If you are a disillusioned Mormon gay, gay activist, or gay supporter, including the unlimited sexual identities and behaviors represented in the letters in LGBTETC, you should be very happy today, or at least feel a great sense of validation and progress. If you are an active, traditional family values, conservative Mormon you should be very disillusioned today indeed, and owe yourself some serious mature adult reflection.
On November 15, 2022, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints voluntarily released to the world---you might call it a family proclamation to the world---a statement in support not of traditional marriage but of gay marriage including all the "rights" of all LGBTETC people. To quote the Associated Press, "The church's public stance is a stark contrast from 14 years ago, when its members were among the largest campaign contributors in support of California's Prop 8, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman in response to cities such as San Francisco granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples." To quote a pro-gay blogger, This is "the first time the LDS church has acknowledged the civil legitimacy of same-sex marriage and publicly supported legislation that requires that civil recognition."
The thing is, the church wasn't required to say anything about this U.S.Senate proposal to repeal the already existing Defense of Marriage Act (1996) in the U.S. Code and replace it with the proposed Respect for Marriage Act . (Many are rightly calling it the Disrespect for Marriage Act.) The proposal has been recently voted on (12 Republicans have voted for it, including Mormon and father of gay marriage Mitt Romney) with the goal to include in it gay marriage along with traditional marriage. (Funny how the Defense of Marriage Act came to be with the sole purpose of protecting traditional marriage against same-sex marriage!) What the church did was pro-actively give wholehearted support to this proposal to give equal respect to gay marriage as is given to traditional marriage, in the laws of the entire United States.
What has
happened here is the self-proclaimed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made a public relations move to
win the approval of the world and flow with the culture, and there's probably a lot of money
involved too, by embracing the now institutionalized practice of gay marriage, that is homosexuality, that is sodomy, in the form of respect and understanding for some made-up new "rights" found nowhere in the constitution or history of the country, and clearly defined as sin in the Bible, one of the standard works of said church.
And don't think gay marriage is all the LDS church has decided to support. Its statement which we include below gives legitimacy and support not just to so-called gay rights but to the so-called rights of all the letters in LGBTETC with no limits as well. Yes, that includes the T for transgenderism which is all about cross-dressing, puberty blockers, hormones, and the permanently sterilizing, destroying and mutilating of healthy body parts to simulate the opposite sex, even in children and teens. And there's no end. The list of genders keeps growing. Apparently the LDS Church is suddenly in the affirmation-only camp for unlimited sex and sexuality madness, full speed ahead.
Let us focus for a moment on the travesty that exponentially sped up the LDS ride down this slippery slope. But we have to shed our squeamishness and first define the euphemisms love, gay, homosexuality, gay marriage, and yes, transgenderism. These are all just clever ways of cleaning up the loaded and ugly word: sodomy. The fact is, two men together (no matter what they call themselves or what they dress like or what they have done to their bodies) cannot mate (which mating is what true marriage entails). With each other, two men, or any number of men gay or trans, can never do the thing that makes babies. Anal penetration, which is sodomy, is the primary way two men simulate sexual intercourse, one or the other of the men's anuses playing the part of the female vagina. The institutionalizing of gay marriage is essentially the institutionalizing of the practice of sodomy. Indeed, many straight couples now engage in this practice, thanks to the modern societal legitimization and normalization of homosexuality and gay marriage. This may actually put the lie to gayness as an identity, because sodomy, the act which ultimately distinguishes male gayness, is now approved of and available to all (even lesbians who may find ways to simulate it also). Not only does this practice cause disease and chronic health conditions off the charts, it also easily spreads horrible and slow fatal sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. There is always unnatural bleeding involved. Please note that there are no chastity or behavioral or fidelity rules or boundaries inherent in the LGBTETC ideology and lifestyle. Please note that heterosexuals often commit sexual sins and sexual crimes also, but homosexuality is notoriously, off the charts pornographic and promiscuous, and especially prone to crimes such as drug abuse, domestic violence, and child sex abuse, marriage or no marriage.
Now that we have that clear, here is a brief outline (many books could and should be written on this) of some of the many developments and events that have taken place in which to show how the Mormon church has flipped its stance to publicly embrace the practice of sodomy as a civil right, indeed, under the euphemism, marriage.
Less than 30 years ago the Mormon church had quite Biblically and vocally continued to condemn homosexuality as an abomination, a vice, and a sin in opposition to God's plan that could and must be repented of (The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball, 1969, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, 1995). But an insidious softening had already begun (October 1995 Ensign article, Same Gender Attraction , a squishy article in which homosexual tendency is likened to the Apostle Paul's thorn in the flesh). As the sexual revolution stepped up its campaign to decriminalize, destigmatize, and normalize homosex behaviors (Lawrence vs Texas, 2003) and label, protest, demonize, and punish those who stood for their Christian beliefs regarding marriage and family (churches, adoption agencies,bakers, photographers, printers, venue owners), the Mormon church continued to stand against homosexual behaviors (BYU student expelled), while continuing to soften on and embrace the homosexual identity (Oaks-Wickman Interview, 2006), (God Loveth His Children, 2007), which is at the very least, intellectually dishonest. Incidentally "God Loveth His Children," this once famous tortuous treatise, is now hard to find. We think it was axed because it stated rather offhand that some people could overcome homosexual tendencies; it also said we should resist and reform wrong feelings. The church never says things like that anymore. Apparently church leaders decided the infinite atonement of Christ is not infinite or atoning, because it is not applicable in one or more instances.
To continue, it wasn't long before the church stepped in line with the world to accept homosexual tendencies (by this time they had institutionalized the euphemism same gender attraction) as a harmless and immutable identity like race or eye color that cannot and need not be changed or repented of (mormonsandgays.org, 2012). Although in 2008 the Mormon church surprised everybody, especially its own members, by uncharacteristically---according to its most recent attitudes---leading the fight against gay marriage in California , it not only subsequently conceded this fight throwing its obedient, exhausted and persecuted California members under the bus, but specifically called off any further organized Mormon member opposition to gay marriage (in Maine and Maryland, 2012). The next years showed an ever increasing softening toward homosexuality, mostly as an identity but as a practice also, such as publicly endowing Church monies (read: member tithing) in support of gay activist groups (Inclusion Center Awards Social--supports gay organizations, 2015) and picking up pro-gay activist code words such as diversity, inclusion, respect (BYU Office of Belonging, 2021). We began hearing talks in church settings inclusive of gayness and invitations to gays to speak before congregations. (Sister Eubank introduced a lesbian in BYU Women's Conference, 2021). Some Mormon wards began instigating diversity training (Mormon Inclusion, 2018). Even the Tabernacle Choir visited San Francisco and sang solidarity songs with the gay men's choir under its leadership (SF Gay Men's Chorus sings with Tab Choir, 2018, many of which members were found to be on the child sex offender's list). It was no surprise to those paying attention that Kimball's famous book, The Miracle of Forgiveness, which decried homosexuality in no uncertain terms, got questioned, cancelled, and pulled from the gay-affirming, doctrinal heavy weight, Deseret Book (Miracle of Forgiveness fading, 2015). The church continued to soften toward and embrace the homosexual "identity" (BYU counseling center and changes in honor code, allowing activists and groups on campus, 2007-current day). At the same time the church disingenuously and rather sheepishly, vaguely, and occasionally continued to disapprove of the inherent behaviors. This is intellectual dishonesty, which doesn't appease anyone on either side of this issue except the willfully blind and deaf, like telling a man it's wonderful that he can go to school to be a doctor but it would be a sin that he ever practice medicine.
The church's public relations line is: Our gays don't act out. Is that in any way true? Here is a quote from a gay Mormon trying to navigate his life in the LDS church by observing others in his situation: "I learned they [the high profile Mormon gays he observed] didn't actually follow the law of chastity [which prohibits homosex in all its manifestations including flirting and hand holding etc.]. Cuddling parties, dating, and casual hook-ups [sodomy] were a common and secret part of these men's lives." This man goes on to say, "Their hypocrisy played a role in my decision to leave the church and helped form my belief that any openly gay man in the church is not following the law of chastity." Our gays don't act out? Oh yes they do. And they love to initiate younger men and boys. That is nature of homosex.
Like the old adage says, actions speak louder than words. Just as Mormon gays may say they are chaste and yet we know that entire ideology is pornographic and highly promiscuous, the church may say one thing when their actions say another. Of course we must look more at what the church did and continues to do rather than what they have said or say in between. The key question is, what is the signal they are sending? What is the message they are sending specifically into Mormon homes? It is of course the message that parents should respect and affirm an attention-seeking/rebellious/confused/abused child or teen or young adult in whatever sexual identity they got off tiktok that day! No searching for causes, no counseling, no healing, no instructing, no health warnings, no Bible, no religion, no nothing. It has been our experience that in the last 20 years or so the LDS church leadership on every level and in every entity has offered absolutely no leadership or thought or care or help to individuals and families who are dealing with unwanted LGBTETC confusion and problems. They have simply cancelled those of its members resisting this juggernaut, while taking step after step to encourage and support wholesale gay-affirmation.
It is our understanding that the highest church leaders instruct famous Mormons and politicians and entities such as Deseret Book, BYU, etc. on strategies and public stances they should take. In the case of the "disrespect of marriage act," Mormon Mitt Romney was all for this Act while Mormon Mike Lee seemingly stood against it, or at least wanted it amended; we can see here another example of the Mormon church speaking out of both sides of its mouth in true Orwellian doublespeak. We have seen that members pick up their perceptions and marching orders by way of what the church leaders actually do and get done rather than what their doctrines or scriptures say or what may be said periodically in a talk, and that increasingly infrequently, vaguely, and contradictorily. This is what the Bible calls hypocrisy, being neither hot or cold, serving two masters, and putting one's trust in man instead of God and being cursed for it. Jeremiah 17:5.
In the middle of this terrible muddle, in 2017, Steve here at SoL was told in a person-to-person conversation with Elder Rasband, an apostle of the church who extended to him the private invitation, that he wanted to discuss the church's "evolving" (Rasband's word) position toward homosexuality. You can say that again. He said the top Brethren did not agree on this topic or how to handle it. He also emphatically said that the church would never, ever change its current position on marriage as only between a man and a woman. This newest proclamation does support gay marriage, although it also pretends not to, and everyone who isn't braindead perceives that the church has indeed flipped to now support same-sex sodomy, whether they call it marriage, respect or rights or whatever. Here is the actual statement, with our comments interspersed:
The doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints related to marriage between a man and a woman is well known and will remain unchanged. [We know this statement is made in regard to same sex marriage, nevertheless, this statement is not true in that sense or any other sense. First, plural marriage (that's marriage between a man and not a woman but any number of women) was practiced in the early church, is still in the church's standard works (D&C 132), and is a doctrine never denounced and still believed in and practiced in a very real sense even today---because for Mormons marriage is eternal. For example, President Nelson has been sealed (eternally married) to two wives, and although he was not married to both of them simultaneously here on earth, he fully believes to be and expects to be the husband of at least two women for eternity. That's marriage between a man and two women, based on LDS doctrine. Second, if the above were their doctrine, why are they voluntarily supporting same sex marriage? Isn't the church about spreading and proclaiming its doctrines to the world? Instead they are proclaiming the opposite!]
We are grateful for the continuing efforts of those who work to ensure the Respect for Marriage Act includes appropriate religious freedom protections while respecting the law and preserving the rights of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. [This is a contradictory position that they have taken. The church's official rule is that it does/will not perform same-sex marriages in its church houses and temples, and yet church leadership has come out in support of a law that allows for, establishes, and respects same-sex marriage. In addition, the church leaders in supporting such laws don't seem to even consider that they are leaving their members exposed to sexual freedom laws that the members will have to obey or suffer punishment. Over and over again, the church has sided with its critics, while ensuring for itself the loophole that protects itself, the corporate church, and leaving its conservative members' religious freedom imposed upon and its gay members still dissatisfied.]
We believe this approach is the way forward. As we work together to preserve the principles and practices of religious freedom together with the rights of LGBTQ individuals, much can be accomplished to heal relationships and foster greater understanding. [This is nonsense. The way forward? What does that mean? When the whole herd is going toward a cliff, the right thing to do is go backward. What we have are two opposing worldviews. This means conflict, whether LDS leaders like it or not. One side will win the conflict. We know which side is winning at the present time, with the full and informed support of the Mormon church, and its members wearing blinders. And LGBTETC activists will never stop their demands until they are treated not just equally in every detail, but however they want to be treated at the moment, until they are actually in charge and running everything, at least for a time until destabilization is complete to the point where the powers that be discard even them. In the meantime, response to this statement from the gay "community" is that the church has only made a "tiny step" toward what they want and they are still frustrated. So, contrary to what looks on the surface like some bizarre, out-of-touch, cock-eyed LDS church optimism, but what is really the same old calculated self-interested politicking, there is no "healing" or "fostering of greater understanding." What will happen is total surrender to this chaos, and the destruction of Christianity and the western world. And we are not the only ones saying this. There is a huge cultural response to the Mormon church's new stance from both sides. It seems everyone but the Mormons can see what is going on right in front of their eyes. Even the church's enemies are saying the church didn't have to do anything. "It could have stayed silent and no one would have been surprised." Of course the church has its reasons, none of which seem to be doctrinal or religious.]
If you think this LGBTETC affirmation-only stance the LDS church has increasingly taken has not and will not now exponentially trickle down and enter every Mormon ward and stake you are very wrong. We have seen and heard of several of the following taking place. Sexual diversity training in ward meetings. Gays being doted on in families and wards. Homosexuality being proudly modeled and taught from local pulpits. Legally married gay couples recognized and supported in church settings. Gays and lesbians and transgenders serving as young men and young women leaders, as well as other ward positions. Mormon transgenders attending opposite sex meetings, women in Priesthood, men in Relief Society. (How do people even know what sex some people are anymore? Trans people are passing pretty well for the opposite sex these days.) Proud gay youth speaking from local pulpits. Cross-dressed children attending all ward meetings. Transgenders or their affirming parents invited to speak at sacrament meetings and stake conferences. Transgenders teaching primary. Openly gay men attending the temple. Transwomen/men in drag sitting with the women in the temple. And of course the bathrooms and temple locker rooms infiltrated by whoever. You think these things and more aren't already happening or are going to soon? Think again. Top church leaders have long allowed these types of events, washing their hands of such local situations. There are so many wards and so many temples after all; they don't have time to address all of their idiosyncrasies and problems. The loophole for church headquarters is: we let the local leaders handle such situations, as stated in its handbook.
We submit that many, many Mormons don't like or want any of the above going on. Of course the LDS church could get around any sex-based controversies simply by changing its meetings, bathrooms, locker rooms, dorms, adult and youth programs, priesthood,callings, classes, and the entire temple experience to be nonbinary. In other worlds, men and women, boys and girls, use the same facilities, attend all meetings, and hold all offices alike, mixed up together, and no mention is made of the two sexes. Of course this still won't make transgenders happy, for instance, because they insist on being identified as the opposite sex from what they really are based on the binary male and female worldview. Still, historically, the church has been dead set against women and men being interchangeable, so that's a big problem for them. They would actually have to change everything, beginning with dumping their standard works. We here at SoL have heard they are in the surreptitious process of doing that very thing, calling it a de-emphasis on the scriptures. (Indeed, in the climate today they would need to as the Book of Mormon blatantly racist.)
We believe the LDS church has gone through many contortions to protect itself from this infiltration, including this latest move, (not caring a bit about actual human souls and what is actually right). But of course you can't sink a ship to save a ship. Whatever is encouraged will increase. If you let the camel's nose in the tent, soon you will have the entire camel. What has happened rather quickly is that the church we grew up in and raised our children in is gone, and something increasingly unrecognizable has taken its place.
And here, please do not give us the nobody's perfect line. We are not talking about imperfect human individuals here. We are talking about what is taught and modeled and perceived and learned and passed on. We are talking about principles, right or wrong, and ideas, true or false. Imperfect human are perfectly capable of either spreading falsehoods or spreading the truth. And they are certainly accountable for that, especially anyone in any leadership or position of authority. If they make a mistake they are obligated to correct it, repent, apologize, face the music. Like all the rest of us. There are tons of scriptures in the Bible about this abuse of power by the way. In addition, it is the ordinary people themselves who are allowing these travesties to take place and remain. If there were no members going along, supporting, and financing them, there would be no bad church leaders or false churches.
In short, in a third of a lifetime the Mormon church has gone from proclaiming homosexuality a sin to proclaiming it an identity to proclaiming any sort of unnatural sexual identity or behavior or "medical" treatment a God-given right. Remember, the statement says they are "working together to preserve the rights" of their LGBTQ brothers and sisters. The church may think it can protect its sex binary-based temples from infiltration, and protect its finances and reputation by making such statements, but it is certainly not protecting its members, wards, and stakes, and most particularly, its children. All representations of every letter in the LGBTETC alphabet soup will be exposed to Mormon minors within church walls and activities and portrayed as righteousness.
No longer is sexual purity a moral value in the modern LDS church, and it wasn't in its first 100 years if you look into its true history that has never been corrected or repented of. We baby boomers must have enjoyed the church in its only window to date in which it supported traditional biblical values and rules for human sexual relations. That era is over. It is now quite suddenly a person's "right" to be sexually immoral in formerly unspeakable and incredibly prideful and insane ways, says the LDS Church, sealing its words with the act of making the above public statement to the world.
About church members being told they should learn "greater understanding" from this development. Understanding? Of what? Love? The vast majority of males in the world today can and do love each other without homosex. Understanding of sodomy and every other sex perversion? These things are not hard to understand; they can be defined in a few words (see above). The LDS church like many other churches today, has quite rapidly caved to the idolatrous prideful Godless spirit of the times.
Die-hard Mormons who know this is wrong will call this pronouncement complicated and make up every excuse for the church they can dream up. But it is not complicated and there is no good excuse.
Who can honestly deny that this is a complete reversal? Who can deny this is a huge, disgraceful sellout? Who can deny it is a betrayal of God's word? Who can deny that those members who have fought against the sexual revolution in the last two decades have been abandoned, even villainized? And where is the modern-day revelation to back up this statement by the church? Thoughtful members have been left gaping in surprise upon hearing this incomprehensible statement, not from their beloved and trusted leaders but on the news. This is actually cruel.
What's next? Wholehearted support of adultery? Pedophilia? Incest? Pornography? Oh wait, that's already happened. The Mormon church's entire history is fraught with succumbing to outright committing of such sins, along with softening, recharacterizing,and covering them up. Open your eyes to the church's true colors, not from "anti-Mormon materials" but from the church's own materials. Learn some true history of the church and Joseph Smith's 30-40 secret "wives"---from the church's own shocking recent admissions (see footnote 24). Watch the video on pornography addiction the church produced, complete with soothing music and sans any reference to sin and repentance. Watch the smarmy videos on the mormon and gay section of the church's website (same-sex attraction). Zero mention of sin. Zero health warnings. Zero preaching of sexual purity. Zero calls to repent. Zero testimonials of people who have overcome homosexuality. (Our own books highly endorsed by experts were either quickly pulled or summarily rejected by Deseret Book, in spite of Sheri Dew's written assurance to us that they would include books on the other side of this issue). On these church sites you will find affirmation only for this anti-Christ madness sweeping the world.
Please know that what is encouraged, supported, respected will increase. All things licentious are now coming in double time for the Mormons, most specifically for the Mormon children.
Most recently, in Arizona, a child abuse case where the Mormon father sexually molested his own daughter all her young life, has been found to have been known of and intentionally covered up by Mormon authorities on all levels all these many years. In other words, this criminal conduct was known of but not reported, exactly like what has unfolded in the Catholic church. The perpetrator committed suicide in 2017. The family is suing the LDS church for keeping the abuse quiet. There is a lot more to this story, but there seems to be no doubt that LDS leaders allowed the abuse to continue. This is called support of the pedophile. It certainly isn't support or validation of his victim or protection of other potential victims he came in contact with through the church organization.
By the way, depending on individual state laws, when a local LDS leader learns of child sex abuse under his jurisdiction, he is supposed to call the church hotline which is actually the church's law firm, Kirton and McConkie, which tells the bishop to report it to police or not to report it to police, again, depending on the state law.
And also, all members should all know the church has 100 billion dollars plus stashed away for, as a church spokesman said, "a rainy day." ($100 billion "rainy day" fund) We submit that settling sexual abuse cases out of court, like a sort of reverse form of blackmail (we'll give you this huge amount of money if you give up this case and never say anything about any of this ever ), is one of the rainy day ways they use it. Sad to say, there will be a lot of rain and the church may be needing those billions. Is this why they aren't afraid to gain public approval by promoting sexual immorality--because now they have a bottomless pit of money to cover for the inevitable messes it makes? For shame.
No matter how many excuses you can think up, this is not the church many faithful Mormons grew up in and raised their children in. If you doubt this we strongly encourage you to read this article published in 1974, the year after Steve and Janice, here at SoL, were married, which to this day appears on the LDS church's website. (Why Does the Church Oppose Homosexuality, 1974). Like we said before, in those days it was one of the most conservative churches in the world that stood for family, faith, and freedom. We may not have known of the disturbing real history of the church and the deceit used to cover it up, but ignorance was bliss and the church was a good way to raise our families. Now, those who have paid attention and watched this "evolution" and discerned it correctly are disgusted and disappointed beyond words. These are such people who can no longer participate in such an organization. You may say these people have left the church, but the truth is the church has left them. Many of those who have realized the church's falseness have chosen to serve the Lord rather than men, men who have lied from the beginning and keep changing their church to protect its great wealth and fit in with the world.
We here at SoL believe God is perfect and unchanging. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), and the Bible is reliable and incredibly rich in goodness, truth, beauty, and reliability, contrary to how the LDS church makes it out to be. Turns out many of the scriptures and phrases we used to think were purely Mormon come straight out of the good old Bible, God's unchanging Word.