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LGBT rights and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

January 01, 1970

See also: The LDS Church and politics in the US, California Proposition 8 (2008), The Divine Institution of Marriage, and Protests against Proposition 8 supporters

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has been involved with many pieces of legislation relating to LGBT people and their rights (e.g. housing, job discrimination, and same-sex marriage).[1] These include playing an important role in defeating same-sex marriage legalization in Hawaii (Amendment 2), Alaska (Measure 2), Nebraska (Initiative 416), Nevada (Question 2), California (Prop 22), and Utah (Amendment 3).[2]: 2, 65, 69, 71, 78, 85  The topic of same-sex marriage has been one of the church's foremost public concerns since 1993.[2]: 1  Leaders have stated that it will become involved in political matters if it perceives that there is a moral issue at stake and wields considerable influence on a national level.[3][4][5] Over a dozen members of the US congress had membership in the church in the early 2000s.[6] About 80% of Utah state lawmakers identied as Mormon at that time as well.[7][8][9][10] The church's political involvement around LGBT rights has long been a source of controversy both within and outside the church.[11][12][13] It's also been a significant cause of disagreement and disaffection by members.[14][15][16]

The LDS Church has held notable political influence on laws around LGBT individuals in the United States, especially in the state of Utah.

Teachings on sexuality and gender identity motivating political involvement edit

 
"The Family: A Proclamation to the World" is a 1995 LDS church statement used as a legal document in several court case amicus briefs opposing same-sex marriage.[17]

LDS Church leaders have stated that the church will become involved in political matters if it perceives that there is a moral issue at stake, such as same-sex marriage, and the church wields considerable influence in the United States.[3][4][5] All homosexual or same-sex sexual activity is forbidden by the LDS Church in its law of chastity, and the church teaches that God does not approve of same-sex marriage.[18] Additionally, in the church's plan of salvation, noncelibate gay and lesbian individuals will not be allowed in the top tier of heaven to receive exaltation unless they repent, and a heterosexual marriage is a requirement for exaltation.[19][20] In 1995 Church president Gordon B. Hinckley read "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" in the Fall General Conference which states that marriage between a man and a woman is essential and ordained of God and that gender is an essential part of one's eternal identity and purpose.[21]: 154–155 [22] Gender identity and roles play an important part in Latter-Day Saint teachings which teaches a strict binary of spiritual gender as literal offspring of divine parents.[22][23] "The Family Proclamation" has been submitted by the church in several amicus briefs as evidence against legalizing same-sex marriages.[17]

From 1976 until 1989 under president Spencer Kimball the Church Handbook called for church discipline for members attracted to the same sex equating merely being homosexual with the seriousness of acts of adultery and child molestation—even celibate gay people were subject to excommunication.[2]: 16, 43 [24]: 382, 422 [25]: 139  Kimball's numerous publications discussing "curing" homosexuality and condemning same-sex attractions (even without action), and his rise to the church presidency in 1973 set the stage for years of harsh treatment of gay church members.[2]: 36–37  Since the first recorded mentions of homosexuality by general LDS Church leaders, teachings and policies around the topics of the nature, etiology, mutability, and identity around same-sex romantic and physical attractions have seen many changes through the decades,[26]: 46 [27]: 45–46 [28][29]: 13–21  including a softening in rhetoric over time.[30][21]: 169–170 [31]

Views on discrimination laws edit

In February 2003, the LDS Church said it did not oppose a hate-crimes bill, which included sexual orientation, then under consideration in the Utah state legislature.[32] The church opposes same-sex marriage, but does not object to rights regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the family or the constitutional rights of churches and their adherents to administer and practice their religion free from government interference.[33] Following two months of negotiations between top Utah gay rights leaders and mid-level church leaders,[34] the church supported a gay rights bill in Salt Lake City which bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in housing and employment, calling them "common-sense rights." The law does not apply to housing or employment provided by religious organizations.[35][36] Jeffrey R. Holland, of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, stated that it could be a model for the rest of the state.[37] The LDS Church has not taken a position on ENDA.[38]

Many surveys have been conducted on church members and their views on homosexuality and discrimination. In a 1977 Utah poll three-fourths of LDS-identified responders opposed equal rights for gay teachers or ministers and 62% favored discrimination against gays in business and government (versus 64% and 38% of non-LDS respondents respectively).[39][2]: 15 [40]: 220  A 2017 Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) survey found that over half (53%) of all Mormon adults believed small private business should be able to deny products and services to gay or lesbian people for religious reasons (compared to 33% of the 40,000+ American adults surveyed),[41]: 15, 23  and 24% of all Mormon adults oppose laws that protect LGBT Americans against discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.[42][41]: 20  In a 2007 US poll, only 24% of Mormons agreed that "homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted," less than any other major religious group in the survey except for Jehovah's Witnesses, and 2 out of 3 (68%) latter-day saints said it should be discouraged.[43] In a similar poll seven years later, 36% said homosexuality should be accepted and over half (57%) said it should be discouraged.[44] Additionally, 69% of adherents supported laws that protect LGBT Americans against discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations, but 53% believed small private business should be able to deny products and services to gay or lesbian people for religious reasons.[41]: 15, 20 

Several church employees have been fired[45][46][47] or pressured to leave for being celibate but gay,[48][49]: 162–163 [50] or for supporting LGBT rights.[51][52] A Church employee described how his stake president denied his temple recommend resulting in him getting fired simply because of his friendship with other gay men and his involvement in a charity bingo for Utah Pride in a 2011 article.[53]

Opposition to same-sex marriage legislation edit

See also: California Proposition 8 (2008), The Divine Institution of Marriage, and Protests against Proposition 8 supporters
 
The church distributed hundreds of thousands of these Protect Marriage Coalition lawn signs during their involvement with the pro-Prop 8 campaign.[54]

In 1997, then church president Gordon B. Hinckley declared the church would "do all it can to stop the recognition of same-sex marriage in the United States", and apostle M. Russell Ballard has said the church is "locked in" if anything interferes with the principle of marriage only being between a man and a woman.[2]: 73 [55] Beginning in the mid-1990s, the LDS Church began to focus its attention on the issue of same-sex marriages with one scholar citing the church's views of God's male-female union plan, their sense of responsibility in publicly protecting traditional morality, and a fear of government encroachment in church performed marriages as the motivations for this opposition.[56] In 1993, the Supreme Court of Hawaii held that discrimination against same-sex couples in the granting of marriage licenses violated the Hawaiian constitution. In response, the church's First Presidency issued a statement on February 13, 1994, declaring their opposition to same-sex marriage, and urging members to support efforts to outlaw it. Fund-raising assignments were given to stake presidents in Hawaii and the LDS Church contributed $600,000 to pass HB 117.[2]: 64–65  With the lobbying of the LDS Church and several other religious organizations, the Hawaii legislature enacted the bill in 1994 outlawing same-sex marriages.

Other states were considering legislation against recognizing same-sex marriages, but Utah acted first in 1995.[2]: 67  With its large majority Latter-day Saint legislature it passed a law forbidding the recognition of same-sex marriage that was drafted by a Brigham Young University BYU law professor.[2]: 67  In 1995, the LDS Church released "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" reaffirming its stance that marriage is between one man and one woman.[57][2]: 53  However, this monogamous stance has been strongly criticized as hypocritical given the church's historical disagreement with this legal definition which bars polygamy.[58]: 618  In 1998, the church donated $500,000 towards banning same-sex marriage in Alaska (Measure 2). This made up nearly 80% of the entire budget of the coalition lobbying for the measure.[2]: 70  The same year in Nebraska, church members collected about half of the 160,000 signatures gathered to place Initiative 416 on the ballot in order to ban same-sex marriage there.[2]: 71  For Nevada's Question #2 members played a key role in passing it by collecting the necessary petition signatures with many collected by making use of the church directories and venues.[2]: 71 

In 2004, the church officially endorsed a federal amendment to the United States Constitution as well as Utah Constitutional Amendment 3 banning any marriages not between one man and one woman and announced its opposition to political measures that "confer legal status on any other sexual relationship" than "a man and a woman lawfully wedded as husband and wife."[1] This statement seemed to also oppose civil unions, common-law marriages, plural marriages, or other family arrangements. This political involvement elicited the criticism of California Senator Mark Leno who questioned whether the church's tax-exempt status should be revoked.[59]

On August 13, 2008, the church released a letter explaining why it believed that same-sex marriage would be detrimental to society and encouraging California members to support Proposition 8[33] which would bar anything but opposite-sex marriages. The letter asked members to donate time and money towards the initiative. Church members would account for 80 to 90 percent of volunteers who campaigned door-to-door and as much as half of the nearly $40 million raised during the campaign.[60] In November 2008, the day after California voters approved Proposition 8, the LDS Church stated that it does not object to domestic partnership or civil union legislation as long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches.[61] Soon after, L. Whitney Clayton, a church general authority, stated that members who opposed Proposition 8 may be subject to discipline from local church leaders.[62] In a special meeting for some Oakland, California members it was reported that Marlin K. Jensen, Church Historian and general authority, apologized to straight and gay members for their pain from the Proposition 8 campaign and some other church actions around homosexuality.[63][64][65] In 2010 the LDS Church was fined for failing to properly report about $37,000 in contributions in 2008 towards Prop 8. in violation of California state's political contribution laws.[66][67] The whistleblower Fred Karger went on to found the organization Mormon Tips seeking information on further political involvement that may violate the LDS church's tax-exempt status.[68]

On December 20, 2013, the topic of same-sex marriage and the LDS Church was raised again when U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby struck down the Utah ban on same-sex marriage, saying it violated the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause.[69] In response, the church released instructions to leaders regarding same-sex marriage in Utah.[70] These included the stance that, while the church disagrees with the court ruling, those who obtain same-sex marriage should not be treated disrespectfully.[70] Additionally, it stated that church leaders were prohibited from employing their authority to perform marriages, and that any church property could not be used for same-sex marriages or receptions.[70]

In November 2015, a new policy was released stating that members who are in a same-sex marriage are considered apostates and may be subject to church discipline.[71] Additionally, the children of parents who are in same-sex relationships must wait until they are 18 years old and then disavow homosexual relationships before they can be baptized.[72] In April 2019, the church's First Presidency announced a revelation reversing the policy, but still affirming that same-sex marriage was a "serious transgression."[73] Russell M. Nelson had previously characterized the 2015 policy as direction from God in 2016, stating "Each of us during that sacred moment felt a spiritual confirmation. ... It was our privilege as apostles to sustain what had been revealed to President Monson."[74] Shortly after the change, Nelson said in a press release that the reversal was, "revelation upon revelation."[75]

A 2017 PRRI survey found that over half (52%) of Mormon young adults (18–29) supported same-sex marriage while less than a third (32%) of Mormon seniors (65+) did.[41]: 11 [42] Overall, 40% of LDS adults supported same-sex marriage, and 53% were opposed.[41]: 10 

Criticism and Protests edit

 
Protesters in front of the Newport Beach California Temple voicing their opposition to the church's support of Prop 8

The church's political involvement around LGBT rights has long been a source of controversy both within and outside the church.[11][12][13] It's also been a significant cause of disagreement and disaffection by members.[14][15][16] A 2003 nationwide Pew Research Center survey of over 1,000 LGBT Americans found that 83% of them said the LDS church was "generally unfriendly towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people" surpassed only by "the Muslim religion" at 84%.[76] Additionally, in May 2008 a Georgia Tech gay-rights manual referred to the LDS Church as "anti-gay." After two students sued the school for discrimination, a judge ordered that the material be removed.[77][78][79] The church's political involvement around LGBTQ rights has sparked critical media and protests. This includes the 2010 documentary film 8: The Mormon Proposition, the play "8" and the following protests:

 
A Prop 8 protester with a sign referencing the LDS Church's polygamous history.
  • 4 October 1999 – 150 members of Affirmation staged a protest in Salt Lake City over the church's lobbying and funding of anti-same-sex-marriage initiatives in California and other states.[80]
  • 2 November 2008 – Hundreds of people gathered at the Salt Lake City library in a protest of Prop 8 organized by LDS mothers of gay children.[81][82]
  • 6 November 2008 – In Los Angeles over two thousand people protested at the LDS temple over the LDS church's heavy involvement in the recent passing of California's Prop 8 banning same-sex marriage.[83]
  • 7 November 2008 – Three days after Prop 8 passed nearly five thousand protesters gathered at the Salt Lake Temple.[84][85] That evening a candlelight vigil by about 600 mothers of LGBT children was also held at the Salt Lake Temple.[86][87]

Timeline of events and publications around the LDS church and LGBT rights edit

Below is a timeline of events and publications around LDS Church political involvement around LGBT rights.

1800s edit

 
Brigham Young oversaw the creation of the new Utah Territory law banning sex between men. This portrait is from 1853.
  • 1851 – The church-controlled legislature of the newly formed Utah Territory passed the first law addressing same-sex sexual behavior banning any "man or boy" from "sexual intercourse with any of the male creation" with penalties left to the courts' discretion.[88]: 1200  Brigham Young acted as both Utah governor and church president in the theocratic government and oversaw the selection of the legislators.[89]
  • 1858 – Travelling bishop and later church historian A. Milton Musser wrote that Salt Lake City member Almerin Grow had demonstrated odd behavior and was wearing his wife's clothing in one of the first reported instances of gender non-conforming dress in the Mormon community. Church president Young (who had only recently stepped down as governor of the Utah Territory) subsequently sent Grow south to "never return," so Grow appointed Musser as guardian of his daughter.[90][91]
  • 1897 – During the October General Conference, First Presidency member George Q. Cannon used the media attention on the 1895 conviction and two-year imprisonment of famed Irish poet Oscar Wilde as an opportunity to condemn homosexual behavior as an "abominable", "filthy", "nameless crime" that "caused the utter destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah". He continued stating that the only way to stop these "dreadful practices" was "by the destruction of those who practice them" and "for the Lord to wipe them out" noting that "if a little nest of them were left ... they would soon corrupt others".[92][93]

1950s edit

  • 1952 – An increase in US public discourse around homosexuality in the McCarthyist Lavender scare era contributed to the first explicit mention of the term homosexual in general conference. Apostle Clark lamented that homosexuality is found among men and women, and that homosexual people exercise great influence in shaping culture.[94][95]: 146  After this LDS leaders started regularly addressing queer topics in public especially towards the end of the decade.[24]: 375, 377 [40]: v, 3 
  • 1955 – A Boise, Idaho, gay witch hunt was launched to hunt down gay men among moral panic over several local arrests of males for same-sex sexual activity. This resulted in nearly 1,500 people questioned, producing hundreds of names of suspected homosexuals[96] including several Mormons.[24]: 436  Author John Gerassi cites an oppressive environment engendered by the predominantly LDS population in his seminal 1966 work Boys of Boise as a contributing factor for the illegal sexual activity and subsequent witch hunts.[97][98] The documentary The Fall of '55 was made about the events in 2006.
  • 1957 – Apostle Clark cited Old Testament punishments for same-sex sexual activity stating, "for homosexuality, it was death to the male and the prescription or penalty for the female I do not know."[99]
  • 1959 – The fictional book Advise and Consent is released featuring the story of a married Mormon US senator named Brigham Anderson from Utah who has an affair with another man. It won a Pulitzer Prize and was later made into a film in 1962.[100][101][102] The novel's plot takes place during the ongoing 1950s McCarthyist Lavender Scare era when thousands of lesbian and gay applicants were barred from federal employment as national security threats under President Eisenhower's Executive Order 10450, and over 5,000 federal employees were fired under suspicions of being homosexual.[103][104]

1960s edit

  • 1960 – Utah native and LDS-raised R. Joel Dorius (born 1919) would become an unwitting champion of gay liberation after he was arrested in Massachusetts along with two coworkers and fired from his language and visual arts Smith College professorship. His house was raided and beefcake fitness magazines with erotic images of men were found in what is now considered a McCarthyist gay witch hunt.[105][106][107] Along with a coworker, Dorius appealed the verdict of pornography possession to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and all three professors were exonerated as the raid warrants were deemed unconstitutional. The scandal has been dramatized in The Scarlet Professor and the PBS documentary The Great Pink Scare.[108][109][110]
  • 1964 – Apostle Kimball addressed seminary and institute faculty on BYU campus calling homosexuality a "detestable crime against nature" that was "curable" by "self mastery".[2]: 33 [111] He cited one lay bishop (a businessman by trade) assigned by the church to administer a "program of rehabilitation" through which there had been "numerous cures". He said "the police, the courts, and the judges" had referred "many cases directly" to the church.[112][40]: 91 
  • 1965 – In a churchwide broadcast address the apostle Mark Petersen cited the movements to remove laws banning same-sex sexual activity in at least two US states as great evidence of apostasy, rejecting God, and society placing itself in the role of anti-Christ.[113]
  • 1969 – Mark E. Petersen cites how homosexuality "was made a capital crime in the Bible" as evidence of the seriousness of same-sex sexual activity. He stated "immorality is next to murder" and "the wage of sin is death" and that a rejection of morality "may bring about [this nation's] fall" as with "Greece and Rome" unless there was repentance.[114][115]

1970s edit

  • 1970 – Victor L. Brown of the Presiding Bishopric gave a General Conference address in which he called recent media reporting on a same-sex marriage "filth on our newsstands".[116][117]
  • 1971 – In a conference address apostle Kimball called the decriminalization of consensual same-sex sexual activity a damnable heresy, and the voices speaking in favor of churches accepting homosexuals as ugly and loud.[118][119]: 5 
  • 1972 – Idaho laws which barred same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults were reinstated under heavy pressure from the LDS church after being repealed for three months. Mormon state senator Wayne Loveless who spearheaded the effort stated that the previous law would "encourage immorality and draw sexual deviates to the state."[120][121] The reinstated law restored the old wording that "every person who is guilty of the infamous crime against nature committed with mankind ... is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than five years."[122][123][124]
  • 1974 – BYU president Oaks delivered a speech on campus in which he spoke in favor of keeping criminal punishment for "deviate sexual behavior" such as private, consensual, same-sex sexual activity. The speech was later printed by the university's press.[125][126][127]
 
Sergeant Matlovich, was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for heroic service in the Vietnam War, but was discharged from the military and excommunicated from the LDS church for being gay.
  • 1975 – LDS member Sergeant Leonard Matlovich was featured on the September 8 cover of Time magazine with the caption "I Am a Homosexual" for his challenging of the U.S. military ban against gay men and lesbian women.[128] He was subsequently discharged from the military for openly stating his sexual orientation[129] and excommunicated from the Church two months after the article was released.[24]: 442 [130]
  • 1976 – BYU music professor Carlyle D. Marsden took his own life[131] two days after being outed by an arrest during a series of police sting operations at an Orem rest stop.[132][133][134]
  • 1977 – The largely LDS Utah House of Representatives passed a bill outlawing same-sex marriages in the state by 71 votes to 3 without floor debate.[2]: 15 
  • 1977 – The Relief Society general president sent a telegram to Anita Bryant for her "Save Our Children" campaign which stated, "On behalf of the one million members of the Relief Society ... we commend you, for your courageous and effective efforts in combatting [sic] homosexuality and laws which would legitimize this insidious life style [sic]."[95]: 150 [135][136]
  • 1977 – Under the name Affirmation: Gay Mormons United, the first Affirmation group was organized in Salt Lake City by a group of other Mormon and former-Mormon lesbian and gay people at the conference for the Salt Lake Coalition for Human Rights.[137][138][139]
 
Anita Bryant's anti-gay campaign visit to Salt Lake City, applauded by LDS church leaders,[95]: 150  sparked the first public protest by Utah's LGBTQ community.[140]
  • 1977 – Apostle Mark Petersen wrote in the Church News that every right-thinking should sustain Anita Bryant and should look at their own neighborhoods to determine how "infiltrated" they had become with gay people.[2]: 12  He also wrote that "homosexual offenses" were next to murder in the hierarchy of sins.[2]: 16 [141]
  • 1977 – With an invitation from LDS church leaders, Anita Bryant performed at the Utah State Fair on the 18th.[142] Her presence prompted the first public demonstration from Utah's queer community,[143][144] organized by gay, former-Mormon pastor Bob Waldrop,[145][146] in what gay, former Mormon, and historian Seth Anderson[147] referred to as "Utah's Stonewall."[140]
  • 1977 – At a backstage press conference Church president Kimball praised Anita Bryant's anti-gay "Save Our Children" crusade which sought to bar the passing of nondiscrimination laws which would protect sexual minorities from being kicked out of their homes, fired from their jobs, and banned from restaurants solely for their sexual orientation. He stated that she was "doing a great service."[95]: 150  He continued stating that "the homosexual program is not a natural, normal way of life" and that church bishops and college-educated church counselors can aid those with "homosexual problems."[2]: 12 [148][149]
 
The church opposed the ERA in part from believing it would lead to same-sex marriage and parenting.[150]
  • 1978 – The First Presidency released a statement on August 24 outlining reasons for their opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment including "unnatural consequences" like an "increase in the practice of homosexual and lesbian activities".[151]
  • 1979 – Gay former Mormon Bob Waldrop who had served an LDS mission in Australia became a leader in the gay-inclusive Salt Lake Metropolitan Community Church.[146][152][153] In February 1977 his congregation had had its permission rescinded by Utah state Lieutenant Governor David Monson (a Mormon) to hold a queer-inclusive church dance in the public Utah Capitol building.[154][95]: 159 
 
Gay Mormons at the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights on 14 October 1979

1980s edit

  • 1980 – The Ensign published an article stating that a passing of the Equal Rights Amendment would lead to legalizing same-sex marriage and children being raised in a homosexual home.[150][21]: 151 
  • 1981 – Church leaders sent every bishop and stake president a copy of a book on human sexuality and families by Church Welfare Services director[157] Victor Brown Jr. The book stated that equating same-sex relationships with opposite-sex marriage was fallacious and inconsistent, and that homosexual people were less disciplined and orderly in their relationships.[158]: 6 [159]
  • October – A march of about 15 gay post-Mormons calling themselves "Ethyl and Friends for Gay Rights" was given city permission to protest on public property around Temple Square during the church's general conference with signs like "We are God’s Children." The leader Randy Smith (whose drag performance name was Ethel) had previously undergone electroshock aversion therapy at BYU.[160][161][162]
  • 1984 – Apostle Oaks wrote a church memo that informed church action on LGBT legislation for more than three decades.[2]: 38–39 [163] In it he recommended the church make a public statement to "oppose job discrimination laws protecting homosexuals" unless there were exceptions for allowing employers to "exclude homosexuals from employment that involves teaching ... young people". He also noted "the irony [that] would arise if the Church used [Reynolds v. United States]," the principal 1878 ruling stating that marriage is between a man and a woman, "as an argument for the illegality of homosexual marriages [since it was] formerly used against the Church to establish the illegality of polygamous marriages." Oaks also clarified that the word homosexuality is used in two senses: as a "condition" or "tendency", and as a "practice" or "activity".[163][164]
  • 1986 – Twenty-six-year-old Clair Harward who was dying from complications due to AIDS was banned from church meetings for fear of spreading the disease.[165][166] His story made national headlines[167] and prompted a statement from a church spokesperson.[168][169][170]
  • 1987 – Gordon Hinckley of the First Presidency gave a conference address in which he stated, "marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God .... Marriage should not be viewed as a therapeutic step to solve problems such as homosexual inclinations ...."[171]
  • 1988 – On November 22 a 20-year-old man from a prominent Mormon family in Delta, Utah[172][173] and another Utah man raped, tortured, and brutally murdered Gordon Church—a 28-year-old, gay, Mormon, student—near Cedar City, Utah in an anti-gay hate crime before US hate crime laws existed.[174][175]

1990s edit

  • 1990 – Church spokesperson John Lyons stated, "Since there is no marriage between homosexuals, then sexual activity between them is not acceptable under our principles."[176]
  • 1991 – During a case hearing Young Men's president and church Seventy Jack H. Goaslind gave a testimonial and stated on record that "[the church] would withdraw" from the Boy Scouts of America if homosexual youth were allowed to join, implying a current church policy banning youth based on sexual orientation.[177][178] In March 1910 the church's Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association had adopted the Boy Scouts of America program as the church-wide program for young men in the US.[179]
  • 1992 – Seventy Vaughn Featherstone decried the attempts at legalizing homosexuality during his lifetime as among compromising, drifting philosophies in his general conference speech.[180]
  • 1992 – Then apostle Russell Nelson stated in general conference that the AIDS epidemic was a plague fueled by a vocal few concerned with civil rights and abetted by immoral people.[2]: 13 [181]
  • 1993 – Packer gave a speech in which he identified social and political unrest from gay-lesbian movements as major invasions into the membership of the Church that leads them away.[182]
  • 1993 – Apostle Oaks gave a conference address stating that "there are many political, legal, and social pressures for changes that confuse gender and homogenize the differences between men and women".[183]
  • 1994 – The First Presidency issued a statement encouraging members to contact their legislators in an effort to reject same-sex marriage.[1][184]
  • 1994 – Apostle Boyd K. Packer gave a conference address mentioning that changes in the laws around marriage and gender threaten the family.[185]
  • 1994 – Apostle James E. Faust gave a speech at BYU in which he stated that same-sex marriage would unravel families, the fabric of human society.[186]
  • 1995 – The LDS Church began actions opposing same-sex marriage laws including recruiting members to work with and donate to Hawaii's Future Today in opposition to efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in Hawaii.[187] Pamphlets were spread in church meetings and church facilities were used to fax statements to legislative committees.[188] The campaign spanned years and the church reported giving $600,000 in 1998 to the Hawaiian political-action group Save Traditional Marriage '98.[189][190]
  • 1995 – James E. Faust gave a First Presidency message that stated same-sex relationships would help "unravel the fabric of human society" and if practiced by everyone would "mean the end of the human family".[191]
 
"The Family: A Proclamation to the World" is a 1995 LDS church statement used as a legal document in several court case amicus briefs opposing same-sex marriage.[17]
  • 1995 – Church president Gordon B. Hinckley read "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" in the Fall General Conference which states that marriage between a man and a woman is essential and ordained of God. It also teaches that gender is an essential part of one's eternal identity and purpose.[21]: 154–155 [22] The document has been submitted by the church in several amicus briefs as evidence against legalizing same-sex marriages.[17]
  • 1995 – Gordon B. Hinckley gave an October General Conference talk in which he stated that "same-sex marriage" is an "immoral practic[e]".[26]: 45–46 [192][193]
  • 1995 – Church Seventy Durrel A. Woolsey stated in general conference that Satan makes powerful and ungodly proclamations like "same-gender intimate associations and even marriages are acceptable."[194]
  • 1996 – In California a letter was read to all congregations from the North American West Area Presidency encouraging members to contact their legislators in support of a California assembly bill (AB 1982) against the recognition of any same-sex marriages.[2]: 72 
 
In 1996 a Salt Lake City high school became a focal point of tension between LGBT individuals and a largely LDS city administration and population.
  • 1996 – Salt Lake City became the only US city to have its Board of Education ban all students clubs after Mormon students Erin Wiser and Kelli Peterson[195][196] formed an East High School club called the "Gay/Straight Alliance" in September 1995. The club had cited a federal law sponsored by LDS Utah Senator Orrin Hatch which forbade school boards from discriminating against clubs, although, Hatch stated that the law was never meant to promote "immoral speech or activity". Four-hundred of Salt Lake's high school students protested the ban.[197][198] One Mormon senior at East High was quoted stating that he would rather all clubs be banned than allow the gay-straight alliance.[199] Additionally, Mormon state representative Grant Protzman[200][201] stated “I think that many legislators have serious concerns about the group’s moving into recruitment of fresh meat for the gay population."[202][203] Club founder Peterson responded that recruitment was not at all what the club is about, stating that it was founded to help her and her LGBT friends deal with a hostile school atmosphere where she faced physical and verbal assault as an out lesbian.[204][205] In response to the gay-straight alliance group, some students at West High formed the Student Against Faggots Everywhere (SAFE) group.[206][207][208]
  • 1996 – BYU Spanish professor Thomas Matthews was reported to a top LDS authority for previously stating that he was gay in private conversations. He stated that BYU did not like that he was out of the closet despite being celibate and keeping BYU codes of conduct, and eventually left the university a few months later.[209] BYU president Lee had stated that it was "simply not comfortable for the university" for him to continue teaching there.[48][49]: 162–163 [50]
  • 1997 – A poll of over 400 BYU students found that 42% of students believed that even if a same-sex attracted person kept the honor code they should not be allowed to attend BYU. The poll's stated 5 percent margin of error was criticized as being too low an estimate because of the cluster sampling in classes, however.[210]
  • 1997 – Church president Hinckley stated at the World Forum of Silicon Valley that the church would "do all it can to stop the recognition of same-sex marriage in the United States."[2]: 73 
  • 1997 – Church seventy Bruce C. Hafen presented at the World Congress of Families in the Czech Republic. He stated that one thing that will unbridle societal principles and harm us was legalizing same-sex marriage and that, "if the law endorses everything it tolerates, we will eventually tolerate everything and endorse nothing—except tolerance."[211]
  • 1997 – Church president Hinckley gave an interview in which he reaffirmed the stance that God made marriage for one man and one woman and that essentially gay people must live a "celibate life".[212]
  • 1997 – General authorities Marlin Jensen, Loren Dunn, and Richard Wirthlin gave recommendations to the church Public Affairs Committee that the church's priesthood structure could be used to gather 70% of the required 700,000 signatures and raise up to $2 million to place an anti-same-sex-marriage ballot on California's June 1998 primary election.[2]: 74 
  • 1998 – The Church Handbook was updated encouraging members to appeal to government officials to reject same-sex marriage.[213]: 159 [21]: 166 
  • 1998 – The church donated a half million dollars[190][189] to oppose efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in Alaska.[214][215]
  • 1998 – Church president Hinckley stated again that the church could not support "so-called same-sex marriage".[216][217]
  • 1999 – The Area Presidency of the North America West Area sent a May 11 letter to all area leaders directing members to donate their means and time to pass the Knight Initiative against same-sex marriage in California.[2]: 77 [218] A second letter invited church members to donate money, and a third letter (sent a month and a half before the proposition would pass) asked members to redouble their efforts in contacting neighbors and to place provided yard signs.[2]: 77–78 [219][220]
  • 1999 – Prop 22 fundraising quotas were given for some stakes and wards (e.g. one stake had a goal of $37,500 and one ward's goal was $4,000).[2]: 77  Some local leaders wrote letter to members soliciting specific amounts.[2]: 77 [221]: 28  In some instances lawn signs were passed out in the church building after church meetings.[2]: 77  An estimated half of pro-Prop 22 money raised came from LDS members.[2]: 78  This direct involvement around same-sex marriage laws led certain groups to request the IRS reconsider the LDS Church's tax-exempt status.[221]: 28 
  • 1999 – Church president Hinckley stated in general conference that, "so-called same-sex marriage ... is not a matter of civil rights; it is a matter of morality. ... There is no justification to redefine what marriage is."[2]: 79 [222]
  • 1999 – Some members of Affirmation staged a protest in Salt Lake City over the church's lobbying and funding of anti-same-sex-marriage initiatives in California and other states.[80]
  • 1999 – Director of BYU's World Family Policy Center Kathryn Balmforth addressed the World Congress of Families in Geneva.[223][224] In her speech she stated that gay rights activists are part of an anti-family movement that is hijacking human rights by legal force to gain power and "curtail the freedom of most of humanity."[225]

2000s edit

 
A yard sign distributed to church members
  • 2002 – With heavy influence from the LDS Church, Nevada state's Question 2 on amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage passed on the 5th after also winning a majority vote in the general elections two-years prior. A Nevada Mormon newspaper Beehive first reported the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage's intent to file an initiative petition in December 1999. The coalition raised over $800,000 by October 2000 from mostly Mormon-owned businesses and LDS individuals.[226] Mormon leaders had strongly encouraged members through letters with church letterhead to do campaign work and post yard signs distributed at church buildings.[227][228]
  • 2004 – In May the church spokesperson stated the church had no position on Utah's proposed anti-same-sex-marriage amendment.[229][2]: 84  Polls showed 68% of Utah Latter-day Saints supported the amendment.[230][2]: 84  Then the First Presidency issued a July 7 statement saying the church favors a constitutional amendment barring the legal status of any marriage outside one between one man and one woman, but did not mention any amendment by name.[2]: 84–85 [231][232] A few months later on October 19 they expounded this stance to reference a national amendment.[233] The letter states that the church reaches out with understanding and respect for homosexual persons and realizes there may be great loneliness in their lives, but defend their stance.[1][234]: 10 
  • 2004 – Church president Gordon Hinckley gave an interview in which he did not support same-sex civil unions and spoke against same-sex marriage. He also stated that gay people have a problem that the church wants to help them solve, though, he said he did not know if they were born with this problem.[235]
  • 2005 – The church published an article tying the term gender confusion to homosexuality stating, "If governments were to alter the moral climate by legitimizing same-sex marriages, gender confusion would increase, particularly among children, and this would further blur the line between good and evil."[236]: 123, 138 [237]
  • 2005 – Shortly after Provo High School students started the first gay-straight alliance in the nearly 90% Mormon Utah County,[238] LDS state Senator Chris Buttars[239] announced a controversial bill to ban gay-straight alliances in Utah public schools.[240]
  • 2006 – The church published an extensive April interview[241] with Oaks and Lance B. Wickman to clarify the church's stance on homosexuality.[241][242] In the interview, Wickman states that giving even same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships the same government rights given to opposite-sex marriage would not be appropriate.[53][217]
  • 2006 – In April Apostle Russell M. Nelson signed a letter with other religious leaders urging the US government to pass an amendment banning same-sex marriage. On May 25 the First Presidency released another statement supporting the amendment and urging members to contact their senators.[243][234]: 10–11 
  • 2006 – BYU fired adjunct professor Jeffrey Nielsen for writing an opinion piece[244] in support of same-sex marriage.[51][245][246]
  • 2007 – Seventy Bruce C. Hafen addressed the 4th World Congress of Families in Poland on same-sex marriage.[247][248] Additionally, BYU Law professor Lynn D. Wardle presented and compared his warnings "tragic consequences" and "dangers of legalizing same-sex marriage" as the warnings of a Hungarian man warning Elie Wiesel's town about the dangers the incoming Nazis posed to the Jewish population there. He also stated that if same-sex marriages were legalized there would be no basis to deny polygamous or incestuous marriages, and a decreased ability to "protect their children from exposure to gay propaganda."[249][250]
  • 2008 – The First Presidency again urged California members to do all they can by giving effort and time to help pass a state amendment banning same-sex marriage in a June 29 letter.[111][251] A few months later Apostles Ballard and Cook and L. Whitney Clayton gave an October 8 satellite broadcast[252] to all California members titled "The Divine Institution of Marriage Broadcast." In the broadcast they asked members to donate four hours per week and to set aside Saturdays morning to calling people and other efforts supporting the passage of Prop 8. They clarified that tolerance does not mean tolerating transgression, and noted the existence of temple-worthy members attracted to the same sex. Additionally, a video[253] of Apostle Bednar answering youth's questions was shown from the church's official website PreservingMarriage.org.[254] Members were directed to register on the coalition website ProtectMarriage.com.[255][256][257]
  • November – The Courage Campaign produced a controversial California-aired television ad depicting Mormon missionaries invading a lesbian couple's house and taking their rings and marriage license.[258][259][260] The ad elicited a statement from a church spokesperson.[261] The group also created a petition asking the LDS church to stop funding and advocating for Prop 8 which gained over 16,000 signatures.[262]
  • 2008 – After the 4 November 2008 close passing of California's Prop 8 banning same-sex marriage in which the LDS church was heavily involved, over two thousand protesters gathered at the Los Angeles LDS temple on November 6. The next day nearly five thousand protesters gathered at the Salt Lake Temple.[84][85][83][263] That evening a candlelight vigil by about 600 mothers of LGBT children was also held at the Salt Lake Temple.[86][87]
  • 2008 – Seventy L. Whitney Clayton stated that the church does not oppose benefits like health insurance and property rights for same-sex civil unions or domestic partnerships.[264]
  • 2008 – A chapter of an activist group called for vandalizing LDS meetinghouses in response to their political involvement with Prop 8.[265][266] Some Bash Back! members spray painted slogans chapels and put glue in the locks.[266] More moderate gay rights groups condemned the actions of the Bash Back! group.
  • 2009 – After anti-gay comments he made in a documentary interview became public, LDS bishop and state senator Chris Buttars was removed from a Senate committee for breaking an agreement with Senate leaders not to publicly speak on LGBT topics.[267][268][269] He stated gay marriage was a "combination of abominations" that would never come to Utah because of his power and influence, and that he had consulted with other states on using Utah as a model for blocking "protection for the gays".[270][271][272]
  • 2009 – Then apostle Russell M. Nelson spoke against same-sex marriage at the World Congress of Families held in Amsterdam.[273][274]
  • 2009 – Church PR director Michael Otterson gave a statement at a Salt Lake City Council hearing in support of a proposed city anti-discrimination ordinance which would protect LGBT individuals.[275]

2010s edit

  • 2010 – The documentary 8: The Mormon Proposition on LDS involvement with California's 2008 Prop 8 debuts at Utah's Sundance Film Festival.[276][277]
  • 2010 – In a special meeting for some Oakland, California members it was reported that church Seventy and historian Marlin K. Jensen apologized to straight and gay members for their pain from the California Prop 8 campaign and some other church actions around homosexuality.[63][64][65]
  • 2010 – Boyd K. Packer delivered an October conference address stating that The Family: A Proclamation to the World "qualifies according to the definition as a revelation", and described same-sex marriage as one of "Satan's many substitutes or counterfeits for marriage".[12][278][279]
  • 2010 – Apostle Packer delivered an October conference address stating that The Family: A Proclamation to the World qualified as a revelation.[280]
  • 2011 – A BYU law student published the book Homosexuality: A Straight BYU Student’s Perspective[281][282][283] containing arguments in favor of same-sex marriage for which he stated he was threatened with expulsion.[284][285][286]
  • 2011 – Celibate gay Mormon Drew Call was denied his temple recommend renewal and fired from his LDS church printing office job for refusing to give up his gay friends.[45][287][53]
  • 2011 – BYU fired a gay broadcasting department faculty member. The employee stated that BYU had become an increasingly hostile work environment[47] and that being gay played into his being fired.[46]
  • 2012 – The apostle Oaks stated that members should assume that children of same-sex couples face the same disadvantages of single and unmarried parents.[288][289]
  • 2012 – LDS public affairs leader Bill Evans met with several high-profile LGBT activists in Salt Lake City at the Alta Club including the national Human Rights Campaign director, Dustin Lance Black, Bruce Bastian, the Utah Pride Center director, and the director of Mormons Building Bridges.[2]: 8 
  • 2013 – Apostle Russell Nelson gave a speech discussing the controversy around same-sex marriage and church teachings. He admonished members to gain understanding of the church's position through prayer, pondering, and listening to conference.[290]
  • 2013 – On the 20th same-sex marriages became legally recognized in Utah and within two hours the first same-sex couple was married. They were two former Mormons, medical researcher Michael Ferguson[291] and historian Seth Anderson.[147][292][293]
  • 2013 – On Christmas Eve Leisha and Amanda LaCrone became the first same-sex couple married in San Pete County, Utah, after being illegally denied the day before.[294] They came from LDS backgrounds, and later reported being harassed by LDS leaders over a disciplinary council in 2016.[295][296][297]
  • 2013 – Apostle Russell M. Nelson gave a CES devotional discussing the debate around same-sex marriage.[290]
  • 2013 – On the 20th of December same-sex marriages became legally recognized in Utah and within two hours the first same-sex couple was married. They were two former Mormons, medical researcher Michael Ferguson[291] and historian Seth Anderson.[147][292][293]
  • 2014 – A letter on same-sex marriage was sent to all congregational leaders to be shared with members. The letter reiterated church stances and urged members to review the Family Proclamation and called for "kindness and civility" for supporters of same-sex marriage.[298]
  • 2014 – An amicus brief was filed by the church with the US Tenth Circuit Court in defense of Utah's recently overturned Amendment 3 banning same-sex marriage in the state. The brief summarized the church's stance on marriage while stating that the church held no "anti-homosexual animus".[299][300][301]
  • 2014 – A former bishop Kevin Kloosterman, who had received media attention for speaking out for LGBT Mormons while a current bishop,[302][303][304] received further coverage for being denied entrance to the temple by his bishop as directed by a church seventy in part because of his support of same-sex marriage.[305]
  • 2014 – Another amicus brief on a same-sex marriage case was filed on by the church, this time encouraging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Utah's Kitchen v. Herbert.[306][307]
  • 2014 – BYU student Curtis Penfold who had been at the university for over two years was kicked out of his apartment, fired from his job, and expulsed from BYU after disagreeing with LDS teachings on LGBT rights.[308][309][310]
  • 2014 – The apostle Eyring stated at an international colloquium on marriage in the Vatican that "We want our voice to be heard against all of the counterfeit and alternative lifestyles that try to replace the family organization". His statement was quoted in the April 2015 general conference by Apostle Tom Perry.[311]
  • 2015 – Church leaders held a "Fairness for All" news conference on January 27 supporting LGBT non-discrimination laws for housing and employment that would also protect religious individuals.[312] Apostle Christofferson called for a balance between religious freedom and LGBT rights. Apostle Oaks followed stating that the church rejects persecution based on gender or sexual orientation and called for legislation protecting religious freedoms and LGBT citizens in housing, employment, and public accommodations. Apostle Holland closed outlining the church's stance on religious freedom.[313][314][315]
  • 2015 – In early March the church released a public statement[316] and employed its lobbyists[317] to garner support for a proposed nondiscrimination and religious rights bill which would grant housing and employment protection for LGBT persons in Utah. Though similar bills had failed 6 times before,[318] SB 296 was passed on March 11 and another statement of church approval was released.[319] the new law (nicknamed the "Utah Compromise")[320] passed and was praised by many.[321][322]
  • 2015 – Prominent gay member Josh Weed (who received media attention when he came out in 2012) and his wife stated their support for same-sex marriage when quotes from them were used without permission in an amicus brief opposing it ahead of the oral arguments in the Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges case.[323][324][325]
  • 2015 – After a disciplinary council on February 10, John Dehlin was excommunicated from the LDS church in part because of his visible advocacy for same-sex marriage,[326][327][328] and his stake president had previously stated that, "if you come out openly in support of [same-sex marriage] that is a problem."[329] An appeal was denied by the church's highest authority.[330]
  • 2015 – The apostle Christofferson gave an interview in which he acknowledged the diversity of sociopolitical views among church members and stated that advocating for same-sex marriage on social media or holding political beliefs differing from official church stances would not threaten a member's standing in the church, though, he said the church would never accept same-sex marriage.[331][332][333]
  • 2015 – The church filed an amicus brief with the Sixth Circuit Court on a pending consolidated same-sex case stating that allowing same-sex marriage would "impede the ability of religious people to participate fully as equal citizens".[334][335][336]
  • 2015 – Three days after the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage the First Presidency sent a letter to be read to every US congregation affirming changing US law would not change God's moral law. The letter clarified that leaders should not perform same-sex marriages, and that any church property cannot be used for activities related to same-sex marriages.[337][338]
  • 2015 – D. Todd Christofferson stated that members who openly supported LGBT marriage would not be excommunicated.[339]
  • 2015 – Top church leaders sent out another letter to be read in all US congregations reaffirming the church's position on marriage and calling for civility.[340]
  • 2015 – A church statement is released saying leaders are "deeply troubled" and re-evaluating its scouting program, as a Boy Scouts of America (BSA) policy change permits openly gay scout leaders.[341] A later announcement said the church will stay in the BSA program, despite the change.[342]
  • 2015 – Presidency of the Seventy member Rasband gave a BYU address (later reprinted in the Ensign)[343] in which he addressed concerns about the church's involvement in politics. He shared hypothetical stories of a man fired for being gay and a woman marginalized at work for being Mormon and bemoaned that it is less politically correct to empathize with the religious woman. He invited listeners to discuss LGBT rights and religious freedom and to write comments on his Facebook post.[344][345]
  • 2015 – Apostle Dallin H. Oaks publicly disagreed with refusing gay marriages in violation of the recent supreme court ruling.[346] Days later at the World Congress of Families, apostle Russell Ballard urged tolerance for the opposition.[347]
  • 2015 – An update letter to leaders for the Church Handbook was leaked banning a "child of a parent living in a same-gender relationship" from several ordinances. The policy update also added that entering a same-sex marriage as a type of "apostasy", mandating a disciplinary council.[348][13] A few days later around 1,500 members gathered across from the Church Office Building to submit their resignation letters in response to the policy change with thousands more resigning online in the weeks after[349][350][351][15]
  • 2015 – Utah married couple April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce were denied guardian rights over their foster child because of their sexual orientation by BYU graduate,[352] former stake presidency counselor,[353] and Mormon bishop[354] judge Scott Johansen, leading to calls for his impeachment and resulting in his retirement.[355]
  • 2016 – BYU and church policies on LGBT persons got the spotlight[356][357] as these served as a deterrent in their football team being considered as a Fall addition to the Big 12 Conference,[358][359][360] a consideration which was ultimately denied.[361][362]
  • 2016 – Church spokesperson Dale Jones spoke against passing any LGBT-related laws which could affect the balance of religious liberty and gay rights.[363] The statement was in reference to proposed Utah hate crime bill SB107 which would add sexual orientation to the current list of characteristics protected from hate crimes in Utah.[364] The bill failed as it had in past years and its Mormon Republican sponsor criticized his church for its opposition to the bill citing the church's press release as the reason for its failure.[365][366]
  • 2016 – In June the Mexican area authority presidency had a letter read in congregations around the country urging members to oppose the national legalization of same-sex marriage and pointed them to the political organization Conciencia Nacional por la Libertad Religiosa.[367][368]
  • 2016 – After a court ruling, the parent company over one of the largest LDS dating sites, LDSsingles.com, was required to allow same-sex dating as an option.[369][370]
  • 2016 – Young Women's General President Bonnie L. Oscarson gave a conference speech in which she stated that Mormons shouldn't avoid speaking boldly against Satan's lies like same-sex marriage out of fear of offending gay people.[371][372]
  • 2017 – The Boy Scouts of America announced in January[373] that transgender boys can join their troops prompting a wait-and-see response from the church.[374][375][376] The church withdrew its support of the program for older teens four months later, though it denied any link to the policy changes around LGBT people.[377][378]
  • 2017 – The church filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court over the transgender bathroom case (G. G. v. Gloucester County School Board) in which it opposed the interpretation of sex in Title IX as gender identity.[379][380]
  • 2017 – SB 196 was signed into law which overturned the "no promo homo" laws which had banned "advocacy of homosexuality" while allowing for negative discussions in public schools. Former Mormon Troy Williams of Equality Utah was a driving force behind the change, and he stated that they had worked together with the LDS Church and the majority Mormon legislature to change the laws. One paper stated that the LDS Church was largely behind the reasoning for the laws and anti-gay culture of Utah.[381][382][383] Similar laws were still enforced in seven conservative states mostly in the Southern US as of 2017.[384]
  • 2017 – An Ensign article by Seventy Larry Lawrence stated that "same-sex marriage is only a counterfeit" and quoted a canonized LDS scripture where Jesus[385] warns that a counterfeit "is not of God, and is darkness".[386][387]
  • 2017 – A Fourth of July parade in the over 75% LDS town of Provo, Utah,[388] reportedly gave permission then denied entry the day before the parade to the new Provo LGBT Mormon resource center Encircle garnering national attention.[389][390][391]
  • 2017 – An instructor at the church's BYU-Idaho reported being fired after refusing to take down a post on her private Facebook page in support of LGBT rights.[392][393]
  • 2017 – Minutes from a February 2014 Layton, Utah meeting for stake leaders were released without authorization in which the apostle L. Tom Perry stated that supporting same-sex marriage would "incriminate" members seeking to renew their temple recommend. The importance of opposite-sex marriage was stressed with the statement that Jesus and the prophets believed in it and that allowing evil like same-sex marriage to grow would destroy the basic family unit and bring calamities.[394][395][396]
  • 2017 – The Pacific area presidency sent a letter to be read in September in all Australian congregations which reemphasized the church's position against same-sex marriage and parenting and urged members to "vote their conscience" in the upcoming national referendum on the issue.[397]
  • 2017 – The LDS Church signs an amicus brief supporting wedding cake bakers discriminating against same-sex couples in a Colorado court case.[398][399][400]
  • 2017 – The apostle Oaks lamented the increase in public acceptance of same-sex marriage and acknowledged the conflicts with friends and family that opposing this acceptance could cause. He further stated that despite the conflict church members should choose God and the LDS Church's plan and way.[401][402]
  • 2017 – Apostle Dallin H. Oaks speaks in General Conference about "The Plan and the Proclamation". He states that "Converted Latter-day Saints believe that the family proclamation is the Lord's reemphasis of the gospel truths we need to sustain us through current challenges to the family like same-sex marriage and cohabitation without marriage.[403]
  • 2017 – In response to a question about LGBT young single adults in the church, apostle Ballard tells BYU students in a campus-wide event that church leaders believe "core rights of citizenship should be protected for all people — for LGBT people, for people of all faiths," and that "reasonable compromises" should be found "in other areas when rights conflict."[404][405][406]
  • 2018 – BYU Student Life hosted the first church-university-hosted LGBT campus event.[407][408] It featured a panel of four students answering student-submitted questions.[409][410][411]
  • 2018 – After a controversy over BYU's policies around LGBT people, a conference for the US Society for Political Methodology was moved off of campus citing a "long-strained relations between the LGBTQ community and BYU"[412] and concerns over the university's ban on homosexual behavior which the Society repudiated along with "the intolerance it represents."[413][414][415]
  • 2018 – The LDS Church released a statement in favor of the US Supreme Court ruling on the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case over a business owner who refused to serve a gay couple.[416][417]
 
After much controversy LGBTQ marchers including some from the LGBT-Mormon organizations Encircle and Mormons Building Bridges were allowed to openly march in Provo's 4th of July parade for the first time.
  • 2018 – Hours after agreeing to a non-discrimination clause in order to receive local tax funds the Provo Freedom Festival board denied LGBTQ groups a spot in the parade for the second year in a row sparking public outcry and criticism from Provo's mayor and Utah County Commissioner. One of these groups included a float of local Mormon LGBTQ veterans representing Mormons Building Bridges.[418] After negotiations, the festival leaders decided to allow the groups to march.[419][420][421] However, the day before the parade one LGBT group was almost forced out of the grand parade, and the groups were told they could not have rainbow flags.[422][423]
  • 2018 – Church leaders' continued denial of BYU LGBT students' years of requests to form a club on campus received national coverage.[424][425]
  • 2018 – The documentary Church and State—which highlighted the events surrounding the battle for same-sex marriage in Utah—debuted at the Broadway Theatre in Utah.[426]
  • 2019 – The November 2015 policy was changed to say same-gender marriage by a church member will no longer be considered "apostasy" for purposes of church discipline, although it would still be considered "a serious transgression".[427]
  • 2019 – Church president Nelson acknowledged that many countries, including the United States, had legalized same-sex marriage, but stated that God has not changed His definition of marriage.[428]
  • 2019 – The apostle Oaks stated the teachings of the Family Proclamation would not change, and that it's reference to gender meant "biological sex at birth" and that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.[429] A few days later he stated, "our knowledge of God's revealed plan of salvation requires us to oppose current social and legal pressures to retreat from traditional marriage and to make changes that confuse or alter gender or homogenize the differences between men and women." and that leaders of the Church must always teach the unique importance of marriage between a man and a woman.[430][431]

2020s edit

  • 2021 – In an address to faculty and staff at BYU, Apostle Holland called for "a little more musket fire from this temple of learning" in "defending marriage as the union of a man and a woman."[432]
  • 2021 – Businessman Jeff Green publicly announced he was leaving the LDS Church and donating $600,000 to the LGBT rights organization Equality Utah. Writing to the president of the Church, Green said, "I believe the Mormon church has hindered global progress in women's rights, civil rights and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights."[433]
  • 2021 – The U.S. Department of Education began a civil rights investigation of BYU to determine if the university's discipline of LGBTQ students violated the scope of the university's Title IX exemptions.[434][435]
  • 2022 – The U.S. Department of Education dismisses the civil rights investigation of BYU regarding the university's discipline of LGBTQ students, determining that the university was acting within its rights under its approved Title IX exemptions and that the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights lacked jurisdiction to investigate further.[436]
  • 2022 – The church released a statement in support of the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill which would require the states and the federal government to recognize legally performed same-sex marriages.[437][438]

References edit

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  100. ^ Tapper, Jake (October 6, 2006). "A Brief History Of Gays In Government". ABC News. 1959 – Political thriller 'Advise and Consent' features fictional Utah Sen. Brigham Anderson driven to suicide when political enemies threaten to expose a gay affair from his youth.
  101. ^ Simon, Scott (September 2, 2009). "At 50, a D.C. Novel With Legs". The Wall Street Journal. The man who turns out to almost unwillingly stand in the way of confirmation is an unflinchingly honest young senator from Utah who has concealed a wartime homosexual tryst. ... Drury's most appealing character is Brigham Anderson, the young senator from Utah. When Otto Preminger brought 'Advise and Consent' to the screen in 1962, the senator's homosexuality is called a "tired old sin.' But in Drury's book, Brigham Anderson is candid and unapologetic to those closest to him. 'It didn't seem horrible at the time,' he says, 'and I am not going to say now that it did, even to you.'
  102. ^ Rich, Frank (May 15, 2005). "Just How Gay Is the Right?". The New York Times. In 'Advise and Consent,' the handsome young senator with a gay secret (Don Murray) is from Utah—a striking antecedent of the closeted conservative Mormon lawyer in Tony Kushner's 'Angels in America.' For a public official to be identified as gay in the Washington of the 1950s and 1960s meant not only career suicide but also potentially actual suicide. Yet Drury, a staunchly anti-Communist conservative of his time, regarded the character as sympathetic, not a villain. The senator's gay affair, he wrote, was 'purely personal and harmed no one else.'
  103. ^ Sears, Brad; Hunter, Nan D.; Mallory, Christy (September 2009). (PDF). Los Angeles: The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at UCLA School of Law. pp. 5–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 6, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2022. From 1947 to 1961, more than 5,000 allegedly homosexual federal civil servants lost their jobs in the purges for no reason other than sexual orientation, and thousands of applicants were also rejected for federal employment for the same reason. During this period, more than 1,000 men and women were fired for suspected homosexuality from the State Department alone—a far greater number than were dismissed for their membership in the Communist party. The Cold War and anti-communist efforts provided the setting in which a sustained attack upon gay men and lesbians took place. The history of this 'Lavender Scare' by the federal government has been extensively documented by historian David Johnson. Johnson has demonstrated that during this era government officials intentionally engaged in campaigns to associate homosexuality with Communism: 'homosexual' and 'pervert' became synonyms for 'Communist' and 'traitor.' LGBT people were treated as a national security threat, demanding the attention of Congress, the courts, statehouses, and the media.
  104. ^ "An interview with David K. Johnson author of The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government". press.uchicago.edu. The University of Chicago. 2004. The Lavender Scare helped fan the flames of the Red Scare. In popular discourse, communists and homosexuals were often conflated. Both groups were perceived as hidden subcultures with their own meeting places, literature, cultural codes, and bonds of loyalty. Both groups were thought to recruit to their ranks the psychologically weak or disturbed. And both groups were considered immoral and godless. Many people believed that the two groups were working together to undermine the government.
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  121. ^ "Idaho Repeals New Consenting Adult Code". The Advocate. May 10, 1972. p. 3. The new penal code enacted by the Idaho Legislature, with its liberal provisions on sexual conduct, has been repealed as a result of heavy pressure from right-wing groups and the Mormon church. Rep. Wayne Loveless (D-Pocatello), who spearheaded the repeal drive ... conten[ded] that the new code would encourage immorality and draw sexual deviates to the state. Loveless, ... is active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day [sic] Saints (Mormon) ....
  122. ^ Selle, Jeff (May 29, 2013). . Coeur d'Alene Press. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  123. ^ Painter, George (2001). "The Sensibilities of Our Forefathers: The History of Sodomy Laws in the United States". glapn.org. Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest. In 1971, the Idaho legislature passed a new criminal code that abrogated common-law crimes and repealed the sodomy law. This law technically made Idaho only the third state in the nation to decriminalize consensual sodomy, but the repeal did not last long. The new code became effective January 1, 1972, but officials in the Mormon and Catholic Churches did not care for liberalization of laws against sex. After an outpouring of opposition, the Idaho legislature passed a law to repeal the new code, without passing a replacement, effective April 1, 1972. What finally came out of the legislature was a code reinstating the status quo. The law was passed only five days before the liberalized code's repeal date (and, thus, only five days before the state would have been without any criminal code). The repressive code reinstated common-law crimes and the felony 'crime against nature' law with the minimum five-year penalty and no maximum.
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  126. ^ Oaks, Dallin (1974). "The Popular Myth of the Victimless Crime". The LDS Church Educational System Commissioner's Lecture Series. BYU Press: 8. I believe in retaining criminal penalties on sex crimes such as adultery, fornication, prostitution, homosexuality, and other forms of deviate sexual behavior. I concede the abuses and risks of invasion of privacy that are involved in the enforcement of such crimes and therefore concede the need for extraordinary supervision of the enforcement process. I am even willing to accept a strategy of extremely restrained enforcement of private, noncommercial sexual offenses. I favor retaining these criminal penalties primarily because of the standard-setting and teaching function of these laws on sexual morality and their support of society's exceptional interest in the integrity of the family.
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  131. ^ "Davis Man Found Dead in Vehicle". Ogden Standard Examiner. March 10, 1976. p. 11A – via Newspapers.com. Carlyle D. Marsden was found in his car along Nichols Road dead from a pistol wound of the chest.
  132. ^ Weist, Larry (March 16, 1976). . Daily Herald. p. 1. Archived from the original on December 7, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Eight men were arraigned in the Pleasant Grove Precinct Justice Court Mondy afternoon on charges of lewdness and sodomy stemming from alleged homosexual activity at the two rest stops on I-15 north of Orem. ... Two of the suspects were arrested and charged with an act of sodomy. One of them, a 54-year-old Salt Lake County man, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest two days after his arrest, according to Serge Moore, state medical examiner.
  133. ^ Weist, Larry (March 16, 1976). . Daily Herald. p. 4. Archived from the original on December 7, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Funeral services for Carlyle D. Marsden, 54, of 1388 Nichols Road, Fruit Heights, who died Monday, March 8, 1976, will be Friday at 10 a.m. in the Kaysville 11th-14th LDS Ward Chapel ... Mr. Marsden was a music teacher at Eisenhower Junior High School and at Brigham Young University.
  134. ^ . affirmation.org. Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons. December 29, 2011. Archived from the original on April 8, 2013.
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  140. ^ a b Dobner, Jennifer (June 2, 2017). "Salt Lake City's hidden LGBT history documented in new book". The Salt Lake Tribune. Among the other historical treasures pictured in Anderson's book: ... Several pictures from the 1977 protest march and candlelight vigils held when former beauty queen Anita Bryant brought her Save Our Children campaign—to protect children from homosexuality—to Utah for a rally. 'I consider that Utah's Stonewall,' Anderson said, referencing the 1969 riots outside a New York bar, the Stonewall Inn, that was a haven for gays. 'This is the first time the [Utah] community gathered to protest in public ... the first time the community thinks of itself as having rights and fighting back.'
  141. ^ Petersen, Mark (July 9, 1977). "Unnatural, without Excuse". Church News. LDS Church. Deseret News. p. 16.
  142. ^ O'Donovan, Connell (May 27, 2007). (Speech). Affirmation 30th Anniversary Conference. Holladay, Utah United Church of Christ. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. The LDS Church later invited Ms. Bryant to come to Utah for the Utah State Fair, and both Spencer W. Kimball, and the General Relief Society President, Barbara B. Smith, held news conferences praising Anita Bryant and her work to save America from 'the homosexual menace.'
  143. ^ Briscoe, David (September 19, 1977). . The Ogden Standard-Examiner. p. 6A. Archived from the original on December 9, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. The lead marcher in the gay group carried an American flag. He was followed by The Rev. Bob Waldrop, pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church, who said demonstrators were grateful for Anita because she has made homosexuals 'come out of the closet.'
  144. ^ . The Daily Herald. United Press International. September 19, 1977. p. 10. Archived from the original on December 9, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. A crowd of 200 people attending a candlelight vigil to protest the appearance of singer Anita Bryant at the Utah State Fair Sunday night was dispersed by teargas but it was not known who released the gas. ... 'We want the right to live, work, love and contribute to society without being harassed,' he [Bob Waldrop] said.
  145. ^ Wetzel, Paul (September 19, 1977). . The Salt Lake Tribune. pp. 19, 28. Archived from the original on December 9, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. The Rev. Bob Waldrop, pastor of Metropolitan Community Church, led picketers opposed to Miss Bryant outside the fairgrounds. The demonstration was sponsored by a group called the Salt Lake Coalition for Human Rights. The Rev. Mr. Waldrop said. 'We want the right to live, work, love and contribute to society without being harassed. As long as Anita Bryant and her followers say we can't have that and call us perverts, then we'll have to continue our movement.' Pastor Waldrop led a vigil at 8:30 p.m. at Memory Grove which was attended by about 200 persons. The vigil commemorated the slaying of three homosexuals last June. The vigil included speeches by Rev. Waldrop, Bob Kunst, a gay rights activist from Miami. Fla., Shirley Pedier, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah and Rep. Jeff Fox, D-Salt Lake. The meeting ended at 9:30 p.m. with a candlelight ceremony. It was marred only by teargas, apparently from a cannister which dispersed those near the speakers platform shortly after the meeting ended. First part available here and second part also archived .
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  153. ^ O'Donovan, Connell (May 27, 2007). (Speech). Affirmation 30th Anniversary Conference. Holladay, Utah United Church of Christ. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Bob Waldrop, a young convert and missionary recently returned from Australia, moved to California where he came out in 1975 and then became affiliated with the Metropolitan Community Church (or MCC) an evangelical church with a specific ministry for Gay people) in San Jose and decided to train for the ministry. About that time, Rev. Alice Jones of MCC Salt Lake decided to leave Utah and she invited Bob Waldrop to move to Salt Lake and take over her ministry, since he had an LDS background. He arrived in Utah in February 1977 and became the worship coordinator for MCC Salt Lake.
  154. ^ . The Salt Lake Tribune. February 19, 1977. Archived from the original on December 4, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Leaders of a Salt Lake City church Friday criticized Lt. Gov. David S. Monson for denying their use of the Capitol rotunda for a dance. The lieutenant governor-secretary of state replied that his information indicated the church has a number of homosexual members, and it would not be in the best interest of the state to grant the request. ... Asked if it was not obvious discrimination to refuse the facility to the Metropolitan Community Church, the lieutenant governor said, 'We have some obligation to see public buildings are used for purposes that meet the approval of a majority of the community.'
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  159. ^ Brown Jr., Victor (1981). Human Intimacy: Illusion & Reality. Parliament Publishers. pp. 21–22. ISBN 9780884944416. This fashionable equation of homosexual liaison with heterosexual marriage is sophistry and contains its own fatal inconsistency. ... The temporary and fragile relationships of the ironically nicknamed gay subculture ... were interpreted as superior to the more disciplined, orderly lives of the heterosexual subjects.
  160. ^ Williams, Ben (October 12, 2005). "This Week in Lambda History". Metro. 2 (21): 16. 4 October ... 1981 Ethyl (Randy Smith) and Friends for Gay Rights picket Temple Square during the LDS Conference after receiving permission to parade through downtown Salt Lake City.
  161. ^ "Gay Activists to Picket LDS Temple". The Salt Lake Tribune. October 2, 1981. p. D6 – via Newspapers.com. A local organization of Mormon Gay rights activists have received permission to parade through downtown Salt Lake City, Sunday and protest LDS Church's policies opposing homosexuality. Albert Haines, Salt Lake chief administrative officer authorized a parade permit for a group calling itself Ethyl and Friends for Gay Rights which plans to picket Temple Square during the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints semiannual conference.
  162. ^ "Group Marches for Gay Rights". The Salt Lake Tribune. October 5, 1981. p. B6 – via Newspapers.com. About 15 'Friends of Ethyl' braved cold temperatures to March from the Federal Building to Temple Square in protest of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints stand on homosexual rights. 'Ethyl', a drag performer whose real name is Randy Smith said ... he went through Brigham Young University's aversion therapy program and that 'it hurt.' ... The group displaying signs reading, 'We are God's Children', marched up state street to South Temple and then to Temple Square ....
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  188. ^ Semerad, Tony (June 9, 1996). "A Mormon Crusade In Hawaii Hawaii: Church Aims to End Gay Union". Salt Lake Tribune: B1. Retired Salt Lake City advertising executive Arthur Anderson was enlisted into the fight last November with a phone call from Mormon Elder Loren C. Dunn, president of the church's North America West Area. At Dunn's behest, Anderson and his wife embarked on months of volunteer work in Honolulu, mostly answering phones for Hawaii's Future Today, a group set up to lobby against legislative attempts at legalizing gay wedlock, gambling and prostitution. ... According to a statement from the Mormon Church's Salt Lake City headquarters, church members such as Anderson are responding to a plea by the ruling First Presidency to get involved as citizens. ... "The Church is indeed, politically neutral when it comes to parties and candidates and most issues," said the LDS statement. "However, when a political issue has moral overtones, the Church has not only the right but the responsibility to speak out and become involved." ... Pamphlets circulated at select Mormon Church meetings throughout the Pacific islands, urging members to support anti-gay marriage legislation pending in the Hawaii Legislature. Key statements were faxed to legislative committees, from LDS Church facilities.
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  195. ^ O'Hara, Mary Emily (May 11, 2015). "How Utah's Schools Went From Homophobic War Zones to Crowning a Trans Prom Queen". The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast Company LLC. In 1995, Erin Wiser was a 16-year-old student at East High School. Wiser, who today is a transgender man living in Portland but identified as a lesbian in high school, wanted to start a club for gay students along with his then-girlfriend Kelli Peterson. The two had attended a lecture at the local Pride center and were inspired after seeing Candace Gingrich speak. With the help of a supportive teacher, Wiser and Peterson formally applied for an East High School Gay-Straight Alliance club that September. In response, the Salt Lake City school district voted in February 1996 to ban all extracurricular student clubs—becoming the only city in the country to do so. ... Gay rights scared people. But how could anyone hate a couple of sweet-faced Mormon girls from Utah who just wanted to carve out a place to belong in high school?
  196. ^ Brooke, James (February 28, 1996). "To Be Young, Gay and Going to High School in Utah". The New York Times. p. B8. For Kelli Peterson, a 17-year-old senior at East High School here, ... her primary concern was intensely personal—easing the loneliness she felt as a gay student. ... 'I came out that year, and immediately lost all my friends. I watched the same cycle of denial, trying to hide, acceptance, then your friends abandoning you.' So last fall, she and two other gay students formed an extracurricular club called the Gay/Straight Alliance. ... Ms. Peterson, who is herself Mormon, says she is taking steps to formally leave the church.
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  200. ^ Collins, Lois M. (August 8, 1997). "Panelists say church, state separate in Utah". Deseret News. LDS church. Grant Protzman, former state representative, LDS Church member and Democrat, described LDS Church efforts to affect policy as 'measured' and 'very limited.' The church does make a public statement on what it sees as key moral issues. And it does ask questions, which may 'seem like a red flag' to some lawmakers. But the dialogue is good, Protzman said. What some perceive as church control of the state could be chalked up to social norms, Protzman said. Because so many people in the state are LDS Church members, there's a strong sense of shared values and that does influence public policy. And Protzman acknowledged that much has been said in the name of the church by those who present 'an individual's private interpretation of doctrine applied to public policy.'
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  203. ^ Florio, Gwen (February 23, 1996). "In Utah, School Clubs Banned to Stop Gay Meeting". The Philadelphia Inquirer – via Newspapers.com. But some Utah residents were aghast when they found out in the last few weeks that the law also applied to groups such as the Gay/Straight Alliance. 'I think that many legislators have serious concerns about the group's moving into recruitment of fresh meat for the gay population," said Grant Protzman, minority whip for the state House of Representatives. See also this clipping.
  204. ^ Florio, Gwen (February 23, 1996). "In Utah, School Clubs Banned to Stop Gay Meeting". The Philadelphia Inquirer – via Newspapers.com. That's not at all what the club is about, protested Kelli Peterson, the 17-year-old East High School senior who founded the alliance to help her and her friends deal with a school atmosphere she found 'horrifying on the best days. ... I was getting beat up and harassed verbally.' See also this clipping.
  205. ^ Sahagun, Louis (February 22, 1996). "Utah Board Bans All School Clubs in Anti-Gay Move". Los Angeles Times. 'Going to high school when you are gay or lesbian is a miserable, lonely experience,' said 17-year-old Kelli Peterson, who founded the club at East High School in December. 'I know, I've been beat up twice.'
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  225. ^ Balmforth, Kathryn. . Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society. Archived from the original on February 13, 2016. The radical feminists, population control ideologues, and homosexual rights activists who make up the anti-family movement know as well as we do that they speak for only a small minority of the world's people. ... Therefore, homosexual rights activists are again bypassing the democratic process and going from court to court, hoping to find a judge who will take it upon himself to create a 'right' to 'gay marriage,' which can then be forced on the citizens of the United States. ... The anti-family faction has targeted the human rights system because it is a direct path to power. The power they seek is the power to curtail the freedom of most of humanity and to do it, ironically, in the name of 'human rights.'
  226. ^ McBride, Dennis (2002). "Question 2". outhistory.org. The New School. By October 25, ERN had collected just $35,077, while the CPM [Coalition for the Protection of Marriage] had raised another $865,931.41, most of which had come from Nevada Mormons, which it used to saturate the media with its message and to raise billboards across the state
  227. ^ McBride, Dennis (April 1, 2017). "Wholesome Hate". knpr.org. National Public Radio. But it was the Mormon Church that fueled the Question 2 campaign. The most effective way the church accomplished this was through direct solicitation, on church letterhead, of its members. One such letter from the Reno Stake Presidency read, "Prayerfully consider supporting this cause in one or more of the following ways: Campaign Worker/Volunteer, Yard Sign, Walk Neighborhoods, Contribution ..." The church also told its members to pick up yard signs as they left services, signs stockpiled outside the church or in nearby parking lots.
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  250. ^ Wardle, Lynn D. . worldcongress.org. Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. If same-sex marriage is legalized on the principle of personal choice, there is no principled basis to deny those who want to call incestuous relationships 'marriages,' or polygamous relationships marriages, or polyamorous unions 'marriages.' ... In Massachusetts since same-sex marriage has been legalized there already have been numerous controversies about ... parents' rights to protect their children from exposure to gay propaganda. ... Although Elie Wiesel was one of the Jews who refused to believe the warnings [about the Nazis], yet he remembered gratefully Moishe's attempt to warn the people. ... We too must speak up and get involved. ... Unless we persuade them now of the dangers of legalizing same-sex marriage, then they will naively adopt laws and policies that will cause tragic consequences.
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  259. ^ Duffy, John-Charles (2010). "Elders on the Big Screen: Film and the Globalized Circulation of Mormon Missionary Images". Peculiar Portrayals: Mormons on the Page, Stage and Screen. University Press of Colorado. pp. 140–141. doi:10.2307/j.ctt4cgr9g.8. ISBN 9780874217735. JSTOR j.ctt4cgr9g.8. Another instance of Mormon missionaries as emblems of opposition to same-sex marriage is a controversial television ad produced during the Proposition 8 debates by the Courage Campaign, an organization lobbying against the proposed ban on same-sex marriage. The ad depicts two young men in white shirts and ties knocking on the door of a suburban lesbian couple. ... The missionaries then muscle their way into the couple's home, confiscate their wedding rings, and rip up their marriage license.
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  294. ^ Lowe, Doug (June 2, 2016). "They Did! A Tale of a Marriage Ten Years in the Making". City Weekly. 33 (4).
  295. ^ Steinbrecher, Lauren (February 25, 2016). "Same-sex couple claims LDS Church congregation harassed them over disciplinary council". Fox 13. Tribune Broadcasting. KSTU.
  296. ^ Ring, Trudy (February 27, 2016). "Mormon Church Threatens Same-Sex Couples With Disciplinary Action". Advocate.
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  303. ^ Kloosterman, Kevin (July 13, 2012). "Op-ed: Queer Eye for the Mormon Bishop Guy". Advocate.
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  305. ^ Laurie, Goodstein (June 18, 2014). "Mormons Say Critical Online Comments Draw Threats From Church". The New York Times. Mr. Kloosterman, who was a bishop from 2007 to 2012, attracted headlines and scrutiny for an emotional talk he gave at a conference in Salt Lake City in 2011 apologizing to gays rejected by their Mormon families. He also lobbied for same-sex marriage in his state. But there were no consequences until March of this year, when, at a meeting, his bishop cited a Twitter post by Mr. Kloosterman congratulating the first gay couple to be married in Utah. 'Jesus would never do that,' the bishop said, according to Mr. Kloosterman. He said his bishop informed him that an Area Seventy church leader had weighed in on his case (Mr. Kloosterman declined to name him), and that leaders had been monitoring his Internet activity and knew he supported groups that disagree with church teaching. The bishop revoked Mr. Kloosterman's temple recommend ....
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  308. ^ Green, Mark (March 24, 2013). "BYU students to rally in support of same-sex marriage". fox13now.com. Fox 13.
January 01, 1970
lgbt, rights, church, jesus, christ, latter, saints, also, church, politics, california, proposition, 2008, divine, institution, marriage, protests, against, proposition, supporters, church, jesus, christ, latter, saints, church, been, involved, with, many, pi. See also The LDS Church and politics in the US California Proposition 8 2008 The Divine Institution of Marriage and Protests against Proposition 8 supporters The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints LDS Church has been involved with many pieces of legislation relating to LGBT people and their rights e g housing job discrimination and same sex marriage 1 These include playing an important role in defeating same sex marriage legalization in Hawaii Amendment 2 Alaska Measure 2 Nebraska Initiative 416 Nevada Question 2 California Prop 22 and Utah Amendment 3 2 2 65 69 71 78 85 The topic of same sex marriage has been one of the church s foremost public concerns since 1993 2 1 Leaders have stated that it will become involved in political matters if it perceives that there is a moral issue at stake and wields considerable influence on a national level 3 4 5 Over a dozen members of the US congress had membership in the church in the early 2000s 6 About 80 of Utah state lawmakers identied as Mormon at that time as well 7 8 9 10 The church s political involvement around LGBT rights has long been a source of controversy both within and outside the church 11 12 13 It s also been a significant cause of disagreement and disaffection by members 14 15 16 The LDS Church has held notable political influence on laws around LGBT individuals in the United States especially in the state of Utah Contents 1 Teachings on sexuality and gender identity motivating political involvement 2 Views on discrimination laws 3 Opposition to same sex marriage legislation 4 Criticism and Protests 5 Timeline of events and publications around the LDS church and LGBT rights 5 1 1800s 5 2 1950s 5 3 1960s 5 4 1970s 5 5 1980s 5 6 1990s 5 7 2000s 5 8 2010s 5 9 2020s 6 ReferencesTeachings on sexuality and gender identity motivating political involvement edit nbsp The Family A Proclamation to the World is a 1995 LDS church statement used as a legal document in several court case amicus briefs opposing same sex marriage 17 LDS Church leaders have stated that the church will become involved in political matters if it perceives that there is a moral issue at stake such as same sex marriage and the church wields considerable influence in the United States 3 4 5 All homosexual or same sex sexual activity is forbidden by the LDS Church in its law of chastity and the church teaches that God does not approve of same sex marriage 18 Additionally in the church s plan of salvation noncelibate gay and lesbian individuals will not be allowed in the top tier of heaven to receive exaltation unless they repent and a heterosexual marriage is a requirement for exaltation 19 20 In 1995 Church president Gordon B Hinckley read The Family A Proclamation to the World in the Fall General Conference which states that marriage between a man and a woman is essential and ordained of God and that gender is an essential part of one s eternal identity and purpose 21 154 155 22 Gender identity and roles play an important part in Latter Day Saint teachings which teaches a strict binary of spiritual gender as literal offspring of divine parents 22 23 The Family Proclamation has been submitted by the church in several amicus briefs as evidence against legalizing same sex marriages 17 From 1976 until 1989 under president Spencer Kimball the Church Handbook called for church discipline for members attracted to the same sex equating merely being homosexual with the seriousness of acts of adultery and child molestation even celibate gay people were subject to excommunication 2 16 43 24 382 422 25 139 Kimball s numerous publications discussing curing homosexuality and condemning same sex attractions even without action and his rise to the church presidency in 1973 set the stage for years of harsh treatment of gay church members 2 36 37 Since the first recorded mentions of homosexuality by general LDS Church leaders teachings and policies around the topics of the nature etiology mutability and identity around same sex romantic and physical attractions have seen many changes through the decades 26 46 27 45 46 28 29 13 21 including a softening in rhetoric over time 30 21 169 170 31 Views on discrimination laws editIn February 2003 the LDS Church said it did not oppose a hate crimes bill which included sexual orientation then under consideration in the Utah state legislature 32 The church opposes same sex marriage but does not object to rights regarding hospitalization and medical care fair housing and employment rights or probate rights so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the family or the constitutional rights of churches and their adherents to administer and practice their religion free from government interference 33 Following two months of negotiations between top Utah gay rights leaders and mid level church leaders 34 the church supported a gay rights bill in Salt Lake City which bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in housing and employment calling them common sense rights The law does not apply to housing or employment provided by religious organizations 35 36 Jeffrey R Holland of the church s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stated that it could be a model for the rest of the state 37 The LDS Church has not taken a position on ENDA 38 Many surveys have been conducted on church members and their views on homosexuality and discrimination In a 1977 Utah poll three fourths of LDS identified responders opposed equal rights for gay teachers or ministers and 62 favored discrimination against gays in business and government versus 64 and 38 of non LDS respondents respectively 39 2 15 40 220 A 2017 Public Religion Research Institute PRRI survey found that over half 53 of all Mormon adults believed small private business should be able to deny products and services to gay or lesbian people for religious reasons compared to 33 of the 40 000 American adults surveyed 41 15 23 and 24 of all Mormon adults oppose laws that protect LGBT Americans against discrimination in employment housing and public accommodations 42 41 20 In a 2007 US poll only 24 of Mormons agreed that homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted less than any other major religious group in the survey except for Jehovah s Witnesses and 2 out of 3 68 latter day saints said it should be discouraged 43 In a similar poll seven years later 36 said homosexuality should be accepted and over half 57 said it should be discouraged 44 Additionally 69 of adherents supported laws that protect LGBT Americans against discrimination in employment housing and public accommodations but 53 believed small private business should be able to deny products and services to gay or lesbian people for religious reasons 41 15 20 Several church employees have been fired 45 46 47 or pressured to leave for being celibate but gay 48 49 162 163 50 or for supporting LGBT rights 51 52 A Church employee described how his stake president denied his temple recommend resulting in him getting fired simply because of his friendship with other gay men and his involvement in a charity bingo for Utah Pride in a 2011 article 53 Opposition to same sex marriage legislation editSee also California Proposition 8 2008 The Divine Institution of Marriage and Protests against Proposition 8 supporters nbsp The church distributed hundreds of thousands of these Protect Marriage Coalition lawn signs during their involvement with the pro Prop 8 campaign 54 In 1997 then church president Gordon B Hinckley declared the church would do all it can to stop the recognition of same sex marriage in the United States and apostle M Russell Ballard has said the church is locked in if anything interferes with the principle of marriage only being between a man and a woman 2 73 55 Beginning in the mid 1990s the LDS Church began to focus its attention on the issue of same sex marriages with one scholar citing the church s views of God s male female union plan their sense of responsibility in publicly protecting traditional morality and a fear of government encroachment in church performed marriages as the motivations for this opposition 56 In 1993 the Supreme Court of Hawaii held that discrimination against same sex couples in the granting of marriage licenses violated the Hawaiian constitution In response the church s First Presidency issued a statement on February 13 1994 declaring their opposition to same sex marriage and urging members to support efforts to outlaw it Fund raising assignments were given to stake presidents in Hawaii and the LDS Church contributed 600 000 to pass HB 117 2 64 65 With the lobbying of the LDS Church and several other religious organizations the Hawaii legislature enacted the bill in 1994 outlawing same sex marriages Other states were considering legislation against recognizing same sex marriages but Utah acted first in 1995 2 67 With its large majority Latter day Saint legislature it passed a law forbidding the recognition of same sex marriage that was drafted by a Brigham Young University BYU law professor 2 67 In 1995 the LDS Church released The Family A Proclamation to the World reaffirming its stance that marriage is between one man and one woman 57 2 53 However this monogamous stance has been strongly criticized as hypocritical given the church s historical disagreement with this legal definition which bars polygamy 58 618 In 1998 the church donated 500 000 towards banning same sex marriage in Alaska Measure 2 This made up nearly 80 of the entire budget of the coalition lobbying for the measure 2 70 The same year in Nebraska church members collected about half of the 160 000 signatures gathered to place Initiative 416 on the ballot in order to ban same sex marriage there 2 71 For Nevada s Question 2 members played a key role in passing it by collecting the necessary petition signatures with many collected by making use of the church directories and venues 2 71 In 2004 the church officially endorsed a federal amendment to the United States Constitution as well as Utah Constitutional Amendment 3 banning any marriages not between one man and one woman and announced its opposition to political measures that confer legal status on any other sexual relationship than a man and a woman lawfully wedded as husband and wife 1 This statement seemed to also oppose civil unions common law marriages plural marriages or other family arrangements This political involvement elicited the criticism of California Senator Mark Leno who questioned whether the church s tax exempt status should be revoked 59 On August 13 2008 the church released a letter explaining why it believed that same sex marriage would be detrimental to society and encouraging California members to support Proposition 8 33 which would bar anything but opposite sex marriages The letter asked members to donate time and money towards the initiative Church members would account for 80 to 90 percent of volunteers who campaigned door to door and as much as half of the nearly 40 million raised during the campaign 60 In November 2008 the day after California voters approved Proposition 8 the LDS Church stated that it does not object to domestic partnership or civil union legislation as long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches 61 Soon after L Whitney Clayton a church general authority stated that members who opposed Proposition 8 may be subject to discipline from local church leaders 62 In a special meeting for some Oakland California members it was reported that Marlin K Jensen Church Historian and general authority apologized to straight and gay members for their pain from the Proposition 8 campaign and some other church actions around homosexuality 63 64 65 In 2010 the LDS Church was fined for failing to properly report about 37 000 in contributions in 2008 towards Prop 8 in violation of California state s political contribution laws 66 67 The whistleblower Fred Karger went on to found the organization Mormon Tips seeking information on further political involvement that may violate the LDS church s tax exempt status 68 On December 20 2013 the topic of same sex marriage and the LDS Church was raised again when U S District Judge Robert J Shelby struck down the Utah ban on same sex marriage saying it violated the U S Constitution s Equal Protection Clause 69 In response the church released instructions to leaders regarding same sex marriage in Utah 70 These included the stance that while the church disagrees with the court ruling those who obtain same sex marriage should not be treated disrespectfully 70 Additionally it stated that church leaders were prohibited from employing their authority to perform marriages and that any church property could not be used for same sex marriages or receptions 70 In November 2015 a new policy was released stating that members who are in a same sex marriage are considered apostates and may be subject to church discipline 71 Additionally the children of parents who are in same sex relationships must wait until they are 18 years old and then disavow homosexual relationships before they can be baptized 72 In April 2019 the church s First Presidency announced a revelation reversing the policy but still affirming that same sex marriage was a serious transgression 73 Russell M Nelson had previously characterized the 2015 policy as direction from God in 2016 stating Each of us during that sacred moment felt a spiritual confirmation It was our privilege as apostles to sustain what had been revealed to President Monson 74 Shortly after the change Nelson said in a press release that the reversal was revelation upon revelation 75 A 2017 PRRI survey found that over half 52 of Mormon young adults 18 29 supported same sex marriage while less than a third 32 of Mormon seniors 65 did 41 11 42 Overall 40 of LDS adults supported same sex marriage and 53 were opposed 41 10 Criticism and Protests edit nbsp Protesters in front of the Newport Beach California Temple voicing their opposition to the church s support of Prop 8 The church s political involvement around LGBT rights has long been a source of controversy both within and outside the church 11 12 13 It s also been a significant cause of disagreement and disaffection by members 14 15 16 A 2003 nationwide Pew Research Center survey of over 1 000 LGBT Americans found that 83 of them said the LDS church was generally unfriendly towards lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people surpassed only by the Muslim religion at 84 76 Additionally in May 2008 a Georgia Tech gay rights manual referred to the LDS Church as anti gay After two students sued the school for discrimination a judge ordered that the material be removed 77 78 79 The church s political involvement around LGBTQ rights has sparked critical media and protests This includes the 2010 documentary film 8 The Mormon Proposition the play 8 and the following protests nbsp A Prop 8 protester with a sign referencing the LDS Church s polygamous history 4 October 1999 150 members of Affirmation staged a protest in Salt Lake City over the church s lobbying and funding of anti same sex marriage initiatives in California and other states 80 2 November 2008 Hundreds of people gathered at the Salt Lake City library in a protest of Prop 8 organized by LDS mothers of gay children 81 82 6 November 2008 In Los Angeles over two thousand people protested at the LDS temple over the LDS church s heavy involvement in the recent passing of California s Prop 8 banning same sex marriage 83 7 November 2008 Three days after Prop 8 passed nearly five thousand protesters gathered at the Salt Lake Temple 84 85 That evening a candlelight vigil by about 600 mothers of LGBT children was also held at the Salt Lake Temple 86 87 Timeline of events and publications around the LDS church and LGBT rights editBelow is a timeline of events and publications around LDS Church political involvement around LGBT rights 1800s edit nbsp Brigham Young oversaw the creation of the new Utah Territory law banning sex between men This portrait is from 1853 1851 The church controlled legislature of the newly formed Utah Territory passed the first law addressing same sex sexual behavior banning any man or boy from sexual intercourse with any of the male creation with penalties left to the courts discretion 88 1200 Brigham Young acted as both Utah governor and church president in the theocratic government and oversaw the selection of the legislators 89 1858 Travelling bishop and later church historian A Milton Musser wrote that Salt Lake City member Almerin Grow had demonstrated odd behavior and was wearing his wife s clothing in one of the first reported instances of gender non conforming dress in the Mormon community Church president Young who had only recently stepped down as governor of the Utah Territory subsequently sent Grow south to never return so Grow appointed Musser as guardian of his daughter 90 91 1897 During the October General Conference First Presidency member George Q Cannon used the media attention on the 1895 conviction and two year imprisonment of famed Irish poet Oscar Wilde as an opportunity to condemn homosexual behavior as an abominable filthy nameless crime that caused the utter destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah He continued stating that the only way to stop these dreadful practices was by the destruction of those who practice them and for the Lord to wipe them out noting that if a little nest of them were left they would soon corrupt others 92 93 1950s edit 1952 An increase in US public discourse around homosexuality in the McCarthyist Lavender scare era contributed to the first explicit mention of the term homosexual in general conference Apostle Clark lamented that homosexuality is found among men and women and that homosexual people exercise great influence in shaping culture 94 95 146 After this LDS leaders started regularly addressing queer topics in public especially towards the end of the decade 24 375 377 40 v 3 1955 A Boise Idaho gay witch hunt was launched to hunt down gay men among moral panic over several local arrests of males for same sex sexual activity This resulted in nearly 1 500 people questioned producing hundreds of names of suspected homosexuals 96 including several Mormons 24 436 Author John Gerassi cites an oppressive environment engendered by the predominantly LDS population in his seminal 1966 work Boys of Boise as a contributing factor for the illegal sexual activity and subsequent witch hunts 97 98 The documentary The Fall of 55 was made about the events in 2006 1957 Apostle Clark cited Old Testament punishments for same sex sexual activity stating for homosexuality it was death to the male and the prescription or penalty for the female I do not know 99 1959 The fictional book Advise and Consent is released featuring the story of a married Mormon US senator named Brigham Anderson from Utah who has an affair with another man It won a Pulitzer Prize and was later made into a film in 1962 100 101 102 The novel s plot takes place during the ongoing 1950s McCarthyist Lavender Scare era when thousands of lesbian and gay applicants were barred from federal employment as national security threats under President Eisenhower s Executive Order 10450 and over 5 000 federal employees were fired under suspicions of being homosexual 103 104 1960s edit 1960 Utah native and LDS raised R Joel Dorius born 1919 would become an unwitting champion of gay liberation after he was arrested in Massachusetts along with two coworkers and fired from his language and visual arts Smith College professorship His house was raided and beefcake fitness magazines with erotic images of men were found in what is now considered a McCarthyist gay witch hunt 105 106 107 Along with a coworker Dorius appealed the verdict of pornography possession to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and all three professors were exonerated as the raid warrants were deemed unconstitutional The scandal has been dramatized in The Scarlet Professor and the PBS documentary The Great Pink Scare 108 109 110 1964 Apostle Kimball addressed seminary and institute faculty on BYU campus calling homosexuality a detestable crime against nature that was curable by self mastery 2 33 111 He cited one lay bishop a businessman by trade assigned by the church to administer a program of rehabilitation through which there had been numerous cures He said the police the courts and the judges had referred many cases directly to the church 112 40 91 1965 In a churchwide broadcast address the apostle Mark Petersen cited the movements to remove laws banning same sex sexual activity in at least two US states as great evidence of apostasy rejecting God and society placing itself in the role of anti Christ 113 1969 Mark E Petersen cites how homosexuality was made a capital crime in the Bible as evidence of the seriousness of same sex sexual activity He stated immorality is next to murder and the wage of sin is death and that a rejection of morality may bring about this nation s fall as with Greece and Rome unless there was repentance 114 115 1970s edit 1970 Victor L Brown of the Presiding Bishopric gave a General Conference address in which he called recent media reporting on a same sex marriage filth on our newsstands 116 117 1971 In a conference address apostle Kimball called the decriminalization of consensual same sex sexual activity a damnable heresy and the voices speaking in favor of churches accepting homosexuals as ugly and loud 118 119 5 1972 Idaho laws which barred same sex sexual activity between consenting adults were reinstated under heavy pressure from the LDS church after being repealed for three months Mormon state senator Wayne Loveless who spearheaded the effort stated that the previous law would encourage immorality and draw sexual deviates to the state 120 121 The reinstated law restored the old wording that every person who is guilty of the infamous crime against nature committed with mankind is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than five years 122 123 124 1974 BYU president Oaks delivered a speech on campus in which he spoke in favor of keeping criminal punishment for deviate sexual behavior such as private consensual same sex sexual activity The speech was later printed by the university s press 125 126 127 nbsp Sergeant Matlovich was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for heroic service in the Vietnam War but was discharged from the military and excommunicated from the LDS church for being gay 1975 LDS member Sergeant Leonard Matlovich was featured on the September 8 cover of Time magazine with the caption I Am a Homosexual for his challenging of the U S military ban against gay men and lesbian women 128 He was subsequently discharged from the military for openly stating his sexual orientation 129 and excommunicated from the Church two months after the article was released 24 442 130 1976 BYU music professor Carlyle D Marsden took his own life 131 two days after being outed by an arrest during a series of police sting operations at an Orem rest stop 132 133 134 1977 The largely LDS Utah House of Representatives passed a bill outlawing same sex marriages in the state by 71 votes to 3 without floor debate 2 15 1977 The Relief Society general president sent a telegram to Anita Bryant for her Save Our Children campaign which stated On behalf of the one million members of the Relief Society we commend you for your courageous and effective efforts in combatting sic homosexuality and laws which would legitimize this insidious life style sic 95 150 135 136 1977 Under the name Affirmation Gay Mormons United the first Affirmation group was organized in Salt Lake City by a group of other Mormon and former Mormon lesbian and gay people at the conference for the Salt Lake Coalition for Human Rights 137 138 139 nbsp Anita Bryant s anti gay campaign visit to Salt Lake City applauded by LDS church leaders 95 150 sparked the first public protest by Utah s LGBTQ community 140 1977 Apostle Mark Petersen wrote in the Church News that every right thinking should sustain Anita Bryant and should look at their own neighborhoods to determine how infiltrated they had become with gay people 2 12 He also wrote that homosexual offenses were next to murder in the hierarchy of sins 2 16 141 1977 With an invitation from LDS church leaders Anita Bryant performed at the Utah State Fair on the 18th 142 Her presence prompted the first public demonstration from Utah s queer community 143 144 organized by gay former Mormon pastor Bob Waldrop 145 146 in what gay former Mormon and historian Seth Anderson 147 referred to as Utah s Stonewall 140 1977 At a backstage press conference Church president Kimball praised Anita Bryant s anti gay Save Our Children crusade which sought to bar the passing of nondiscrimination laws which would protect sexual minorities from being kicked out of their homes fired from their jobs and banned from restaurants solely for their sexual orientation He stated that she was doing a great service 95 150 He continued stating that the homosexual program is not a natural normal way of life and that church bishops and college educated church counselors can aid those with homosexual problems 2 12 148 149 nbsp The church opposed the ERA in part from believing it would lead to same sex marriage and parenting 150 1978 The First Presidency released a statement on August 24 outlining reasons for their opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment including unnatural consequences like an increase in the practice of homosexual and lesbian activities 151 1979 Gay former Mormon Bob Waldrop who had served an LDS mission in Australia became a leader in the gay inclusive Salt Lake Metropolitan Community Church 146 152 153 In February 1977 his congregation had had its permission rescinded by Utah state Lieutenant Governor David Monson a Mormon to hold a queer inclusive church dance in the public Utah Capitol building 154 95 159 nbsp Gay Mormons at the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights on 14 October 1979 1979 Gay Mormons from Affirmation marched with 75 000 people in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights 155 156 1980s edit 1980 The Ensign published an article stating that a passing of the Equal Rights Amendment would lead to legalizing same sex marriage and children being raised in a homosexual home 150 21 151 1981 Church leaders sent every bishop and stake president a copy of a book on human sexuality and families by Church Welfare Services director 157 Victor Brown Jr The book stated that equating same sex relationships with opposite sex marriage was fallacious and inconsistent and that homosexual people were less disciplined and orderly in their relationships 158 6 159 October A march of about 15 gay post Mormons calling themselves Ethyl and Friends for Gay Rights was given city permission to protest on public property around Temple Square during the church s general conference with signs like We are God s Children The leader Randy Smith whose drag performance name was Ethel had previously undergone electroshock aversion therapy at BYU 160 161 162 1984 Apostle Oaks wrote a church memo that informed church action on LGBT legislation for more than three decades 2 38 39 163 In it he recommended the church make a public statement to oppose job discrimination laws protecting homosexuals unless there were exceptions for allowing employers to exclude homosexuals from employment that involves teaching young people He also noted the irony that would arise if the Church used Reynolds v United States the principal 1878 ruling stating that marriage is between a man and a woman as an argument for the illegality of homosexual marriages since it was formerly used against the Church to establish the illegality of polygamous marriages Oaks also clarified that the word homosexuality is used in two senses as a condition or tendency and as a practice or activity 163 164 1986 Twenty six year old Clair Harward who was dying from complications due to AIDS was banned from church meetings for fear of spreading the disease 165 166 His story made national headlines 167 and prompted a statement from a church spokesperson 168 169 170 1987 Gordon Hinckley of the First Presidency gave a conference address in which he stated marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God Marriage should not be viewed as a therapeutic step to solve problems such as homosexual inclinations 171 1988 On November 22 a 20 year old man from a prominent Mormon family in Delta Utah 172 173 and another Utah man raped tortured and brutally murdered Gordon Church a 28 year old gay Mormon student near Cedar City Utah in an anti gay hate crime before US hate crime laws existed 174 175 1990s edit 1990 Church spokesperson John Lyons stated Since there is no marriage between homosexuals then sexual activity between them is not acceptable under our principles 176 1991 During a case hearing Young Men s president and church Seventy Jack H Goaslind gave a testimonial and stated on record that the church would withdraw from the Boy Scouts of America if homosexual youth were allowed to join implying a current church policy banning youth based on sexual orientation 177 178 In March 1910 the church s Young Men s Mutual Improvement Association had adopted the Boy Scouts of America program as the church wide program for young men in the US 179 1992 Seventy Vaughn Featherstone decried the attempts at legalizing homosexuality during his lifetime as among compromising drifting philosophies in his general conference speech 180 1992 Then apostle Russell Nelson stated in general conference that the AIDS epidemic was a plague fueled by a vocal few concerned with civil rights and abetted by immoral people 2 13 181 1993 Packer gave a speech in which he identified social and political unrest from gay lesbian movements as major invasions into the membership of the Church that leads them away 182 1993 Apostle Oaks gave a conference address stating that there are many political legal and social pressures for changes that confuse gender and homogenize the differences between men and women 183 1994 The First Presidency issued a statement encouraging members to contact their legislators in an effort to reject same sex marriage 1 184 1994 Apostle Boyd K Packer gave a conference address mentioning that changes in the laws around marriage and gender threaten the family 185 1994 Apostle James E Faust gave a speech at BYU in which he stated that same sex marriage would unravel families the fabric of human society 186 1995 The LDS Church began actions opposing same sex marriage laws including recruiting members to work with and donate to Hawaii s Future Today in opposition to efforts to legalize same sex marriage in Hawaii 187 Pamphlets were spread in church meetings and church facilities were used to fax statements to legislative committees 188 The campaign spanned years and the church reported giving 600 000 in 1998 to the Hawaiian political action group Save Traditional Marriage 98 189 190 1995 James E Faust gave a First Presidency message that stated same sex relationships would help unravel the fabric of human society and if practiced by everyone would mean the end of the human family 191 nbsp The Family A Proclamation to the World is a 1995 LDS church statement used as a legal document in several court case amicus briefs opposing same sex marriage 17 1995 Church president Gordon B Hinckley read The Family A Proclamation to the World in the Fall General Conference which states that marriage between a man and a woman is essential and ordained of God It also teaches that gender is an essential part of one s eternal identity and purpose 21 154 155 22 The document has been submitted by the church in several amicus briefs as evidence against legalizing same sex marriages 17 1995 Gordon B Hinckley gave an October General Conference talk in which he stated that same sex marriage is an immoral practic e 26 45 46 192 193 1995 Church Seventy Durrel A Woolsey stated in general conference that Satan makes powerful and ungodly proclamations like same gender intimate associations and even marriages are acceptable 194 1996 In California a letter was read to all congregations from the North American West Area Presidency encouraging members to contact their legislators in support of a California assembly bill AB 1982 against the recognition of any same sex marriages 2 72 nbsp In 1996 a Salt Lake City high school became a focal point of tension between LGBT individuals and a largely LDS city administration and population 1996 Salt Lake City became the only US city to have its Board of Education ban all students clubs after Mormon students Erin Wiser and Kelli Peterson 195 196 formed an East High School club called the Gay Straight Alliance in September 1995 The club had cited a federal law sponsored by LDS Utah Senator Orrin Hatch which forbade school boards from discriminating against clubs although Hatch stated that the law was never meant to promote immoral speech or activity Four hundred of Salt Lake s high school students protested the ban 197 198 One Mormon senior at East High was quoted stating that he would rather all clubs be banned than allow the gay straight alliance 199 Additionally Mormon state representative Grant Protzman 200 201 stated I think that many legislators have serious concerns about the group s moving into recruitment of fresh meat for the gay population 202 203 Club founder Peterson responded that recruitment was not at all what the club is about stating that it was founded to help her and her LGBT friends deal with a hostile school atmosphere where she faced physical and verbal assault as an out lesbian 204 205 In response to the gay straight alliance group some students at West High formed the Student Against Faggots Everywhere SAFE group 206 207 208 1996 BYU Spanish professor Thomas Matthews was reported to a top LDS authority for previously stating that he was gay in private conversations He stated that BYU did not like that he was out of the closet despite being celibate and keeping BYU codes of conduct and eventually left the university a few months later 209 BYU president Lee had stated that it was simply not comfortable for the university for him to continue teaching there 48 49 162 163 50 1997 A poll of over 400 BYU students found that 42 of students believed that even if a same sex attracted person kept the honor code they should not be allowed to attend BYU The poll s stated 5 percent margin of error was criticized as being too low an estimate because of the cluster sampling in classes however 210 1997 Church president Hinckley stated at the World Forum of Silicon Valley that the church would do all it can to stop the recognition of same sex marriage in the United States 2 73 1997 Church seventy Bruce C Hafen presented at the World Congress of Families in the Czech Republic He stated that one thing that will unbridle societal principles and harm us was legalizing same sex marriage and that if the law endorses everything it tolerates we will eventually tolerate everything and endorse nothing except tolerance 211 1997 Church president Hinckley gave an interview in which he reaffirmed the stance that God made marriage for one man and one woman and that essentially gay people must live a celibate life 212 1997 General authorities Marlin Jensen Loren Dunn and Richard Wirthlin gave recommendations to the church Public Affairs Committee that the church s priesthood structure could be used to gather 70 of the required 700 000 signatures and raise up to 2 million to place an anti same sex marriage ballot on California s June 1998 primary election 2 74 1998 The Church Handbook was updated encouraging members to appeal to government officials to reject same sex marriage 213 159 21 166 1998 The church donated a half million dollars 190 189 to oppose efforts to legalize same sex marriage in Alaska 214 215 1998 Church president Hinckley stated again that the church could not support so called same sex marriage 216 217 1999 The Area Presidency of the North America West Area sent a May 11 letter to all area leaders directing members to donate their means and time to pass the Knight Initiative against same sex marriage in California 2 77 218 A second letter invited church members to donate money and a third letter sent a month and a half before the proposition would pass asked members to redouble their efforts in contacting neighbors and to place provided yard signs 2 77 78 219 220 1999 Prop 22 fundraising quotas were given for some stakes and wards e g one stake had a goal of 37 500 and one ward s goal was 4 000 2 77 Some local leaders wrote letter to members soliciting specific amounts 2 77 221 28 In some instances lawn signs were passed out in the church building after church meetings 2 77 An estimated half of pro Prop 22 money raised came from LDS members 2 78 This direct involvement around same sex marriage laws led certain groups to request the IRS reconsider the LDS Church s tax exempt status 221 28 1999 Church president Hinckley stated in general conference that so called same sex marriage is not a matter of civil rights it is a matter of morality There is no justification to redefine what marriage is 2 79 222 1999 Some members of Affirmation staged a protest in Salt Lake City over the church s lobbying and funding of anti same sex marriage initiatives in California and other states 80 1999 Director of BYU s World Family Policy Center Kathryn Balmforth addressed the World Congress of Families in Geneva 223 224 In her speech she stated that gay rights activists are part of an anti family movement that is hijacking human rights by legal force to gain power and curtail the freedom of most of humanity 225 2000s edit nbsp A yard sign distributed to church members 2002 With heavy influence from the LDS Church Nevada state s Question 2 on amending the state constitution to ban same sex marriage passed on the 5th after also winning a majority vote in the general elections two years prior A Nevada Mormon newspaper Beehive first reported the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage s intent to file an initiative petition in December 1999 The coalition raised over 800 000 by October 2000 from mostly Mormon owned businesses and LDS individuals 226 Mormon leaders had strongly encouraged members through letters with church letterhead to do campaign work and post yard signs distributed at church buildings 227 228 2004 In May the church spokesperson stated the church had no position on Utah s proposed anti same sex marriage amendment 229 2 84 Polls showed 68 of Utah Latter day Saints supported the amendment 230 2 84 Then the First Presidency issued a July 7 statement saying the church favors a constitutional amendment barring the legal status of any marriage outside one between one man and one woman but did not mention any amendment by name 2 84 85 231 232 A few months later on October 19 they expounded this stance to reference a national amendment 233 The letter states that the church reaches out with understanding and respect for homosexual persons and realizes there may be great loneliness in their lives but defend their stance 1 234 10 2004 Church president Gordon Hinckley gave an interview in which he did not support same sex civil unions and spoke against same sex marriage He also stated that gay people have a problem that the church wants to help them solve though he said he did not know if they were born with this problem 235 2005 The church published an article tying the term gender confusion to homosexuality stating If governments were to alter the moral climate by legitimizing same sex marriages gender confusion would increase particularly among children and this would further blur the line between good and evil 236 123 138 237 2005 Shortly after Provo High School students started the first gay straight alliance in the nearly 90 Mormon Utah County 238 LDS state Senator Chris Buttars 239 announced a controversial bill to ban gay straight alliances in Utah public schools 240 2006 The church published an extensive April interview 241 with Oaks and Lance B Wickman to clarify the church s stance on homosexuality 241 242 In the interview Wickman states that giving even same sex civil unions and domestic partnerships the same government rights given to opposite sex marriage would not be appropriate 53 217 2006 In April Apostle Russell M Nelson signed a letter with other religious leaders urging the US government to pass an amendment banning same sex marriage On May 25 the First Presidency released another statement supporting the amendment and urging members to contact their senators 243 234 10 11 2006 BYU fired adjunct professor Jeffrey Nielsen for writing an opinion piece 244 in support of same sex marriage 51 245 246 2007 Seventy Bruce C Hafen addressed the 4th World Congress of Families in Poland on same sex marriage 247 248 Additionally BYU Law professor Lynn D Wardle presented and compared his warnings tragic consequences and dangers of legalizing same sex marriage as the warnings of a Hungarian man warning Elie Wiesel s town about the dangers the incoming Nazis posed to the Jewish population there He also stated that if same sex marriages were legalized there would be no basis to deny polygamous or incestuous marriages and a decreased ability to protect their children from exposure to gay propaganda 249 250 2008 The First Presidency again urged California members to do all they can by giving effort and time to help pass a state amendment banning same sex marriage in a June 29 letter 111 251 A few months later Apostles Ballard and Cook and L Whitney Clayton gave an October 8 satellite broadcast 252 to all California members titled The Divine Institution of Marriage Broadcast In the broadcast they asked members to donate four hours per week and to set aside Saturdays morning to calling people and other efforts supporting the passage of Prop 8 They clarified that tolerance does not mean tolerating transgression and noted the existence of temple worthy members attracted to the same sex Additionally a video 253 of Apostle Bednar answering youth s questions was shown from the church s official website PreservingMarriage org 254 Members were directed to register on the coalition website ProtectMarriage com 255 256 257 November The Courage Campaign produced a controversial California aired television ad depicting Mormon missionaries invading a lesbian couple s house and taking their rings and marriage license 258 259 260 The ad elicited a statement from a church spokesperson 261 The group also created a petition asking the LDS church to stop funding and advocating for Prop 8 which gained over 16 000 signatures 262 2008 After the 4 November 2008 close passing of California s Prop 8 banning same sex marriage in which the LDS church was heavily involved over two thousand protesters gathered at the Los Angeles LDS temple on November 6 The next day nearly five thousand protesters gathered at the Salt Lake Temple 84 85 83 263 That evening a candlelight vigil by about 600 mothers of LGBT children was also held at the Salt Lake Temple 86 87 2008 Seventy L Whitney Clayton stated that the church does not oppose benefits like health insurance and property rights for same sex civil unions or domestic partnerships 264 2008 A chapter of an activist group called for vandalizing LDS meetinghouses in response to their political involvement with Prop 8 265 266 Some Bash Back members spray painted slogans chapels and put glue in the locks 266 More moderate gay rights groups condemned the actions of the Bash Back group 2009 After anti gay comments he made in a documentary interview became public LDS bishop and state senator Chris Buttars was removed from a Senate committee for breaking an agreement with Senate leaders not to publicly speak on LGBT topics 267 268 269 He stated gay marriage was a combination of abominations that would never come to Utah because of his power and influence and that he had consulted with other states on using Utah as a model for blocking protection for the gays 270 271 272 2009 Then apostle Russell M Nelson spoke against same sex marriage at the World Congress of Families held in Amsterdam 273 274 2009 Church PR director Michael Otterson gave a statement at a Salt Lake City Council hearing in support of a proposed city anti discrimination ordinance which would protect LGBT individuals 275 2010s edit 2010 The documentary 8 The Mormon Proposition on LDS involvement with California s 2008 Prop 8 debuts at Utah s Sundance Film Festival 276 277 2010 In a special meeting for some Oakland California members it was reported that church Seventy and historian Marlin K Jensen apologized to straight and gay members for their pain from the California Prop 8 campaign and some other church actions around homosexuality 63 64 65 2010 Boyd K Packer delivered an October conference address stating that The Family A Proclamation to the World qualifies according to the definition as a revelation and described same sex marriage as one of Satan s many substitutes or counterfeits for marriage 12 278 279 2010 Apostle Packer delivered an October conference address stating that The Family A Proclamation to the World qualified as a revelation 280 2011 A BYU law student published the book Homosexuality A Straight BYU Student s Perspective 281 282 283 containing arguments in favor of same sex marriage for which he stated he was threatened with expulsion 284 285 286 2011 Celibate gay Mormon Drew Call was denied his temple recommend renewal and fired from his LDS church printing office job for refusing to give up his gay friends 45 287 53 2011 BYU fired a gay broadcasting department faculty member The employee stated that BYU had become an increasingly hostile work environment 47 and that being gay played into his being fired 46 2012 The apostle Oaks stated that members should assume that children of same sex couples face the same disadvantages of single and unmarried parents 288 289 2012 LDS public affairs leader Bill Evans met with several high profile LGBT activists in Salt Lake City at the Alta Club including the national Human Rights Campaign director Dustin Lance Black Bruce Bastian the Utah Pride Center director and the director of Mormons Building Bridges 2 8 2013 Apostle Russell Nelson gave a speech discussing the controversy around same sex marriage and church teachings He admonished members to gain understanding of the church s position through prayer pondering and listening to conference 290 2013 On the 20th same sex marriages became legally recognized in Utah and within two hours the first same sex couple was married They were two former Mormons medical researcher Michael Ferguson 291 and historian Seth Anderson 147 292 293 2013 On Christmas Eve Leisha and Amanda LaCrone became the first same sex couple married in San Pete County Utah after being illegally denied the day before 294 They came from LDS backgrounds and later reported being harassed by LDS leaders over a disciplinary council in 2016 295 296 297 2013 Apostle Russell M Nelson gave a CES devotional discussing the debate around same sex marriage 290 2013 On the 20th of December same sex marriages became legally recognized in Utah and within two hours the first same sex couple was married They were two former Mormons medical researcher Michael Ferguson 291 and historian Seth Anderson 147 292 293 2014 A letter on same sex marriage was sent to all congregational leaders to be shared with members The letter reiterated church stances and urged members to review the Family Proclamation and called for kindness and civility for supporters of same sex marriage 298 2014 An amicus brief was filed by the church with the US Tenth Circuit Court in defense of Utah s recently overturned Amendment 3 banning same sex marriage in the state The brief summarized the church s stance on marriage while stating that the church held no anti homosexual animus 299 300 301 2014 A former bishop Kevin Kloosterman who had received media attention for speaking out for LGBT Mormons while a current bishop 302 303 304 received further coverage for being denied entrance to the temple by his bishop as directed by a church seventy in part because of his support of same sex marriage 305 2014 Another amicus brief on a same sex marriage case was filed on by the church this time encouraging the U S Supreme Court to hear Utah s Kitchen v Herbert 306 307 2014 BYU student Curtis Penfold who had been at the university for over two years was kicked out of his apartment fired from his job and expulsed from BYU after disagreeing with LDS teachings on LGBT rights 308 309 310 2014 The apostle Eyring stated at an international colloquium on marriage in the Vatican that We want our voice to be heard against all of the counterfeit and alternative lifestyles that try to replace the family organization His statement was quoted in the April 2015 general conference by Apostle Tom Perry 311 2015 Church leaders held a Fairness for All news conference on January 27 supporting LGBT non discrimination laws for housing and employment that would also protect religious individuals 312 Apostle Christofferson called for a balance between religious freedom and LGBT rights Apostle Oaks followed stating that the church rejects persecution based on gender or sexual orientation and called for legislation protecting religious freedoms and LGBT citizens in housing employment and public accommodations Apostle Holland closed outlining the church s stance on religious freedom 313 314 315 2015 In early March the church released a public statement 316 and employed its lobbyists 317 to garner support for a proposed nondiscrimination and religious rights bill which would grant housing and employment protection for LGBT persons in Utah Though similar bills had failed 6 times before 318 SB 296 was passed on March 11 and another statement of church approval was released 319 the new law nicknamed the Utah Compromise 320 passed and was praised by many 321 322 2015 Prominent gay member Josh Weed who received media attention when he came out in 2012 and his wife stated their support for same sex marriage when quotes from them were used without permission in an amicus brief opposing it ahead of the oral arguments in the Supreme Court Obergefell v Hodges case 323 324 325 2015 After a disciplinary council on February 10 John Dehlin was excommunicated from the LDS church in part because of his visible advocacy for same sex marriage 326 327 328 and his stake president had previously stated that if you come out openly in support of same sex marriage that is a problem 329 An appeal was denied by the church s highest authority 330 2015 The apostle Christofferson gave an interview in which he acknowledged the diversity of sociopolitical views among church members and stated that advocating for same sex marriage on social media or holding political beliefs differing from official church stances would not threaten a member s standing in the church though he said the church would never accept same sex marriage 331 332 333 2015 The church filed an amicus brief with the Sixth Circuit Court on a pending consolidated same sex case stating that allowing same sex marriage would impede the ability of religious people to participate fully as equal citizens 334 335 336 2015 Three days after the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of same sex marriage the First Presidency sent a letter to be read to every US congregation affirming changing US law would not change God s moral law The letter clarified that leaders should not perform same sex marriages and that any church property cannot be used for activities related to same sex marriages 337 338 2015 D Todd Christofferson stated that members who openly supported LGBT marriage would not be excommunicated 339 2015 Top church leaders sent out another letter to be read in all US congregations reaffirming the church s position on marriage and calling for civility 340 2015 A church statement is released saying leaders are deeply troubled and re evaluating its scouting program as a Boy Scouts of America BSA policy change permits openly gay scout leaders 341 A later announcement said the church will stay in the BSA program despite the change 342 2015 Presidency of the Seventy member Rasband gave a BYU address later reprinted in the Ensign 343 in which he addressed concerns about the church s involvement in politics He shared hypothetical stories of a man fired for being gay and a woman marginalized at work for being Mormon and bemoaned that it is less politically correct to empathize with the religious woman He invited listeners to discuss LGBT rights and religious freedom and to write comments on his Facebook post 344 345 2015 Apostle Dallin H Oaks publicly disagreed with refusing gay marriages in violation of the recent supreme court ruling 346 Days later at the World Congress of Families apostle Russell Ballard urged tolerance for the opposition 347 2015 An update letter to leaders for the Church Handbook was leaked banning a child of a parent living in a same gender relationship from several ordinances The policy update also added that entering a same sex marriage as a type of apostasy mandating a disciplinary council 348 13 A few days later around 1 500 members gathered across from the Church Office Building to submit their resignation letters in response to the policy change with thousands more resigning online in the weeks after 349 350 351 15 2015 Utah married couple April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce were denied guardian rights over their foster child because of their sexual orientation by BYU graduate 352 former stake presidency counselor 353 and Mormon bishop 354 judge Scott Johansen leading to calls for his impeachment and resulting in his retirement 355 2016 BYU and church policies on LGBT persons got the spotlight 356 357 as these served as a deterrent in their football team being considered as a Fall addition to the Big 12 Conference 358 359 360 a consideration which was ultimately denied 361 362 2016 Church spokesperson Dale Jones spoke against passing any LGBT related laws which could affect the balance of religious liberty and gay rights 363 The statement was in reference to proposed Utah hate crime bill SB107 which would add sexual orientation to the current list of characteristics protected from hate crimes in Utah 364 The bill failed as it had in past years and its Mormon Republican sponsor criticized his church for its opposition to the bill citing the church s press release as the reason for its failure 365 366 2016 In June the Mexican area authority presidency had a letter read in congregations around the country urging members to oppose the national legalization of same sex marriage and pointed them to the political organization Conciencia Nacional por la Libertad Religiosa 367 368 2016 After a court ruling the parent company over one of the largest LDS dating sites LDSsingles com was required to allow same sex dating as an option 369 370 2016 Young Women s General President Bonnie L Oscarson gave a conference speech in which she stated that Mormons shouldn t avoid speaking boldly against Satan s lies like same sex marriage out of fear of offending gay people 371 372 2017 The Boy Scouts of America announced in January 373 that transgender boys can join their troops prompting a wait and see response from the church 374 375 376 The church withdrew its support of the program for older teens four months later though it denied any link to the policy changes around LGBT people 377 378 2017 The church filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court over the transgender bathroom case G G v Gloucester County School Board in which it opposed the interpretation of sex in Title IX as gender identity 379 380 2017 SB 196 was signed into law which overturned the no promo homo laws which had banned advocacy of homosexuality while allowing for negative discussions in public schools Former Mormon Troy Williams of Equality Utah was a driving force behind the change and he stated that they had worked together with the LDS Church and the majority Mormon legislature to change the laws One paper stated that the LDS Church was largely behind the reasoning for the laws and anti gay culture of Utah 381 382 383 Similar laws were still enforced in seven conservative states mostly in the Southern US as of 2017 384 2017 An Ensign article by Seventy Larry Lawrence stated that same sex marriage is only a counterfeit and quoted a canonized LDS scripture where Jesus 385 warns that a counterfeit is not of God and is darkness 386 387 2017 A Fourth of July parade in the over 75 LDS town of Provo Utah 388 reportedly gave permission then denied entry the day before the parade to the new Provo LGBT Mormon resource center Encircle garnering national attention 389 390 391 2017 An instructor at the church s BYU Idaho reported being fired after refusing to take down a post on her private Facebook page in support of LGBT rights 392 393 2017 Minutes from a February 2014 Layton Utah meeting for stake leaders were released without authorization in which the apostle L Tom Perry stated that supporting same sex marriage would incriminate members seeking to renew their temple recommend The importance of opposite sex marriage was stressed with the statement that Jesus and the prophets believed in it and that allowing evil like same sex marriage to grow would destroy the basic family unit and bring calamities 394 395 396 2017 The Pacific area presidency sent a letter to be read in September in all Australian congregations which reemphasized the church s position against same sex marriage and parenting and urged members to vote their conscience in the upcoming national referendum on the issue 397 2017 The LDS Church signs an amicus brief supporting wedding cake bakers discriminating against same sex couples in a Colorado court case 398 399 400 2017 The apostle Oaks lamented the increase in public acceptance of same sex marriage and acknowledged the conflicts with friends and family that opposing this acceptance could cause He further stated that despite the conflict church members should choose God and the LDS Church s plan and way 401 402 2017 Apostle Dallin H Oaks speaks in General Conference about The Plan and the Proclamation He states that Converted Latter day Saints believe that the family proclamation is the Lord s reemphasis of the gospel truths we need to sustain us through current challenges to the family like same sex marriage and cohabitation without marriage 403 2017 In response to a question about LGBT young single adults in the church apostle Ballard tells BYU students in a campus wide event that church leaders believe core rights of citizenship should be protected for all people for LGBT people for people of all faiths and that reasonable compromises should be found in other areas when rights conflict 404 405 406 2018 BYU Student Life hosted the first church university hosted LGBT campus event 407 408 It featured a panel of four students answering student submitted questions 409 410 411 2018 After a controversy over BYU s policies around LGBT people a conference for the US Society for Political Methodology was moved off of campus citing a long strained relations between the LGBTQ community and BYU 412 and concerns over the university s ban on homosexual behavior which the Society repudiated along with the intolerance it represents 413 414 415 2018 The LDS Church released a statement in favor of the US Supreme Court ruling on the Masterpiece Cakeshop v Colorado Civil Rights Commission case over a business owner who refused to serve a gay couple 416 417 nbsp After much controversy LGBTQ marchers including some from the LGBT Mormon organizations Encircle and Mormons Building Bridges were allowed to openly march in Provo s 4th of July parade for the first time 2018 Hours after agreeing to a non discrimination clause in order to receive local tax funds the Provo Freedom Festival board denied LGBTQ groups a spot in the parade for the second year in a row sparking public outcry and criticism from Provo s mayor and Utah County Commissioner One of these groups included a float of local Mormon LGBTQ veterans representing Mormons Building Bridges 418 After negotiations the festival leaders decided to allow the groups to march 419 420 421 However the day before the parade one LGBT group was almost forced out of the grand parade and the groups were told they could not have rainbow flags 422 423 2018 Church leaders continued denial of BYU LGBT students years of requests to form a club on campus received national coverage 424 425 2018 The documentary Church and State which highlighted the events surrounding the battle for same sex marriage in Utah debuted at the Broadway Theatre in Utah 426 2019 The November 2015 policy was changed to say same gender marriage by a church member will no longer be considered apostasy for purposes of church discipline although it would still be considered a serious transgression 427 2019 Church president Nelson acknowledged that many countries including the United States had legalized same sex marriage but stated that God has not changed His definition of marriage 428 2019 The apostle Oaks stated the teachings of the Family Proclamation would not change and that it s reference to gender meant biological sex at birth and that marriage can only be between a man and a woman 429 A few days later he stated our knowledge of God s revealed plan of salvation requires us to oppose current social and legal pressures to retreat from traditional marriage and to make changes that confuse or alter gender or homogenize the differences between men and women and that leaders of the Church must always teach the unique importance of marriage between a man and a woman 430 431 2020s edit 2021 In an address to faculty and staff at BYU Apostle Holland called for a little more musket fire from this temple of learning in defending marriage as the union of a man and a woman 432 2021 Businessman Jeff Green publicly announced he was leaving the LDS Church and donating 600 000 to the LGBT rights organization Equality Utah Writing to the president of the Church Green said I believe the Mormon church has hindered global progress in women s rights civil rights and racial equality and LGBTQ rights 433 2021 The U S Department of Education began a civil rights investigation of BYU to determine if the university s discipline of LGBTQ students violated the scope of the university s Title IX exemptions 434 435 2022 The U S Department of Education dismisses the civil rights investigation of BYU regarding the university s discipline of LGBTQ students determining that the university was acting within its rights under its approved Title IX exemptions and that the Department of Education s Office of Civil Rights lacked jurisdiction to investigate further 436 2022 The church released a statement in support of the Respect for Marriage Act a bill which would require the states and the federal government to recognize legally performed same sex marriages 437 438 References edit a b c d First Presidency Statement on Same Gender Marriage LDS Church October 20 2004 Retrieved January 23 2015 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah Prince Gregory A 2019 Gay Rights and the Mormon Church Intended Actions Unintended Consequences Salt Lake City The University of Utah Press ISBN 9781607816638 a b Ayers Michael D October 15 2012 When Mormons Go to Washington Vanity Fair a b Barnes Jane February 1 2012 There Is a Dark Side to Mormonism The New York Times a b Grant Tobin April 27 2015 Five things you should know about Mormon politics Religion News Foundation Religion News Mansfield Stephen November 6 2012 The Mormonizing of America The Huffington Post Harrison Peter February 22 2016 The LDS Church and Utah Politics The Huffington Post Davidson Lee March 28 2012 How Utah s Capitol marches to a Mormon beat The Salt Lake Tribune Canham Matt February 17 2016 Mormon political clout in Utah Republicans say it s about right but Dems say LDS faith has too much The Salt Lake Tribune Bernick Bob April 20 2015 How Much Influence Does the LDS Church Have on the Legislature Depends on Who You Ask utahpolicy com a b Browning Bill December 21 2021 Utah billionaire leaves Mormon church with blistering accusation it is actively harming the world LGBTQ Nation San Francisco Archived from the original on December 21 2021 Retrieved December 25 2021 a b c Winters Rosemary October 19 2010 Mormon apostle s words about gays spark protest The Salt Lake Tribune Retrieved November 16 2016 a b c Bailey Sarah Pulliam November 11 2016 Mormon Church to exclude children of same sex couples from getting blessed and baptized until they are 18 The Washington Post Retrieved November 12 2016 a b Murphy Caryle December 18 2015 Most U S Christian groups grow more accepting of homosexuality pewresearch org Pew Research Center Retrieved March 12 2017 a b c Levin Sam August 15 2016 I m not a Mormon fresh mass resignation over anti LGBT beliefs The Guardian Retrieved December 11 2016 a b Hatch Heidi April 13 2016 Millennial Mormons leaving faith at higher rate than previous generations CBS Television Sinclair Broadcast Group KUTV a b c d Faiths File Amicus Brief on Marriage Cases Before Tenth Circuit Court Mormon Newsroom LDS Church February 10 2014 Retrieved November 23 2016 Same Sex Marriage LDS Church Beaver Michelle March 11 2011 Mormon church has a fractured history with gays The Mercury News San Jose CA MediaNews Group Inc Bay Area News Group There are three levels to the heaven in which Mormons believe and to make it to the highest level one must be married Perhaps the most sacred church ordinance is the temple marriage a sealing between a man and a woman that is believed to be eternal according to Richley Crapo a Utah State University professor There is no place for homosexuality in Mormon marriages and no place for noncelibate homosexuals in the top level of Mormon heaven unless that person has repented accordingly in the afterlife Petrey Taylor G February 4 2015 My Husband s Not Gay Homosexuality and the LDS Church Religion amp Politics Washington University in St Louis John C Danforth Center on Religion and Politics In the Mormon cosmos as presently understood there is simply no room for same sex relationships For Mormons the afterlife consists of heterosexual pairs of divinized men and women Often church leaders have counseled Mormons who experience same sex attraction that their unwelcome feelings will disappear in the afterlife T he very structure of heaven can only accommodate opposite sex marriages a b c d e Young Neil J July 1 2016 Out of Obscurity Mormonism Since 1945 Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0199358229 Retrieved May 26 2017 a b c The Family A Proclamation to the World LDS Church 1995 Bednar David A June 2006 Marriage Is Essential to His Eternal Plan Ensign 83 a b c d Quinn D Michael 1996 Same Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth Century Americans A Mormon Example University of Illinois Press ISBN 978 0252022050 Schow Ron Fall 2005 Homosexual Attractions and LDS Marriage Decisions PDF Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 38 3 133 143 doi 10 2307 45227379 JSTOR 45227379 S2CID 254393745 Retrieved June 18 2017 a b Vance Laura March 13 2015 Women in New Religions New York City NY New York University Press ISBN 978 1479816026 Retrieved June 19 2017 God Loveth His Children ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church 2007 Retrieved November 16 2016 Harrison Mette Ivie March 18 2016 Mormons and Gays Where Are We Now Huffington Post Oath Inc Retrieved June 23 2017 Prince Gregory A September 27 2017 Science vs Dogma Biology Challenges the LDS Paradigm of Homosexuality PDF thc utah edu University of Utah Tanner Humanities Center Archived from the original PDF on March 28 2019 Retrieved February 8 2022 Video of the presentation Schow Ron Schow Wayne Raynes Marybeth June 1991 Peculiar People Mormons and Same Sex Orientation Signature Books pp xxiv xxvii ISBN 978 1 56085 046 5 Retrieved May 26 2017 Mormon stance on gays softening Richmond Times Dispatch October 9 2013 Retrieved May 26 2017 Bauman Joe January 19 2004 Debate shifts to LDS over crime bill Deseret News a b The Divine Institution of Marriage LDS Church Retrieved January 23 2015 Canham Matt Jensen Derek P Winters Rosemary November 10 2009 Salt Lake City adopts pro gay statutes with LDS Church support Salt Lake Tribune archived from the original on April 14 2012 retrieved November 12 2009 Johnson Kirk November 11 2009 Mormon Support of Gay Rights Statute Draws Praise The New York Times Statement Given to Salt Lake City Council on Nondiscrimination Ordinances News Story LDS Church January 1 2009 Winters Rosemary Stack Peggy Fletcher November 11 2009 LDS apostle SLC gay rights measures could work for state The Salt Lake Tribune archived from the original on November 13 2009 retrieved November 12 2009 Church Responds to Inquiries on ENDA Same Sex Marriage News Release LDS Church November 7 2013 Bardsley J Roy October 9 1977 Area Residents Oppose Equal Rights for Gays The Salt Lake Tribune A1 via Newspaper Archive a b c Winkler Douglas A May 2008 Lavender Sons of Zion A History of Gay Men in Salt Lake City 1950 1979 Salt Lake City Utah University of Utah Department of History Retrieved November 16 2016 a b c d e Fisch Friedman Molly Vandermaas Peeler Alex Griffin Rob Cox Daniel Jones 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calls for healing the gay marriage rift The Salt Lake Tribune Retrieved December 20 2013 Moore Carrie A November 6 2008 California s Prop 8 Deseret News LDS Church When asked about whether Latter day Saints who publicly opposed Prop 8 would be subject to some kind of church discipline Elder Clayton said those judgments are left up to local bishops and stake presidents and the particular circumstances involved a b Brooks Joanna September 28 2010 Mormon Leader I m Sorry For Hurtful Legacy of Prop 8 Religion Dispatches University of Southern California Annenberg Archived from the original on June 4 2014 During the one hour meeting thirteen gay and straight Mormons came to the microphone Gay Mormons recalled years of prayer and fasting attempted heterosexual marriages promising to cure them and Church prescribed aversion therapy Gay and straight Mormons spoke of how their families and neighborhoods had been divided by the Yes on 8 campaign According to attendee Carol Lynn Pearson a Mormon author and longtime advocate of LGBT concerns Elder Jensen said To the full extent of my capacity I say that I am sorry I know that many very good people have been deeply hurt and I know that the Lord expects better of us a b Fletcher Stack Peggy October 8 2012 Mormon leadership bids farewell to peacemaking progressive The Salt Lake Tribune a b Welker Holly September 27 2010 LDS Elder Marlin Jensen s Prop 8 Apology We Need Clarification Huffington Post Montopoli Brian June 9 2010 Mormon Church Fined In Connection With Anti Gay Marriage Campaign CBS News CBS Interactive Inc Winters Rosemary June 9 2010 LDS Church fined for tardy financial reports during Prop 8 The Salt Lake Tribune Lang Nico February 8 2017 The WikiLeaks inspired war for the Mormon Church s deepest secrets The Daily Dot Retrieved August 3 2017 Adams Brooke December 20 2013 Federal judge strikes down Utah ban on same sex marriage The Salt Lake Tribune Retrieved January 21 2014 a b c Walch Tad January 10 2014 LDS Church issues instructions to leaders on same sex marriage Deseret News Archived from the original on January 16 2014 Retrieved January 21 2014 Neugebauer Cimaron November 5 2015 LDS Church adds same sex marriage to definition of apostasy KUTV Brady McCombs Mormon church issues rules aimed at gay members their kids Yahoo News News yahoo com Retrieved November 7 2015 Laurel Wamsley In Major Shift LDS Church Rolls Back Controversial Policies Toward LGBT Members National Public Radio April 4 2019 Daryl Lindsey LDS Apostle Policy on same sex couples was revelation from God Peggy Fletcher Stack LDS Church dumps its controversial LGBTQ policy cites continuing revelation from God Salt Lake Tribune April 4 2019 A Survey of LGBT Americans Pew Social Trends Pew Research Center June 13 2013 Retrieved November 19 2016 Judge Rules Georgia Tech Gay Rights Manual Biased WCTV May 1 2008 archived from the original on July 2 2014 retrieved February 8 2022 a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a Unknown parameter agency ignored help Court Georgia Tech Safe Space program not safe from Constitution Alliance Defense Fund May 1 2008 Judge Rules Bias in University s Manual on Gay Tolerance Liability Alerts United Educators archived from the original on March 3 2016 a b Fidel Steve October 4 1999 Protesters Target Church Activism in California Deseret News LDS Church p A6 Rally against Prop 8 held in Salt Lake KSL LDS Church November 2 2008 LDS Moms Hold Anti Prop 8 Vigil QSaltLake November 3 2008 a b Gay marriage supporters take to California streets CNN November 8 2008 a b Thousands of Prop 8 opponents protest LDS Church at Temple Square KSL November 7 2008 a b Bates Karen Grigsby November 7 2008 Gay Marriage Ban Protesters Target Mormon Church NPR a b Eskridge Jr William N September 2016 Latter Day Constitutionalism Sexuality Gender and Mormons PDF Illinois Law Review 4 1269 a b Blankenfeld Budy November 2 2008 LDS moms hold vigil against Prop 8 ABC4 Archived from the original on June 17 2011 Retrieved December 24 2008 Stewart Chuck December 16 2014 Proud Heritage People Issues and Documents of the LGBT Experience 3rd ed ABC CLIO ISBN 978 1610693981 Oakes Amy October 3 2012 Diversionary War Domestic Unrest and International Conflict 1st ed Stanford University Press p 125 ISBN 978 0804782463 Young created a Mormon theocracy in the Utah territory his word was law in matters both religious and secular He established a separate legal system and oversaw the selection of representatives to the territorial legislature Musser Amos Milton April 17 1858 Papers of Amos Milton Musser Private Journal heritage utah gov Utah State Historical Society Almerin Grow has given me his daughter now twelve years old to raise He has appointed me as her guardian guardian Pres ident Young has given him a mission to go south and never return Though naturally smart Grow has become immeasurably insane striking tokens of which are seen in his acts wearing his wife s clothing etc Brooks Karl 1961 The Life of Amos Milton Musser All Theses and Dissertations BYU 71 Archived from the original on November 27 2017 Cannon George October 6 1897 Sixty Eighth Semi Annual Conference Salt Lake City Utah Deseret News Publishing Company pp 65 66 Retrieved November 3 2016 Immorality Deplored President Cannon Pictures Existing Evil Conditions The Salt Lake Tribune October 7 1897 p 1 Retrieved June 17 2017 Clark J Reuben December 1952 Home and the Building of Home Life Relief Society Magazine 39 12 793 794 T he crimes for which Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed we have coined a softer name for them than came from old we now speak of homosexuality which it is tragic to say is found among both sexes Not without foundation is the contention of some that the homosexuals are today exercising great influence in shaping our art literature music and drama a b c d e Corcoran Brent O Donovan Rocky 1994 Multiply and Replenish Mormon Essays on Sex and Family Salt Lake City Utah Signature Books ISBN 978 1560850502 Retrieved November 29 2016 Marcus Eric Morris Foote makinggayhistory com Pineapple Street Media According to the late journalist John Gersassi whose 1966 book The Boys of Boise Furor Vice and Folly in an American City chronicles the scandal the police questioned nearly fifteen hundred Boise citizens and gathered the names of hundreds of suspected homosexuals by the time the investigation ran its course the following year All told sixteen men were arrested on charges ranging from lewd and lascivious conduct with minor children under the age of sixteen to infamous crimes against nature Of the sixteen ten went to jail including several whose only crime had been to engage in sex with another consenting adult male Barclay Donald April 22 1981 Coming Out in Boise University News Boise State University p 9 Gerassi John G November 1 2001 The Boys The Boys of Boise Furor Vice and Folly in an American City Reprint ed Seattle University of Washington Press pp 30 31 ISBN 0295981679 Of course in Boise there s the extra element of the power of the Mormons The atmosphere is stifling and the pressure to conform enormous The city fathers or bigwigs take it upon themselves to impose standards for everyone else Of the sixty five kids thirty five were Mormons Butler did interview thirty two of the sixty five kids who were thought to have been involved in some way with the homosexuals Most of the kids who had participated had done for a combination of kicks and rebellion against parental authority Clark J Reuben April 1957 Sexual Sin PDF Scriptures BYU EDU LDS Church p 87 Archived from the original PDF on July 1 2015 Retrieved February 8 2022 Tapper Jake October 6 2006 A Brief History Of Gays In Government ABC News 1959 Political thriller Advise and Consent features fictional Utah Sen Brigham Anderson driven to suicide when political enemies threaten to expose a gay affair from his youth Simon Scott September 2 2009 At 50 a D C Novel With Legs The Wall Street Journal The man who turns out to almost unwillingly stand in the way of confirmation is an unflinchingly honest young senator from Utah who has concealed a wartime homosexual tryst Drury s most appealing character is Brigham Anderson the young senator from Utah When Otto Preminger brought Advise and Consent to the screen in 1962 the senator s homosexuality is called a tired old sin But in Drury s book Brigham Anderson is candid and unapologetic to those closest to him It didn t seem horrible at the time he says and I am not going to say now that it did even to you Rich Frank May 15 2005 Just How Gay Is the Right The New York Times In Advise and Consent the handsome young senator with a gay secret Don Murray is from Utah a striking antecedent of the closeted conservative Mormon lawyer in Tony Kushner s Angels in America For a public official to be identified as gay in the Washington of the 1950s and 1960s meant not only career suicide but also potentially actual suicide Yet Drury a staunchly anti Communist conservative of his time regarded the character as sympathetic not a villain The senator s gay affair he wrote was purely personal and harmed no one else Sears Brad Hunter Nan D Mallory Christy September 2009 Documenting Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in State Employment PDF Los Angeles The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at UCLA School of Law pp 5 3 Archived from the original PDF on February 6 2017 Retrieved February 8 2022 From 1947 to 1961 more than 5 000 allegedly homosexual federal civil servants lost their jobs in the purges for no reason other than sexual orientation and thousands of applicants were also rejected for federal employment for the same reason During this period more than 1 000 men and women were fired for suspected homosexuality from the State Department alone a far greater number than were dismissed for their membership in the Communist party The Cold War and anti communist efforts provided the setting in which a sustained attack upon gay men and lesbians took place The history of this Lavender Scare by the federal government has been extensively documented by historian David Johnson Johnson has demonstrated that during this era government officials intentionally engaged in campaigns to associate homosexuality with Communism homosexual and pervert became synonyms for Communist and traitor LGBT people were treated as a national security threat demanding the attention of Congress the courts statehouses and the media An interview with David K Johnson author of The Lavender Scare The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government press uchicago edu The University of Chicago 2004 The Lavender Scare helped fan the flames of the Red Scare In popular discourse communists and homosexuals were often conflated Both groups were perceived as hidden subcultures with their own meeting places literature cultural codes and bonds of loyalty Both groups were thought to recruit to their ranks the psychologically weak or disturbed And both groups were considered immoral and godless Many people believed that the two groups were working together to undermine the government Heredia Christopher February 19 2006 Joel Dorius gay professor in 60s porn scandal SFGATE Hearst Communications Inc News amp Events Former Smith Professor Joel Dorius Dies smith edu Smith College February 20 2006 Archived from the original on December 31 2018 Retrieved February 8 2022 McLellan Dennis February 23 2006 Joel Dorius 87 Educator Convicted Exonerated in 60s Gay Pornography Case Los Angeles Times McFadden Robert D February 20 2006 Joel Dorius 87 Victim in Celebrated Anti Gay Case Dies The New York Times The Great Pink Scare pbs org Public Broadcasting Service Calamia Don June 2006 Oh those scary homos PBS documentary traces 1960s gay witch hunt pridesource com Pride Source Media Group Retrieved June 1 2006 a b Bracken Seth April 14 2011 Through the Years Q Salt Lake Kimball Spencer W July 10 1964 A Counselling Problem in the Church Provo Utah Brigham Young University pp 1 21 Retrieved November 17 2016 Mark Petersen April 4 1965 No True Worship without Chastity The Improvement Era Salt Lake City LDS Church 504 Petersen Mark E The Dangers of the So called Sex Revolution scriptures byu edu Brigham Young University Retrieved November 19 2016 One Hundred Thirty Ninth Annual Conference Report PDF Salt Lake City Utah The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints April 5 1969 p 65 Archived from the original PDF on November 19 2016 Retrieved November 19 2016 Brown Victor L April 1970 Wanted Parents With Courage Salt Lake City Utah LDS Church pp 31 33 Retrieved November 19 2016 One Hundred Fortieth Annual Conference With Report of Discourses PDF Salt Lake City Utah LDS Church April 1970 pp 31 32 Archived from the original PDF on February 22 2016 Retrieved February 8 2022 Kimball Spencer Voices of the Past of the Present of the Future ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church Retrieved June 18 2017 Cook Bryce Summer 2017 What Do We Know of God s Will for His LGBT Children An Examination of the LDS Church s Current Position on Homosexuality Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 50 2 doi 10 5406 dialjmormthou 50 2 0001 S2CID 190443414 Eskridge William N Jr 1997 Challenging the Apartheid of the Closet Establishing Conditions for Lesbian and Gay Intimacy Nomos and Citizenship 1961 1981 Hofstra Law Review 25 3 31 Idaho Repeals New Consenting Adult Code The Advocate May 10 1972 p 3 The new penal code enacted by the Idaho Legislature with its liberal provisions on sexual conduct has been repealed as a result of heavy pressure from right wing groups and the Mormon church Rep Wayne Loveless D Pocatello who spearheaded the repeal drive conten ded that the new code would encourage immorality and draw sexual deviates to the state Loveless is active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day sic Saints Mormon Selle Jeff May 29 2013 Sheriff Mum After Meeting Wolfinger May Pull Charter After Gay Ban Pulled Coeur d Alene Press Archived from the original on April 4 2019 Retrieved February 8 2022 Painter George 2001 The Sensibilities of Our Forefathers The History of Sodomy Laws in the United States glapn org Gay amp Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest In 1971 the Idaho legislature passed a new criminal code that abrogated common law crimes and repealed the sodomy law This law technically made Idaho only the third state in the nation to decriminalize consensual sodomy but the repeal did not last long The new code became effective January 1 1972 but officials in the Mormon and Catholic Churches did not care for liberalization of laws against sex After an outpouring of opposition the Idaho legislature passed a law to repeal the new code without passing a replacement effective April 1 1972 What finally came out of the legislature was a code reinstating the status quo The law was passed only five days before the liberalized code s repeal date and thus only five days before the state would have been without any criminal code The repressive code reinstated common law crimes and the felony crime against nature law with the minimum five year penalty and no maximum Eskridge William N May 1 2008 Dishonorable Passions Sodomy Laws in America 1861 2003 Viking Press p 176 ISBN 978 0670018628 Oaks Dallin March 27 1974 The Popular Myth of the Victimless Crime Speech Commissioner s Lecture BYU Oaks Dallin 1974 The Popular Myth of the Victimless Crime The LDS Church Educational System Commissioner s Lecture Series BYU Press 8 I believe in retaining criminal penalties on sex crimes such as adultery fornication prostitution homosexuality and other forms of deviate sexual behavior I concede the abuses and risks of invasion of privacy that are involved in the enforcement of such crimes and therefore concede the need for extraordinary supervision of the enforcement process I am even willing to accept a strategy of extremely restrained enforcement of private noncommercial sexual offenses I favor retaining these criminal penalties primarily because of the standard setting and teaching function of these laws on sexual morality and their support of society s exceptional interest in the integrity of the family Snell Buffy December 13 2011 AF Law May Backfire Daily Herald Rothman Lily September 8 2015 How a Closeted Air Force Sergeant Became the Face of Gay Rights Time New York City Time Inc Retrieved June 2 2017 Miller Hayley 40 Years Since Leonard Matlovich s Time Magazine Cover hrc org Human Rights Campaign Archived from the original on September 11 2018 Retrieved June 8 2017 Leonard Matlovich Makes Time Archived from the original on February 20 2009 Davis Man Found Dead in Vehicle Ogden Standard Examiner March 10 1976 p 11A via Newspapers com Carlyle D Marsden was found in his car along Nichols Road dead from a pistol wound of the chest Weist Larry March 16 1976 Homosexual Suspects Arrested in Utah County Daily Herald p 1 Archived from the original on December 7 2017 via Newspapers com Eight men were arraigned in the Pleasant Grove Precinct Justice Court Mondy afternoon on charges of lewdness and sodomy stemming from alleged homosexual activity at the two rest stops on I 15 north of Orem Two of the suspects were arrested and charged with an act of sodomy One of them a 54 year old Salt Lake County man died of a self inflicted gunshot wound to the chest two days after his arrest according to Serge Moore state medical examiner Weist Larry March 16 1976 Homosexual Suspects Arrested in Utah County Daily Herald p 4 Archived from the original on December 7 2017 via Newspapers com Funeral services for Carlyle D Marsden 54 of 1388 Nichols Road Fruit Heights who died Monday March 8 1976 will be Friday at 10 a m in the Kaysville 11th 14th LDS Ward Chapel Mr Marsden was a music teacher at Eisenhower Junior High School and at Brigham Young University Carlyle D Marsden 1921 1976 affirmation org Affirmation Gay amp Lesbian Mormons December 29 2011 Archived from the original on April 8 2013 Relief Society Leader Hails Anita Bryant s Homosexuality Stand The Salt Lake Tribune June 11 1977 p B3 Archived from the original on February 8 2022 Retrieved February 8 2022 via Newspapers com a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link Relief Society Leader Lauds Anita Bryant The Ogden Standard Examiner June 12 1977 p 11A Archived from the original on December 8 2017 via Newspapers com Affirmation Archived from the original on April 30 2006 Our History affirmation org Affirmation Matthew Prince Affirmation G M U December Newsletter PDF uscs edu University of California Santa Cruz Archived from the original PDF on December 4 2013 a b Dobner Jennifer June 2 2017 Salt Lake City s hidden LGBT history documented in new book The Salt Lake Tribune Among the other historical treasures pictured in Anderson s book Several pictures from the 1977 protest march and candlelight vigils held when former beauty queen Anita Bryant brought her Save Our Children campaign to protect children from homosexuality to Utah for a rally I consider that Utah s Stonewall Anderson said referencing the 1969 riots outside a New York bar the Stonewall Inn that was a haven for gays This is the first time the Utah community gathered to protest in public the first time the community thinks of itself as having rights and fighting back Petersen Mark July 9 1977 Unnatural without Excuse Church News LDS Church Deseret News p 16 O Donovan Connell May 27 2007 Affirmation Singing the Songs of our Redemption 1977 to 2007 Speech Affirmation 30th Anniversary Conference Holladay Utah United Church of Christ Archived from the original on February 18 2009 The LDS Church later invited Ms Bryant to come to Utah for the Utah State Fair and both Spencer W Kimball and the General Relief Society President Barbara B Smith held news conferences praising Anita Bryant and her work to save America from the homosexual menace Briscoe David September 19 1977 Gay Anti Gay Pickets Parade at Anita s Show The Ogden Standard Examiner p 6A Archived from the original on December 9 2017 via Newspapers com The lead marcher in the gay group carried an American flag He was followed by The Rev Bob Waldrop pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church who said demonstrators were grateful for Anita because she has made homosexuals come out of the closet Tear Gas Used to Disperse Utah Anita Bryant Protesters The Daily Herald United Press International September 19 1977 p 10 Archived from the original on December 9 2017 via Newspapers com A crowd of 200 people attending a candlelight vigil to protest the appearance of singer Anita Bryant at the Utah State Fair Sunday night was dispersed by teargas but it was not known who released the gas We want the right to live work love and contribute to society without being harassed he Bob Waldrop said Wetzel Paul September 19 1977 Both Sides Greet Anita Bryant The Salt Lake Tribune pp 19 28 Archived from the original on December 9 2017 via Newspapers com The Rev Bob Waldrop pastor of Metropolitan Community Church led picketers opposed to Miss Bryant outside the fairgrounds The demonstration was sponsored by a group called the Salt Lake Coalition for Human Rights The Rev Mr Waldrop said We want the right to live work love and contribute to society without being harassed As long as Anita Bryant and her followers say we can t have that and call us perverts then we ll have to continue our movement Pastor Waldrop led a vigil at 8 30 p m at Memory Grove which was attended by about 200 persons The vigil commemorated the slaying of three homosexuals last June The vigil included speeches by Rev Waldrop Bob Kunst a gay rights activist from Miami Fla Shirley Pedier executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah and Rep Jeff Fox D Salt Lake The meeting ended at 9 30 p m with a candlelight ceremony It was marred only by teargas apparently from a cannister which dispersed those near the speakers platform shortly after the meeting ended First part available here and second part also archived here a b Williams Ben October 12 2005 This Week in Lambda History Metro Magazine 2 21 a b c Meet the Gay Couple Who Made History in Utah advocate com Advocate January 17 2014 LDS Leader Hails Anti Gay Stand The Salt Lake Tribune D3 November 3 1977 via Newspapers com President Kimball said adding the church has 8 000 10 000 bishops ready to counsel members with homosexual problems The spiritual leader of almost four million Mormons worldwide said the church also has young men who have gone to college who can provide professional aid to gays Kimball Praises Bryant The Daily Herald United Press International November 6 1977 p 17 Archived from the original on December 8 2017 via Newspapers com a b The Church and the Proposed Equal Rights Amendment A Moral Issue Ensign March 1980 Retrieved November 16 2016 First Presidency Reaffirms Opposition to ERA ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church Retrieved November 16 2016 Vanderhooft JoSelle May 26 2010 Bob Waldrop Reverend and Publisher QSaltLake O Donovan Connell May 27 2007 Affirmation Singing the Songs of our Redemption 1977 to 2007 Speech Affirmation 30th Anniversary Conference Holladay Utah United Church of Christ Archived from the original on February 18 2009 Bob Waldrop a young convert and missionary recently returned from Australia moved to California where he came out in 1975 and then became affiliated with the Metropolitan Community Church or MCC an evangelical church with a specific ministry for Gay people in San Jose and decided to train for the ministry About that time Rev Alice Jones of MCC Salt Lake decided to leave Utah and she invited Bob Waldrop to move to Salt Lake and take over her ministry since he had an LDS background He arrived in Utah in February 1977 and became the worship coordinator for MCC Salt Lake Rotunda Denied To S L Church The Salt Lake Tribune February 19 1977 Archived from the original on December 4 2017 via Newspapers com Leaders of a Salt Lake City church Friday criticized Lt Gov David S Monson for denying their use of the Capitol rotunda for a dance The lieutenant governor secretary of state replied that his information indicated the church has a number of homosexual members and it would not be in the best interest of the state to grant the request Asked if it was not obvious discrimination to refuse the facility to the Metropolitan Community Church the lieutenant governor said We have some obligation to see public buildings are used for purposes that meet the approval of a majority of the community Thomas Jo October 15 1979 75 000 March in Capital in Drive To Support Homosexual Rights Sharing and Flaunting The New York Times pp A14 ProQuest 123961742 via ProQuest Our History affirmation org Affirmation Brown Jr Victor L A Better Me a Better Marriage ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church Swedin Eric G Winter 1998 One Flesh A Historical Overview of Latter day Saint Sexuality and Psychology PDF Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 31 4 Brown Jr Victor 1981 Human Intimacy Illusion amp Reality Parliament Publishers pp 21 22 ISBN 9780884944416 This fashionable equation of homosexual liaison with heterosexual marriage is sophistry and contains its own fatal inconsistency The temporary and fragile relationships of the ironically nicknamed gay subculture were interpreted as superior to the more disciplined orderly lives of the heterosexual subjects Williams Ben October 12 2005 This Week in Lambda History Metro 2 21 16 4 October 1981 Ethyl Randy Smith and Friends for Gay Rights picket Temple Square during the LDS Conference after receiving permission to parade through downtown Salt Lake City Gay Activists to Picket LDS Temple The Salt Lake Tribune October 2 1981 p D6 via Newspapers com A local organization of Mormon Gay rights activists have received permission to parade through downtown Salt Lake City Sunday and protest LDS Church s policies opposing homosexuality Albert Haines Salt Lake chief administrative officer authorized a parade permit for a group calling itself Ethyl and Friends for Gay Rights which plans to picket Temple Square during the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints semiannual conference Group Marches for Gay Rights The Salt Lake Tribune October 5 1981 p B6 via Newspapers com About 15 Friends of Ethyl braved cold temperatures to March from the Federal Building to Temple Square in protest of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints stand on homosexual rights Ethyl a drag performer whose real name is Randy Smith said he went through Brigham Young University s aversion therapy program and that it hurt The group displaying signs reading We are God s Children marched up state street to South Temple and then to Temple Square a b Oaks Dallin August 7 1984 Principles to govern possible public statement on legislation affecting rights of homosexuals Reprinted at affirmation org and quoted at illinoislawreview org Eskridge William M September 21 2016 Latter Day Constitutionalism Sexuality Gender and Mormons PDF University of Illinois Law Review 4 1239 Archived from the original on October 2 2017 Retrieved October 2 2017 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link Anderson J Seth May 29 2017 LGBT Salt Lake Images of Modern America Arcadia Publishing p 61 ISBN 9781467125857 Retrieved May 21 2017 When Ogden resident Clair Harward confessed to his bishop in 1985 that he was gay and dying from AIDS the bishop excommunicated him and told him not to return to church for fear he would spread AIDS in the congregation Harward passed away in March 1986 at the age of 26 Excommunicated AIDS Victim Regrets Coming Out Walla Walla Union Bulletin 5 January 13 1986 Retrieved May 21 2017 Williams Ben June 15 2006 A History of AIDS Services in Utah Q Salt Lake 16 Retrieved May 21 2017 Died Sunday of AIDS Orlando Sentinel March 18 1988 Archived from the original on December 19 2018 Retrieved February 24 2022 Mormon Church officials excommunicated him from the religion after learning about his lifestyle The Mormon Church views homosexuality as a sin in the same degree with adultery and premarital sex said church spokesman Jerry Cahill Cutler Joyce January 11 1986 Mormons Oust Gay AIDS Victim United Press International Retrieved May 21 2017 Excommunicated and dying AIDS victim regrets lifestyle Santa Cruz Sentinel January 10 1986 Retrieved May 21 2017 Hinckley Gordon Reverence and Morality ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church Retrieved November 3 2016 The Murder of Gordon Church Q Salt Lake November 19 2009 Retrieved May 21 2017 Morris Michael Williams Lane March 15 1990 Wood is Sentenced to Life in Prison LDS Church Deseret News Retrieved May 21 2017 Burkitt Bree January 7 2017 28 years later The story of Southern Utah student Gordon Church and his killers The Salt Lake Tribune Retrieved May 21 2017 Gast Phil February 9 2012 Utah inmate asks to die by firing squad CNN Retrieved May 21 2017 Griffiths Lawn November 10 1990 Mormons Confront Gay Reality Edmonton Journal Cox News Service ProQuest 251711337 via ProQuest Braun Stephen July 14 1991 Boy Scouts in a Knot of Disputes LA Times Retrieved November 23 2016 Palmer Douglas D June 26 1991 Scouters Advocate Strong Defense Deseret News Retrieved November 23 2016 A Century of Scouting in the Church ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church Retrieved November 23 2016 Featherstone Vaughn April 4 1992 A Prisoner of Love LDS Church Nelson Russell October 1992 Where Is Wisdom churchofjesuschrist org LDS Church Packer Boyd K All Church Coordinating Council Meeting BYUI edu Brigham Young University Idaho Archived from the original on January 8 2020 Oaks Dallin The Great Plan of Happiness ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church Retrieved April 30 2017 Piazza Amanda Victoria Spring 2016 A Non Peculiar People Latter day Saints and the American Family during the Twentieth Century Thesis Florida State University Department of Religion Docket FSU libsubv1 scholarship submission 1461268847 Retrieved June 18 2017 Packer Boyd The Father and the Family ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church Retrieved April 30 2017 Trying to Serve the Lord Without Offending the Devil BYU Retrieved August 17 2017 Church opposes same sex marriages LDS Church News Deseret News Publishing Company LDS Church March 4 1995 permanent dead link Semerad Tony June 9 1996 A Mormon Crusade In Hawaii Hawaii Church Aims to End Gay Union Salt Lake Tribune B1 Retired Salt Lake City advertising executive Arthur Anderson was enlisted into the fight last November with a phone call from Mormon Elder Loren C Dunn president of the church s North America West Area At Dunn s behest Anderson and his wife embarked on months of volunteer work in Honolulu mostly answering phones for Hawaii s Future Today a group set up to lobby against legislative attempts at legalizing gay wedlock gambling and prostitution According to a statement from the Mormon Church s Salt Lake City headquarters church members such as Anderson are responding to a plea by the ruling First Presidency to get involved as citizens The Church is indeed politically neutral when it comes to parties and candidates and most issues said the LDS statement However when a political issue has moral overtones the Church has not only the right but the responsibility to speak out and become involved Pamphlets circulated at select Mormon Church meetings throughout the Pacific islands urging members to support anti gay marriage legislation pending in the Hawaii Legislature Key statements were faxed to legislative committees from LDS Church facilities a b Moore Carrie A November 8 2000 Church backing helps measures in 2 states Deseret News LDS Church a b Henetz Patty October 26 1998 LDS Cash Carries Gay Marriage Fight Mormon Church has spent 1 1 million on ballot battles in Hawaii and Alaska LDS Church In the Thick of Gay Marriage Fight The Salt Lake Tribune A1 via Newspapers com The church gave 600 000 to the political action group Save Traditional Marriage 98 between Sept 12 and Oct 24 The church has also given 500 000 to a similar effort in Alaska or 500 percent more than either side in that state s campaign had previously raised The 1 1 million in church donations to political causes seems to be unprecedented Faust James E Serving the Lord and Resisting the Devil ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church Retrieved November 16 2016 Stand Strong against the Wiles of the World ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church Retrieved November 20 2016 Hinckley Gordon 1997 Teachings of Gordon B Hinckley 1 ed Deseret Book Company pp 263 264 ISBN 978 1573452625 Woolsey Durrel A Strategy for War ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS church O Hara Mary Emily May 11 2015 How Utah s Schools Went From Homophobic War Zones to Crowning a Trans Prom Queen The Daily Beast The Daily Beast Company LLC In 1995 Erin Wiser was a 16 year old student at East High School Wiser who today is a transgender man living in Portland but identified as a lesbian in high school wanted to start a club for gay students along with his then girlfriend Kelli Peterson The two had attended a lecture at the local Pride center and were inspired after seeing Candace Gingrich speak With the help of a supportive teacher Wiser and Peterson formally applied for an East High School Gay Straight Alliance club that September In response the Salt Lake City school district voted in February 1996 to ban all extracurricular student clubs becoming the only city in the country to do so Gay rights scared people But how could anyone hate a couple of sweet faced Mormon girls from Utah who just wanted to carve out a place to belong in high school Brooke James February 28 1996 To Be Young Gay and Going to High School in Utah The New York Times p B8 For Kelli Peterson a 17 year old senior at East High School here her primary concern was intensely personal easing the loneliness she felt as a gay student I came out that year and immediately lost all my friends I watched the same cycle of denial trying to hide acceptance then your friends abandoning you So last fall she and two other gay students formed an extracurricular club called the Gay Straight Alliance Ms Peterson who is herself Mormon says she is taking steps to formally leave the church Moulton Kristen February 24 1996 Salt Lake City Students Walk Out In Protest Over School Clubs Ban Separate Church And State Some Demonstrators Demand The Spokesman Review The Associated Press Dispute began at East High in 1995 Deseret News LDS church March 20 1998 Feb 23 1996 East and West students walk out of school in protest West students march on the Capitol en route a 16 year old girl is pinned under a car and seriously injured Students ask school officials to reconsider action Brooke James February 28 1996 To Be Young Gay and Going to High School in Utah The New York Times p B8 Collins Lois M August 8 1997 Panelists say church state separate in Utah Deseret News LDS church Grant Protzman former state representative LDS Church member and Democrat described LDS Church efforts to affect policy as measured and very limited The church does make a public statement on what it sees as key moral issues And it does ask questions which may seem like a red flag to some lawmakers But the dialogue is good Protzman said What some perceive as church control of the state could be chalked up to social norms Protzman said Because so many people in the state are LDS Church members there s a strong sense of shared values and that does influence public policy And Protzman acknowledged that much has been said in the name of the church by those who present an individual s private interpretation of doctrine applied to public policy Dockstader Julie A June 20 1992 Serving the community Church News LDS church Grant Protzman Young Men president of the Ben Lomond Stake said it was hard work in a hot sun Gay club controversy turns into federal funding row The Times News Knight Ridder Tribune News Service February 24 1996 p A1 A2 Florio Gwen February 23 1996 In Utah School Clubs Banned to Stop Gay Meeting The Philadelphia Inquirer via Newspapers com But some Utah residents were aghast when they found out in the last few weeks that the law also applied to groups such as the Gay Straight Alliance I think that many legislators have serious concerns about the group s moving into recruitment of fresh meat for the gay population said Grant Protzman minority whip for the state House of Representatives See also this clipping Florio Gwen February 23 1996 In Utah School Clubs Banned to Stop Gay Meeting The Philadelphia Inquirer via Newspapers com That s not at all what the club is about protested Kelli Peterson the 17 year old East High School senior who founded the alliance to help her and her friends deal with a school atmosphere she found horrifying on the best days I was getting beat up and harassed verbally See also this clipping Sahagun Louis February 22 1996 Utah Board Bans All School Clubs in Anti Gay Move Los Angeles Times Going to high school when you are gay or lesbian is a miserable lonely experience said 17 year old Kelli Peterson who founded the club at East High School in December I know I ve been beat up twice Broberg Susan March 1 1999 Gay Straight Alliances and Other Controversial Student Groups A New Test for the Equal Access Act Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal 1999 1 99 105 Students Protest Gay Club Ban Florida Today Associated Press February 24 1996 p A4 Florio Gwen February 25 1996 School Club Access Law Comes Back to Haunt Tallahassee Democrat p 7A A group called SAFE Students Against Faggots Everywhere has since formed at West High School one of three schools that will be affected by the new ban Gay Professor Leaves BYU for Position at WSU Deseret News LDS Church Associated Press August 18 1996 Smart Michael March 22 1997 BYU Student Poll Ban Gay Students The Salt Lake Tribune ProQuest 288698514 Disintegration of the family decried LDS Church News Deseret News Publishing Company LDS Church March 29 1997 Lattin Don April 13 1997 Musings of the Main Mormon Gordon B Hinckley San Francisco Chronicle Retrieved November 27 2016 Church Handbook of Instructions Salt Lake City Utah LDS Church 1998 Moore Carrie A October 4 1998 LDS Church joins gay marriage fight Deseret News LDS Church Mims Bob October 5 1998 Church Funds Initiative to Ban Same Sex Marriages in Alaska The Salt Lake Tribune via Newspapers com We have 24 000 members of the church based in Alaska It s a matter that members of the church in Alaska and people who share their views about the importance of traditional marriage as an institution feel strongly about The church has always reserved the right to speak out on moral issues You don t become disenfranchised in our democratic process just because you happen to represent a religious viewpoint Church Spokesperson Michael Otterson Hinckley Gordon B October 4 1998 What Are People Asking about Us Ensign Retrieved November 16 2016 a b Olsen Jessica January 20 2017 Timeline BYU The Daily Universe Retrieved February 9 2017 11 May 1999 Area Presidency Letter LDS Church Callister Douglas L 20 May 1999 Callister Letter LDS Church Proposition 22 Dominates Wards Attention Divides Members PDF Sunstone Magazine 118 92 April 2001 Retrieved December 1 2016 a b Olson Casey November 2007 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in National Periodicals 1991 2000 MA Brigham Young University Hinckley Gordon B Why We Do Some of the Things We Do ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church Retrieved November 11 2016 Scenes and Sayings from World Congress of Families II byu edu BYU Kathryn Balmforth J D Director World Family Policy Center 1999 World Family Policy Center Forum law byu edu BYU Kathryn Balmforth executive director World Family Policy Center Balmforth Kathryn Hijacking Human Rights Howard Center for Family Religion and Society Archived from the original on February 13 2016 The radical feminists population control ideologues and homosexual rights activists who make up the anti family movement know as well as we do that they speak for only a small minority of the world s people Therefore homosexual rights activists are again bypassing the democratic process and going from court to court hoping to find a judge who will take it upon himself to create a right to gay marriage which can then be forced on the citizens of the United States The anti family faction has targeted the human rights system because it is a direct path to power The power they seek is the power to curtail the freedom of most of humanity and to do it ironically in the name of human rights McBride Dennis 2002 Question 2 outhistory org The New School By October 25 ERN had collected just 35 077 while the CPM Coalition for the Protection of Marriage had raised another 865 931 41 most of which had come from Nevada Mormons which it used to saturate the media with its message and to raise billboards across the state McBride Dennis April 1 2017 Wholesome Hate knpr org National Public Radio But it was the Mormon Church that fueled the Question 2 campaign The most effective way the church accomplished this was through direct solicitation on church letterhead of its members One such letter from the Reno Stake Presidency read Prayerfully consider supporting this cause in one or more of the following ways Campaign Worker Volunteer Yard Sign Walk Neighborhoods Contribution The church also told its members to pick up yard signs as they left services signs stockpiled outside the church or in nearby parking lots Djupe Paul A Olson Laura R February 2 2007 Sweet Land of Liberty The Gay Marriage Amendment in Nevada Religious Interests in Community Conflict Beyond the Culture Wars Waco Texas Baylor University Press pp 51 71 ISBN 978 1932792515 Walsh Rebecca May 13 2004 Amendment to ban gay marriage hits opposition The Salt Lake Tribune Bulkeley Deborah June 27 2004 Most back marriage amendment Deseret News LDS Church First Presidency statement Constitutional amendment LDS Church News LDS Church Retrieved November 9 2016 Church Supports Call for Constitutional Amendment ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church Retrieved November 9 2016 Bush calls for ban on same sex marriages CNN February 25 2004 Archived from the original on May 15 2009 Retrieved November 9 2016 a b Bryd A Dean 2008 Setting the Record Straight Mormons amp Homosexuality Orem Utah Millennial Press Inc ISBN 978 1932597448 Retrieved June 21 2017 permanent dead link CNN Larry King Live A Conversation with Gordon B Hinckley President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints cnn com Time Warner December 26 2004 Retrieved October 7 2017 Petrey Taylor G Winter 2011 Toward a Post Heterosexual Mormon Theology PDF Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought 44 4 107 143 doi 10 5406 dialjmormthou 44 4 0106 S2CID 171451944 Strengthening the Family Within the Bonds of Matrimony churchofjesuschrist org The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints August 2005 Arave Lynn Hardy Rodger L February 10 2003 88 of Utah County is LDS Deseret News LDS church Archived from the original on April 4 2019 Retrieved February 9 2022 McGregor William C January 30 2006 Buttars shames LDS Church Deseret News LDS church Archived from the original on April 4 2019 Retrieved February 9 2022 Bernick Bob Toomer Cooker Jennifer December 15 2005 Buttars wants to prohibit gay clubs Deseret News LDS church Archived from the original on April 4 2019 Retrieved February 9 2022 a b Oaks Dallin H Wickman Lance B September 2006 Same Gender Attraction Newsroom Interview Transcript Interviewed by LDS Church Public Affairs staffers Salt Lake City Utah LDS Church See also the Salt Lake Tribune archived transcript here Givens Terryl L Neilson Reid L 2014 The Columbia Sourcebook of Mormons in the United States Columbia University Press pp 316 322 ISBN 978 0231520607 First Presidency urges support of marriage Church News LDS Church Retrieved November 9 2016 Nielsen Jeffrey June 4 2006 Op Ed LDS authority and gay marriage The Salt Lake Tribune Retrieved August 11 2017 Wilson John K August 1 2008 Patriotic Correctness Academic Freedom and Its Enemies Routledge p 190 ISBN 978 1594511943 Dickinson Tim June 14 2006 Bigotry at BYU Rolling Stone Retrieved August 11 2017 Hafen Bruce Lovers Do Not Live for Themselves Alone The Social Value of Traditional Marriage worldcongress org Howard Center for Family Religion and Society Archived from the original on September 25 2015 Hafen Bruce May 25 2007 World Congress of Families LDS Church News Deseret News Publishing Company LDS Church Wardle Lynn D 2007 The Attack on Marriage as the Union of a Man and a Woman PDF North Dakota Law Review 83 1365 1365 1388 Archived from the original PDF on September 10 2015 Retrieved February 9 2022 Wardle Lynn D The Attack on Marriage As the Union of a Man and a Woman worldcongress org Howard Center for Family Religion and Society Archived from the original on September 25 2015 If same sex marriage is legalized on the principle of personal choice there is no principled basis to deny those who want to call incestuous relationships marriages or polygamous relationships marriages or polyamorous unions marriages In Massachusetts since same sex marriage has been legalized there already have been numerous controversies about parents rights to protect their children from exposure to gay propaganda Although Elie Wiesel was one of the Jews who refused to believe the warnings about the Nazis yet he remembered gratefully Moishe s attempt to warn the people We too must speak up and get involved Unless we persuade them now of the dangers of legalizing same sex marriage then they will naively adopt laws and policies that will cause tragic consequences California and Same Sex Marriage Mormon Newsroom LDS Church June 30 2008 Retrieved May 6 2021 Excerpts from the Broadcast LDS Church October 8 2008 Archived from the original on November 7 2008 Retrieved November 9 2016 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link Bednar David A Elder Bednar Speaks With Youth PreservingMarriage org LDS Church Archived from the original on November 7 2008 Retrieved November 9 2016 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link PreservingMarriage org ProtectMarriage com Church Readies Members on Proposition 8 Mormon Newsroom LDS Church October 8 2008 Retrieved November 9 2016 Ballard M Russell Cook Quentin L Clayton Whitney October 8 2008 The Divine Institution of Marriage Broadcast LDS Church Haynes Charles C November 30 2008 When Debate Turns Ugly No One Wins Battle Creek Enquirer p 9A Archived from the original on May 25 2018 via Newspapers com Duffy John Charles 2010 Elders on the Big Screen Film and the Globalized Circulation of Mormon Missionary Images Peculiar Portrayals Mormons on the Page Stage and Screen University Press of Colorado pp 140 141 doi 10 2307 j ctt4cgr9g 8 ISBN 9780874217735 JSTOR j ctt4cgr9g 8 Another instance of Mormon missionaries as emblems of opposition to same sex marriage is a controversial television ad produced during the Proposition 8 debates by the Courage Campaign an organization lobbying against the proposed ban on same sex marriage The ad depicts two young men in white shirts and ties knocking on the door of a suburban lesbian couple The missionaries then muscle their way into the couple s home confiscate their wedding rings and rip up their marriage license Jacobs Rick December 8 2008 Why we re mad at the Mormon church Los Angeles Times Prop 8 foes criticized for Mormon missionary home invasion ad Catholic News Agency November 4 2008 Scott Trotter a spokesman with the LDS Church responded to the advertisement The Church has joined a broad based coalition in defense of traditional marriage While we feel this is important to all of society we have always emphasized that respect be given to those who feel differently on this issue It is unfortunate that some who oppose this proposition have not given the Church this same courtesy Grigsby Bates Karen October 30 2008 Mormons Divided On Same Sex Marriage Issue NPR Rick Jacobs founder of the Courage Campaign presents the almost 17 000 signatures he gathered requesting that the Mormon Church stop funding and advocating passage of Proposition 8 Garrison Jessica Lin Joanna November 7 2008 Prop 8 protesters target Mormon temple in Westwood Los Angeles Times Moore Carrie A November 6 2008 LDS official lauds work for California s Prop 8 LDS Church Deseret News Archived from the original on April 17 2017 Retrieved May 27 2017 Prop 8 Protesting Turns Ugly KXTV Sacramento California November 10 2008 Retrieved April 4 2009 The Mormon church just like most churches is a cesspool of filth It is a breeding ground for oppression of all sorts and needs to be confronted attacked subverted and destroyed a b Tim Martin November 20 2008 Radical Gay Activist Group Plans More Disruptions Chicago Tribune Associated Press Archived from the original on November 16 2009 Comments about gays cost Sen Buttars his chairmanship KSL LDS church Deseret Digital Media February 20 2009 Morrow Chris February 2 2010 8 The Mormon Proposition CNN Archived from the original on December 3 2017 Retrieved February 9 2022 Winslow Ben Norlen Clayton February 22 2009 Buttars broke vow of silence senator claims Deseret News Archived from the original on December 19 2018 Retrieved February 9 2022 Controversial Sen Chris Buttars was stripped of his Senate committee posts not because he went on an anti gay tirade in an interview with a documentary filmmaker but because the West Jordan Republican broke a deal with Senate leaders not to talk about gay issues Abplanalp Cowan Reed February 2 2016 Utah s Gay Marriage Ban Worth it Huffington Post Senator Buttars told me that day on camera that gay marriage would never come to Utah because of his power and influence With the Book of Mormon sitting atop his desk Buttars bragged about his consulting with other states seeking to use Utah as a model for blocking so called protection for the gays Winters Rosemary January 27 2010 Filmmaker says photographer wore BYU jacket in Buttars interview The Salt Lake Tribune Cowan is showing his documentary 8 The Mormon Proposition about the LDS Church s role in banning gay marriage in California Chris Buttars also called gays the meanest buggers and gay families combinations of abominations Buttars Compares Gays with Radical Muslims Will Take Down America QSaltLake Magazine February 18 2009 M arriage is between a man and a woman and that s changed Look around look at all these combinations Combinations of abominations as far as I m concerned Nelson Russell August 12 2009 The Family The Hope for the Future of Nations worldcongress org Howard Center for Family Religion and Society Archived from the original on February 5 2016 Fox Doug September 24 2009 LDS leadership among presenters at World Congress Daily Herald Elder Nelson said that any attempt to expand the definition of marriage outside the traditional family weakens the institution of marriage as God defined it permanent dead link Taylor Scott November 10 2009 Mormon Church backs protection of gay rights in Salt Lake City LDS Church Deseret News Archived from the original on November 14 2009 Retrieved May 27 2017 Dobner Jennifer January 24 2010 Sundance film focuses on LDS role in gay marriage ban The Daily Herald Associated Press Chaney Jen January 30 2010 8 The Mormon Proposition Audacious look at church s role in gay marriage ban The Washington Post Packer Boyd President Boyd K Packer Cleansing the Inner Vessel youtube com Mormon Channel LDS Church Retrieved November 23 2016 Packer Boyd K Cleansing the Inner Vessel Mormon Channel Youtube LDS Church Retrieved November 3 2016 Packer Boyd President Boyd K Packer Cleansing the Inner Vessel youtube com Mormon Channel LDS Church Retrieved November 23 2016 Homosexuality A straight BYU student s perspective BYU a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a website ignored help Carmack Brad April 4 2012 Time for same sex LDS marriages Salt Lake Tribune Long Kristine Brigham Young University Honor Code Office Investigation and Determination Report April 28 2011 PDF freebyu org FreeBYU Rivero Daniel May 2 2016 Law student says he was almost expelled for writing in favor of gay marriage Fusion Yahoo ABC News Network Fusion Media Network LLC Archived from the original on May 4 2016 He expected he would have to make minor changes not rewrite the book I was basically threatened with removal from the university if I went forward and took a public stance in favor of gay marriage Brad Levin 33 told Fusion citing conversations he said he had with senior school officials I was told that I had to change the contents of my book to be on the right side of the church After calculating how far back in life such an expulsion would set him Levin relented changing key parts of his book Years earlier he remembered his brother was expelled from the school after leaving the Mormon faith and it cost him severely Republished at Splinter News JoSelle Vanderhooft February 3 2011 BYU student offers straight perspective on homosexuality QSaltLake Archived from the original on February 9 2022 Retrieved February 9 2022 Zavadski Katie March 31 2015 Lose Your Faith Get Expelled at BYU Daily Beast Brad Levin began to doubt as he wrote a book about church doctrine and homosexuality When it became clear to him that the church s top officials whose words guided his life for so long were wrong on the science of sexual orientation something snapped inside him And the research and critical thinking skills the university taught him They were getting him in trouble His academic conclusions did not adhere to church doctrine He felt like roommates could turn him in at any moment He ultimately published his book without the most provocative conclusions because of the difficulty of transferring graduate school work LDS Church Fired Drew Call Not For Being Gay But For Having Gay Friends Queerty Q Digital March 30 2011 Green Minder Brittany October 6 2012 Conference reaffirms LDS positions on abortion homosexuality Fox13 Tribune Broadcasting KSTU Oaks Dallin Protect the Children ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church a b Nelson Russell Youth of the Noble Birthright What Will You Choose ChurchofJesusChrist org LDS Church Retrieved April 30 2017 a b Dicou Natalie November 28 2016 This Is Your Brain on God University of Utah Health Sciences University of Utah Archived from the original on February 9 2022 Retrieved February 9 2022 L ead author Michael Ferguson Ph D carried out the study as a bioengineering graduate student at the University of Utah a b Ohlheiser Abby Jones Allie Levenson Eric December 20 2013 From a Judge s Ruling to Husband and Husband in Under 100 Minutes The Atlantic Emerson Collective a b Whitaker Morgan December 22 2013 Meet the first same sex couple in Utah to get a marriage license MSNBC NBCUniversal Inc Archived from the original on June 6 2020 Retrieved February 9 2022 Lowe Doug June 2 2016 They Did A Tale of a Marriage Ten Years in the Making City Weekly 33 4 Steinbrecher Lauren February 25 2016 Same sex couple claims LDS Church congregation harassed them over disciplinary council Fox 13 Tribune Broadcasting KSTU Ring Trudy February 27 2016 Mormon Church Threatens Same Sex Couples With Disciplinary Action Advocate Teich Isadora March 4 2016 FEATURED The Mormon Church is still harassing and threatening this lesbian couple years after they left the fold DeadState Church Instructs Leaders on Same Sex Marriage Mormon Newsroom LDS Church January 10 2014 Retrieved January 10 2014 Brief of Amici Curiae United States Conference of Catholic Bishops National Association of Evangelicals The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints The Ethics amp Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and Lutheran Church Missouri Synod In Support of Defendants Appellants and Supporting Reversal PDF mormonnewsroom org LDS Church Archived from the original PDF on March 11 2014 Cutler Annie Winslow Ben Wells David February 10 2014 LDS Church others file friend of the court briefs in Amendment 3 case Tribune Broadcasting Fox 13 Faiths File Amicus Brief on Marriage Cases Before Tenth Circuit Court Mormon Newsroom LDS Church February 10 2014 Retrieved March 24 2017 Oram Bill November 6 2011 Mormon bishop says church responsible for gays emotional wounds The Salt Lake Tribune Kloosterman Kevin July 13 2012 Op ed Queer Eye for the Mormon Bishop Guy Advocate Gay Mormon Conference Circling The Wagons Explores LGBTQ Issues and Religion The Huffington Post November 7 2011 Laurie Goodstein June 18 2014 Mormons Say Critical Online Comments Draw Threats From Church The New York Times Mr Kloosterman who was a bishop from 2007 to 2012 attracted headlines and scrutiny for an emotional talk he gave at a conference in Salt Lake City in 2011 apologizing to gays rejected by their Mormon families He also lobbied for same sex marriage in his state But there were no consequences until March of this year when at a meeting his bishop cited a Twitter post by Mr Kloosterman congratulating the first gay couple to be married in Utah Jesus would never do that the bishop said according to Mr Kloosterman He said his bishop informed him that an Area Seventy church leader had weighed in on his case Mr Kloosterman declined to name him and that leaders had been monitoring his Internet activity and knew he supported groups that disagree with church teaching The bishop revoked Mr Kloosterman s temple recommend Five Faiths Urge Supreme Court to Hear Utah Same Sex Marriage Case Mormon Newsroom LDS Church September 5 2014 Retrieved March 24 2017 Brief Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioners PDF Mormon Newsroom LDS Church Retrieved March 24 2017 Green Mark March 24 2013 BYU students to rally in support of same sex marriage fox13now com Fox 13 span, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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