Church Supports Gay Rights Ordinance

Historical and remarkable is what Millennial Mormonism Today calls the church's public endorsement of a gay rights measure designed to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in employment and housing. The recent battle between the church and the LGBT community over marriage had produced so much animosity, I really wondered if there could be reconciliation. I did not think it would happen this soon.

Michael Otterson, managing director of the LDS Church's public affairs office, spoke during a public hearing Tuesday before the Salt Lake City Council regarding ordinances proposed to protect gay and lesbian residents from housing and employment discrimination. This unexpected public support for a city ordinance by the church created a small media bombshell that made it into national headlines.

I was overjoyed that the church took a consistent stand with it's August 2008 press release which states that they are not opposed to civil protections and rights for gays and lesbians when it does not interfere with religious liberties and the traditional definition of marriage. That stance seemed to fall on deaf ears when it came to the media, some members of the LGBT community and even some Mormons particularly those of the Nicodemus variety who will likely become offended by this action.

The church took a bold step in declaring support for the Salt Lake City ordinance rather than merely not opposing it. The support came as a result of meetings of leaders in the LGBT community and the church. Apparently they were able to find common ground.

This is extremely millennial and Millennial Mormonism Today welcomes it wholeheartedly.
I thought I would share some of the more interesting comments about this historic event as well as some of my thoughts about those comments. All of these comments were taken from the Deseret News website reporting on this event.

Here is an anti-LDS comment. Notice the twisted skepticism and contempt:
"This is only Salt Lake City one of the areas of Utah slipping from LDS control. I still don't trust this. The LDS does NOTHING until after they are absolutely forced to do so."

It is important to note that the church could have chosen not to make a big fuss about this and simply not opposed it. I'm not sure how the church could be forced to publicly support this. NOTHING is also a very absolutist statement. Apparently, for this angry and bitter individual, any good or positive step the church takes is because somebody is holding a gun to their head. I wish this person peace and blessings and that their life may be healed from the contempt and bitterness they feel.

Here is a comment of the more Nicodemus variety:
"The Mormon church has moved far from the ideology of its founders, and will do pretty much whatever popular opinion tells it to do. Just wait. In a couple of decades or so there will be gay and lesbian Mormon bishops."

This one sounds like a fundamentalist who values tradition over revelation. I hate to break it to them and others but there have been and are gay bishops! They simply choose to remain faithful in their temple marriage in spite of feelings of attraction to the same sex.

I liked this one quite a bit:
"I think if the LDS church is going to do what the popular opinion is at the time, women would be able to hold priesthood positions by now. We invited a gay friend to church several times, and he wanted to stay in relief society with us, nobody made a big deal out it. Everybody welcomed him just fine."

Nobody should make a big deal out of it. We invite ALL to come unto Christ. Some people act like gays and lesbians are not included in the "who is my neighbor" aspect of the parable of the Good Samaritan. For the Mormon community and LGBT community I think it would be an interesting contemporary twist and likening the scriptures to ourselves and our day if we substituted Samaritan and replaced it with a Mormon or someone who identifies themselves as gay or lesbian. We should all go and do thou likewise. It would get us much closer to a literal millennium or at least an internal one.

Here is a comment from a LGBT rights activist that I really liked:
"I am thrilled to be standing shoulder to shoulder with the LDS church on this issue. There are so many areas such as this where we agree! Let's work on those and leave the others to rest for a while, Let's make sure all God's children are respected and protected from discrimination and have the rights they need to manage their affairs. Sure We'll disagree on the boarderlands of our ideologies, but in the center, there is much we can cooperate on. Thanks to the LDS Church for speaking up for what is right, even when (as is obvious from comments here) it may not be popular or advisable or may be misconstrued as being solely for PR. This allows the LGBT community their first glimpse of the compassion of the LDS church as opposed to their view of it as a frightening institution that wants to strip their rights."

Here is a classic Nicodemus Mormon:
". . . I've been a member for over half a century. The leaders of the Church are righteous people, full of love for everyone. I applaud all those who stand up for religious freedom. No one should ever be forced to believe a certain way even if it becomes popular or politically correct. The Gays in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah became the leaders of those cities. They tried to force everyone to think and become like them. Ultimately they were destroyed by God himself because in their perversions they would defile themselves and the children of God and would not repent."

As you can see, at the beginning of this comment, there is some "putting the brethren on pedestals" here. I agree that there are some who want to suppress the free speech of people who are religious, especially if they disagree with them. They should have stopped there. But then you see this person go off the rails and take a purely literalistic position on the Sodom and Gomorrah story instead of seeing the symbolism behind it. The uber-literalist perspective promotes hatred, intolerance, and sometimes even violence. It may surprise this Nicodemus Mormon that I have known some gays and lesbians who are extremely Christ-like. On the other hand I have met some Mormons and other Christians who are more like the Pharisees than like Christ.

This next comment is actually two comments. The first is a previous comment made by a member of the church and the second comment is clearly from the GLBT community. I post it simply to show that we have some work to do in healing some wounds, correcting ignorance, and misunderstanding:
"No matter what the church says or do it will never be good enough for the LGBT's..."Yup... kinda like how nothin' the GLBT community does is ever good enough for LDS members."

This posted comment shows that we don't always recognize that when we make harsh judgements, we then receive harsh judgements. As the Savior said: Judge not, lest ye be judged. It's not fun when we receive what we dish out.

Here's some comments that are about as Nicodemus Mormon as you can get. Notice in the first how uncomfortable he is with the idea that there could be revelation involved in this process:
"A big step back for the church. I can not sit back and have this spoon fed to me as revelation. We should have stuck to our guns. These people need help not compassion!"
"I never thought the church would cower to political pressure. Another decline of the church in these latter days."
"A sad day in Utah. The Church should have stuck to their guns. It certainly shows a weakness that we are becoming 'in the world."

Enough said.

Many years ago, my grandfather's grandfather practiced an alternative lifestyle. He had three wives. He was persecuted for that. It was not popular and the majority of people in the country looked upon that lifestyle with disgust and ignorance. He, like many others were hunted and threatened with sanctions for the life they chose to live according to their religious principles. He and his family even had to leave the country to live this alternative marriage lifestyle according to his conscience.

Today, there are people who are not going to choose to live the same way we do. They have the right to define themselves the way they want. If they want to define themselves by their sexuality then they should be allowed to do that. If they want to say that sexual orientation is 100% purely genetic and biological then they should have the right to take that stand. One thing that used to bother me and many other members of the church is when other Christians try to define who I am and what I believe. Who is anyone to say that I am not a Christian? We of all people, know what it is like to be persecuted, threatened, abused with acts of violence and even killed. We should remember our history and stand with GLBTs in support of tolerance and mutual respect and kindness.

This does not mean we need to agree on every issue. I believe we can find common ground and understanding. Much of the common ground will be found in living a Christ-like life. Once we have a more Christ-like perspective then we will be less condemning and more loving and kind.

Finally, I share one last comment that I liked:
"This is a great day. As an active member of the LDS church with a strong testimony of the Savior and the church I'm thrilled. People deserve to be treated fairly."

Once again, I express gratitude for the church's public endorsement of this ordinance and look forward to further steps by the church to create more tolerance and understanding.

Peace and Blessings to each one of you my friends.