Religious Left

I ran across an article today, on BlatherWatch , that states three prominent media outlets in Seattle are owned by the Church of Latter Day Saints. KIRO TV, KIRO FM and KTTH are owned by Bonneville International (which is owned by the Church of Latter Day Saints). It would seem some out employees of these media outlets are getting nervous and dusting off their resumes. Read full article

The Melbourne Community Voice Members of a support group for gay and lesbian Mormons are demanding that the leaders of their faith, the Church of Latter Day Saints, make a precise and all-encompassing statement about homosexuality at the church’s upcoming General Conference. The members of Affirmation, as the group for LGBT Mormons is called, want their church to state that homosexuality is neither a sin nor a disease, and to call on the parents of LGBT Mormons to love and respect their children. full article

by 365Gay Newscenter Staff (Salt Lake City, Utah) A face-to-face meeting between representatives of gay Mormons and church leaders that was to have taken place next month has been indefinitely postponed by the head of the LDS branch that had agreed to it. Latter Day Saints President Thomas S. Monson agreed to a meeting in April with leaders of Affirmation, an organization for LGBT members of the LDS church, Fred Riley, commissioner of family services for the LDS, and Harold C. Brown, the agency’s past commissioner. Affirmation had sought such a meeting for several years. It was to have taken place Aug. 11. But in a letter to Affirmation, Riley suddenly called off the discussion, noting he was preparing to leave his position and that the meeting would best be handled by his successor, who has not yet been named. The search for a replacement for Riley to head the Commission of Family Services has begun but could take up to six months. full article

By Derek Price The Salt Lake Tribune When The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently announced it would jump into California politics by supporting a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, many Mormons - including myself - were appalled. Some members were upset that their tithing donations would be used to support a political agenda with which they disagree. Others were disappointed to see the church once again veer from its hollow claim of "political neutrality." And some found it laughable that the LDS church, which was founded by people with famously liberal marriage arrangements, is now taking a "one man, one woman" stance. Isn't that a little ironic? full article

reported by Chris Vanocur ABC4 News SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Is the LDS Church violating its tax exempt status by supporting the anti-gay marriage amendment in California? That's the question being asked by one of California's most prominent gay leaders. Kate Kendell is the executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco. The group was the lead counsel in the case before the California Supreme Court, the one which lead to legal gay marriage there. full article

by Jennifer Dobner - Associated Press The Daily Herald SALT LAKE CITY -- Lester Leavitt has made a request of his family: oppose their church's opposition to gay marriage. Leavitt, from Pompano Beach, Fla., is asking his siblings and children on the West Coast to choose family over a call from LDS Church leaders to support a November ballot initiative to define traditional marriage in California's constitution. Since the letter began circulating on the Web last weekend, hundreds of Mormon blog posts have expressed disbelief, disappointment and outrage at the church's decision to wade into politics. "Maybe I was just optimistic. I thought they might sit on the sidelines and not have any bad press," said Matt Thurston, a 39-year-old Mormon from Corona, Calif., who is not gay. "There is that culture of obedience that once the proclamation has been raised, that's it," said Jeffrey Nielsen, a professor of philosophy who was ousted from the church-owned Br...

by Robert Parker, Commentary The East Valley Tribune Phoenix, Arizona Gay members of the Mormon Church and their families learned last week of a letter from Thomas S. Monson, our prophet, to all the "saints" of the church in California. He and his two counselors, known as The First Presidency, who live in Salt Lake City, Utah, have asked that the letter be read in all the pulpits in California today. California members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, numbering many hundreds of thousands, through this letter are requested to devote their means and time to assure that marriage is legally defined as between a man and a woman. As the Lord's Prophet, Monson is asking all Mormons to support a gay marriage ban on the premise that heterosexual marriage is ordained by God and children are "entitled to be born within this bond of marriage." In fact, it is the ban on gay marriage which harms children, families and basic morality. If marriage is banned f...

by Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer San Francisco Chronicle The Mormon Church, a major backer of the 2000 ballot measure that reaffirmed California's ban on same-sex marriage, is asking its members to "do all you can" to support a November initiative that would reinstate the ban as a state constitutional amendment. "The church's teachings and position on this moral issue are unequivocal. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God," the church's governing First Presidency said in a letter to be read Sunday to all congregations in California. It urges members to donate "your means and time" to the ballot measure campaign. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which estimates its California membership at 750,000, is one of the largest and best-organized of several denominations expected to be active in the initiative campaign. full article

SALT LAKE CITY - After decades of silence, Mormon church officials have agreed to meet with a gay Mormon support group that has sought to forge understanding between the faith's leaders and its gay members. In a letter received last week, leaders of Affirmation were invited to meet with Fred M. Riley, commissioner of Family Services for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Harold C. Brown, the agency's past commissioner. "We're pleased the church is opening up the possibility for dialogue," said Dave Melson, Affirmation's assistant executive director. "Affirmation has tried 5 or 6 times over the past 31 years to meet with church leaders. This is their second response." The meeting is scheduled for August, Riley confirmed Sunday in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "Part of the reason Affirmation does their work is to build bridges," Larabee said. "This is definitely the building of a bridge ... sometimes that process is...

I found this letter online. It was a known religious right website so I was surprised: I offer here brief anatomy of a life which ended prematurely. I mean to outline difficulties associated with that life in it’s cultural context. Finally, I wish to comment on the doctrinal and spiritual implication of the these matters. We are a Latter-day Saints family whose antecedents in the Church go back for generations on both sides. As a young man I served a mission to Denmark, my wife and I were married in the Logan Temple. We have raised four sons in the Church, have participated in its programs in the ways that are advocted by our leaders. As parents, we have tried diligently to create for our sons a vision and an example of the Christian life. All of our boys were obedient to their parents and faithful to the standards of the Church as they grew up; they were good students, good citizens. As young men, three of them carried the gospel message into the mission field. As a family we have bee...

Coming from a gay man in a church whose members are, for the most part, conservative, my announcement will surely cause discomfort among many because of the tension that exists between science and religious policy on this issue. My predicament is not unique in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. By some estimates there are as many as 500,000 gay Mormons. For us, the church has erected a crippling series of obstacles which have driven many gay Mormons to suicide. Utah has the highest rate of suicides among males age 15-24. Hardest hit by church policies are younger gay Mormon men who have had to create “anti-suicide pacts” to help each other live until they can eventually cope with a church that denies them life-affirming relationships. Many of us are living a life of closeted denial and secrecy as our leaders and fellow members compare our “condition” to Down syndrome, autism, alcoholism or drug addiction. After being in denial my whole life — denial which was encouraged ...