Queer Today, Gone Tomorrow. The Mormon case for gay marriage.

Queer Today, Gone Tomorrow
The Mormon case for gay marriage.
By William Saletan|Posted Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, at 11:10 PM ET

No religion has fought harder against same-sex marriage than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In 2008, the church supplied as much as half the money and 90 percent of the early campaign volunteers to pass California’s Proposition 8. But this year, it ducked similar fights. And now it’s rethinking its advice about homosexuality. The Mormon case against gay marriage is beginning to collapse.

The latest sign is a new LDS web site, mormonsandgays.org. The site affirms the church’s ban on gay sex but offers several concessions. First, it acknowledges homosexuality as a deeply ingrained condition, often impervious to change. More than a dozen people tell their stories on the site, emphasizing the depth and persistence of their feelings. In a companion video, Todd Christofferson, one of the church’s 12 apostles, cautions that while some Mormons have felt a subsidence of same-sex attraction, others have experienced no change at all.

Second, the site says same-sex attraction “should not be viewed as a disease.” In fact, it presents as exemplars Mormons who embrace a homosexual identity. In one video, Ted, a convert, introduces himself: “I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I’m also gay.” In another video, Suzanne, a young woman raised in the church, says: “This is part of me, it is going to be a part of me, and I’m OK.” Judy, an older woman with a gay child and two gay grandchildren, declares, “I can’t think of a group of people I esteem higher or love more than those who are openly gay and fully active in our church.”

In its text, the site concedes “our common needs for intimacy and companionship.” It includes, without comment, testimonials from at least two people who seem to have rejected the LDS policy against gay romantic relationships. But the church says it can go no further. Its Law of Chastity demands “abstinence from sexual relations outside of lawful marriage.” And marriage must be heterosexual, since, “by divine design, both a man and a woman are essential for bringing children into mortality” and raising them. In Mormonism, marrying and having kids isn’t just a blessing. It’s central to God’s plan for the universe. That’s why the church fought for Prop 8 and for many years counseled homosexuals to marry opposite-sex partners.

-snip-

more:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2012/12/mormons_and_gays_does_a_new_lds_web_site_pave_the_way_to_accepting_same.html