Hey guys, I’m back and I have news. I was doing a google
search for ‘gay mormons’ and apparently there is breaking news…
The Church has accepted the gays and will now support gay
marriage.
Ok so that’s not the news, however there’s another new
website created by the Church to reach out to their…out members.
Mormons and Gays provides discussions and talks from Church
leaders, but at every turn it seems they go out of their way to warn that no
real change will occur. In both of the first two videos by Elder Dallin H. Oaks
and Elder D. Todd Christofferson, they point out that the Mormon stance has not
and will never change.
They exert their efforts on making these members feel
better about their supposed problem rather than telling them they have no problems. It’s
like they’re giving out Band-Aids for internal bleeding. The psychological
damage of most people struggling between same-sex attraction and a Mormon
belief, including myself, comes from the Church’s position not their sexuality.
I would recommend to any Church leader Jacob Caldwell’s article, “The Viability of Christian Same-Sex Unions: Why
Scripturally Normed Faith Communities Must Support Homosexual Relationships,”
which speaks about the need for a broader view of these issues from Christian
denominations.
The Church has received a lot of publicity this past year
for making ‘large strides’ towards acceptance and understanding, however as the
leaders in this video themselves say…nothing has changed. Homosexuality is just
as much a sin as it ever was.
I’m getting whiplash from these stories where the headlines
read Mormons Reach Out to the Gay Community, or Church Changes its Stance
Towards Homosexuals. Wake me up when they’ve changed their minds towards
homosexuality itself.
On the website they even highlight:
“Where the
Church stands:
The
experience of same-sex attraction is a complex reality for many people. The
attraction itself is not a sin, but acting on it is. Even though individuals do
not choose to have such attractions, they do choose how to respond to them.
With love and understanding, the Church reaches out to all God’s children, including
our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.”
They
keep giving hope and snatching it back. It’s like when you’re a baby and adults
keep pulling the binky out of your mouth, I’m convinced none of these babies
are as amused as the parents, and neither am I.
While
I appreciate that they support anti-discrimination laws, no longer sanction gay
bashing, and addresses us with a misguided sense of compassion, it does
nothing to help sleep at night or get me back to Church.
One of
the videos attempts to discuss ‘What Needs to Change,’ but as a gay ex-Mormon,
I say what needs to change is their attitudes and discussions with us; it is
their doctrine not our identity that need to go.
I
agree with Caldwell as he argues for a reexamination of the Bible. The Bible contains
proven inconsistencies regarding translation; and The Book of Mormon, Pearl of
Great Price, and Doctrine in Covenants don’t make a single mention of homosexuality.
For
all their talk of love and compassion, they have yet to extend a true olive branch,
or viable alternative for its gay members. The same four options still
circulate: deny, abstain, lie, leave (these are bleak, at best). Neither of
those leads to a true union of sexuality and belief. Unfortunately at this
point in time it cannot be done.
There
is a section of this website urging the Church’s struggling gay members to hold
onto the faith, but as of yet the Church hasn’t met the gay community halfway.
I’m sure Chuch leaders see these and the ‘It Gets Better’ videos as tremendous
progress, but this is the same church that waited until the late 70s to allow
Black people the right to the Priesthood.
I hope
that this is a similar situation (how twisted is that?) and all these
articles, websites, and videos are a precursor of the actual change towards
full equality for all members and hopefully by extension all of society.
