A breakup between NARTH and Exodus International has been years in the making. But before I get to it, I think it’s interesting how it’s coming up at the same time that actress Cynthia Nixon is being lambasted by gay rights activists for saying she’s gay by “choice” (and rejecting…
Category: Homosexuality
“Religious Exemption” in Sexual Orientation Nondiscrimination Law
I’ve been thinking about how a couple leaders of the LDS Church have vocalized how they wouldn’t mind the 2009 nondiscrimination laws in Salt Lake City (in housing and employment, on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity) be expanded across the state of Utah. Specifically, what they’re interested…
What Causes Same-Sex Attraction? Catholic Newspaper: “The Devil”
The oldest Catholic newspaper in the US published and quickly retracted an article that suggested that same-sex attraction is caused by Satan. The logic went like this: Disruptive imbalances in nature that thwart encoded processes point to supernatural actors who, unlike God, do not have the good of persons at…
Is North Star Sending a Bad Message?
North Star is a Church-affiliated organization that serves as “a place of community for Latter-day Saints dealing with issues surrounding homosexual attraction who desire to live in harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ and the values and doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” Since it…
Mitch Mayne and the Church’s PR machine
I wanted to get my two cents in on this topic, including the way the topic is being handled. Thanks to chanson for bringing together the links. A quick summary: Last month, Mitch Mayne, an openly gay man in a San Fransisco ward was called to be ward executive secretary,…
A Tale of Two Humanists
I read in the paper the a few weeks ago of the death of General Authority emeritus Marion D. Hanks. Elder Hanks very nearly had the privilege of being the first person I ever came out to. Heres the story, which happened some 32 years ago. My father was a…
Prayers for Bobby: An Open Letter to Mormon Parents
He must have seen the large tractor trailer approaching from under the Couch Street overpass and timed the jump. Bobby executed a sudden and effortless back flip and disappeared over the railing. The driver tried to swerve, but there was no time Robert Warren Griffith, age twenty years and two…
Who’s joining the HRC on the Road to Equality in SLC this Weekend?
I just received word that the Human Rights Campaign — in cooperation with Equality Utah and the Utah Pride Center is organizing a number of fun events in Salt Lake City this coming weekend! For example, on Saturday afternoon, in the library, there will be a panel on supportive families…
The Mormon Wall
I felt disheartened as I walked away from the restaurant. I had just had lunch with a former priesthood leader (whom I call John) who had responded relatively compassionately to a coming out letter I had sent to a few former close family friends. His response, among the few I…
Mormon Beards redux
There was a heated discussion here a few months ago about mixed-orientation marriages. What doesn’t feel resolved for me is how to assess the patriarchy gay Mormon men engage in when they marry women. A couple aspects that seem obvious are the fact that the power of the priesthood runs…