Large Group Of Mormons Joins Salt Lake City Gay Pride Parade

[kpete]

Source: Talking Points Memo



Some 400 people from the grassroots group Mormons Building Bridges marched under a banner reading “Family Reunion” in the annual parade in Salt Lake City.

Last year, their participation marked the first time such a large group of Mormons had joined the parade.

Mormons Building Bridges organizer Erika Munson told The Salt Lake Tribune (http://bit.ly/1aSR16q ) that the group and others have helped change public attitudes toward gay people. She notes bishops no longer excommunicate members who come out.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints still teaches its members that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that same-sex relationships are sinful. But the church recently launched a campaign encouraging members to be more compassionate toward gay and lesbian members of the church.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/large-group-of-mormons-joins-salt-lake-city-gay-pride-parade.php?ref=fpb

[Warpy]

1. It was bound to happen

Mormons are just like every other religious group, sick of losing contact with gay children and siblings or having to lie about them and their "roommates" in the city elsewhere to friends and family who "don't know." The more realistic know that everybody else does know and it's high time to recognize that and stop reacting with shame over family members who are as their maker made them: gay.

Religious leaders who fail to see this coming are going to find themselves with dwindling congregations and it's about time.

[Safetykitten]

2. Uh, no they are not. This is a church sponsored publicuty stunt. The real stuff happens in...

backroom where they are diligently doing whatever they can to dismantle it.

[Warpy]

3. Yes, everything's a conspiracy at the top

and no family member would ever march in a Gay Pride parade spontaneously.

[snooper2]

6. Nope, it's about the writing on the wall...

Mormons are smart enough to understand in 20 years the fight over gay rights will pretty much be over so it's two-fold.

A- Don't make your cult/religion/mythology look to hostile to certain groups of people, that's a turnoff for everyone-

B- If you want to increase your ranks and keep your cult/religion/mythology/racket going it's wise not to exclude certain individuals or groups.



It's a simple concept called "Marketing" LOL

[bullwinkle428]

4. Ask each of these participants how much they contributed to the Prop. 8

movement in California in 2008.

[KansDem]

9. Good point...

Mormon Church Abandons Its Crusade Against Gay Marriage

Last month, hundreds of boisterous protesters converged in Washington, DC, as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Hollingsworth v. Perry, the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of California's anti-gay marriage initiative, Proposition 8. Faith-based groups were on prominent display: the Methodists supporting marriage equality, the Westboro Baptists suggesting (per usual) that "God hates fags," the Catholics both for and against gay marriage, clergy of all stripes. But one group that wasn't there in any official capacity was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—a.k.a. the Mormons—which perhaps more than any other religious group was responsible for getting Prop. 8 passed in the first place.

In the five years since the LDS church sent busloads of the faithful to California to canvass neighborhoods, and contributed more than $20 million via its members to support the initiative, it has all but dropped the rope in the public policy tug of war over marriage equality. The change stems from an even more remarkable if somewhat invisible transformation happening within the church, prompted by the ugly fight over Prop. 8 and the ensuing backlash from the flock.

Although the LDS's prophet hasn't described a holy revelation directing a revision in church doctrine on same-sex marriage or gay rights in general, the church has shown a rare capacity for introspection and humane cultural change unusual for a large conservative religious organization.

--more--
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/prop-8-mormons-gay-marriage-shift

[Cronus Protagonist]

13. And Prop22 also in California

They had families standing at the freeway exits on voting day at 7:00 am with signs "Defend Marriage" in a church sponsored systematic "attack the gays" movement. Any attempt by Mormons to march under that banner here in LA would not be met so nicely. We know our enemies, and Mormons are the core of them.

[closeupready]

5. I like this development, but I'll never ever EVER be a Mormon fan.

I'm kicking and recing for the face value of the story only.

[midnight]

7. The title of this post put a big smile on my face-thanks..

[jeremyfive]

8. Way Too Little, Way Too Late

The Mormon church was found guilty in open court in California of abuse of church monies (including our taxpayer dollars) to wage large scale, purely political campaigns to fight gay marriage. They shook down their membership for millions of dollars to influence a state election.

Now they are promising "more compassion" the same way they would offer "more compassion" to alcoholics or drug addicts.

Not at all impressed. The Mormon Church is formidable enemy when it comes to issues of sexual identity. They have even been applying electroshock to gays in their purview for many years now. Cruel and base.

It is disgusting that this group is considered a "church," and deemed worthy of my tax dollars.

[siligut]

10. So, if you are Mormon, you no longer have to shun gay people

No more disowning family members and friends just because they are gay. They still aren't considered citizens mind you and if they want to have intimate relationships they are still big, fat sinners, but now maybe they won't be committing suicide on the steps of the church.

[bitchkitty]

11. Behold, I send you out as sheep amidst the wolves -

except that the wolves are the Mormons. I would disinvite them. They mean you harm, even if they themselves don't recognize that fact.

[closeupready]

12. Because like most religionists, their god is a cruel one.

It created gay people but commands them to suffer in isolation, for no logical reason whatsoever, but instead merely because that is what pleases it.

If there is a more sadistic being than one that takes pleasure in torturing his own children, I'm at a loss as to who or what it would be.

[Psephos]

14. Whether the misery stems from God or simply the Universe, it's still misery.

Really, what's the difference?

[closeupready]

15. The misery is self-inflicted - worshipping a false god who

(as they explain) did indeed create some people gay, but commands them to be celibate. Makes no sense.

There really can be no dispute (from how I see it) that such a god is NOT a loving god. I don't know who or what it is, but how is it loving of your children to demand that they pervert their natural beings to please their father - I mean, that is really messed up. It's the kind of thing you see in scary movies. It really is that simple. I could dress that up in fancy English, but really, what would be the point. I'm not going to condescend in that way.

[Psephos]

16. I share your opinion on the irony of God creating a world where misery is structural.

I know that if I were God I would come up with a better system that didn't create sentient beings from nothing just so that a sizable fraction of them could suffer badly. I find it especially reprehensible that so many millions have been scared with a vision of eternal fire and suffering, in the name of God. As if things aren't bad enough here on Earth for so many already.

However, my point was although it's absurd to imagine a God who would do that, how is it any less absurd to pin it on a blind universe and not feel the same outrage/anomie/uselessness of it all?

As I said previously, the misery is just as miserable either way.

Nonbelief in God does not erase the innate need of many to issue puritanical moral condemnations of people who don't believe the same things as the unbeliever. I see it here all the time. I'm sure a version of the same is true over in freeperland. Condemnation is the first step. Persecution is the next. The wheel turns.

[closeupready]

17. It's incorrect to presume that misery is essential to the condition of being gay.

The sadistic principles that demand celibacy from people who were born gay (and thus give rise to miserable gay people, surprise surprise) are based exclusively in religious books and teachings. There might be exceptions, but there is absolutely no logic behind such hatred.

And this may be where the disconnect lies between what you see and what I see (and know) to be true, that being gay can be a magical and wondrous state. In the absence of the conditions discussed above (and perhaps some others), gay people can be as happy and content as anyone else.

On a personal level, I am an adult who certainly doesn't need or seek approval from heterosexuals nor Xtians for the fact that I am a male who is exclusively attracted to males, and I can't believe that I'm the only gay person who is grounded like that.

[Psephos]

18. Hmm, we may be talking about different things.

I have no presumption that misery is essential to being gay. Quite the opposite, actually.

Demands for gays to practice celibacy seem downright risible these days. There will always be religious sorts making outrageous statements, but the heyday of religion as an arbiter of contemporary sexual practice is over.

Other sources of misery remain cheap and plentiful, as always.