit is a 9, not an 8.
I was raised Mormon. If I wanted to put an optimistic date on when the church will have the “revelation” that accepts marriage equality, I would put it in the 2030s or 2040s. Pessimistically it could be the 2060s. Seriously.
Good news. One less Mormon knocking on the door and telling lies to potential converts
He’s a big boy. Surely he can handle a registry office wedding.
“We firmly support the divinely appointed definition of marriage as the union between a man and a woman . . .” Jeez, you’d think they’d hold out for “a man and many women”.
My wife is a formon. jamessweet is right. It will be a long time before they change their ways. But yes, like the Catholics, once they do, they will claim to have been on the right side all along. Anyone who says, “Didn’t we used to hate the gays?” will be told they’re misinterpreting lies meant to hurt the church and just ignore the man behind the curtain.
It does take a hefty brass set of cajones, though, for the Mormon church to preach about what makes for a healthy marriage. Apparently a dozen pre-teen brides is okay, as long as it’s only one groom.
Fixed that for you.
As I recall it, the main reason they decided blacks were human was that nobody wanted to play against their football team.
What about same-sex polygamy?
It is hard to believe that in todays society that people still are pretty backwards in their beliefs!!
The fact that Mormon Emmett C is denied the opportunity to serve as a missionary just because he has a pretty viable belief is ludacris.
As another former mormon I have to agree that those smug, self righteous, brain dead, authoritarian, money hungry, misogynist, hate-filled, bigoted, cretins may not accept homosexuals as human beings until there is a financially beneficial reason to do so. They are all about the family, as long as everyone in the family is a faithful (tithing-paying) member. Homosexual unions do not produce new little sources of revenue so what good are they?