We will see how “open” the new leader of the LDS church is, if he agrees to meet with the gay group. The LDS folks push having as many children as possible,(like the RCC) so I guess they feel that accepting homosexuality would put a wrinkle in their preaching. They wouldn’t want some spirit children to not “get born” because a couple was the same gender. On well, looks like some spirit children might have to stay with “heavenly father” a while longer, if indeed the LDS church comes to its senses. Personally, I find it hard to believe a family would kick out their kid because of his/her choise of who to love as a partner. But that’s just me…I know it happens in a lot of familys, not just LDS children.

I wish them luck.

I am optimistic that more progress will be made and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will also become a church working to end prejudice, discrimination, and bigotry.
Gordon Hinckley had moved the church to become a little more accepting. Perhaps Thomas Monson will move it much further.
Peace!

Hopefully President Monson will move the LDS Church towards more tolerance (if not acceptance) of homosexuality.
God bless.

There is always “hope” that all churches and members will show more love and understanding for glbt people.

These people are NOT Mormons,and they nor anyone else has the right to use that term in reference to them! ONLY members in GOOD STANDING in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are Mormons,and have the right to use or have that term applied to them! Any gay person is welcome in any ward or branch of the church,but they cannot be active,faithful members if they do not refrain from homosexual behavior! If these people cannot understand and accept this I doubt the church presidency will be able to do anything or say anything on this issue which has not already been said or done by previous church leaders! And if these people understand anything of the true and restored gospel of Jesus Christ they should know that the church can do nothing less-GOD does not change nor “bend the rules” to agree with the everchanging opinions of modern society!

Maybe the new leader will get a “revelation” from God who says “It’s OK”, Ernie C.
After all, Ernie, isn’t that how the church decided that black people could finally belong to the LDS church? The leader had a “Revelation”.
It seems that, according to you, homosexual folks can come to your church but can’t belong unless they deny their true selves. That is saying that Heavenly Father doesn’t love all his children, right?
You said “these people” cannot call themselves Mormons. I sincerely hope that the LDS changes it’s mind and faces reality. Why would you exclude someone for their gender perference? My brother-in-law is a very liberal Mormon and I have never heard him say anything against gays. My sister isn’t a Mormon, and only one of their 2 children is, the other being a Methodist like my sister. Their’s is a loving family and their children don’t have prejudice.

Hey Ernie, isn’t that kind of a double standard? I mean afterall, you tell these people that they are not members “in good standing” but the Church continues to do the “baptism of the dead” to baptise those souls into the church who never wanted to be members “in good standing” in the first place. So it’s confusing to me. You tell people who want to be members that they can’t because of their actions, then again you baptise people into the church who never wanted to be members and whose actions were probably inconsistent with the church. So, after the mormon church excommunicates these gay individuals will the church then baptise them after they die?

It was either Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell who finally admitted that homosexuality is not a choice but rather a gene mechanism. They went as far as to suggest that maybe science can “fix” this problem with some sort of gene therapy. This of course would acknowledge that being gay is something you are born with and therefore something that God him/herself programed into the individual. So being gay actually means being touched by God; so who are we as a society to try to “fix” that?

Please! LDS just began ‘tolerating’ people of color. Affirmation would do well to distance themselves from the LDS. They should stop seeking approval from the hostile organization that preaches being gay is an abomination in the eyes of God.
I have never gotten why the GLBT community hasn’t founded their own religions, instead of trying to force established religious groups to accept and approve of their beliefs. As harsh as it is, the truth is established religious institutions are in no wise compelled nor obligated to change their tenets and standards of their faith and practice to accomodate the forbidden ways of homosexuality, no matter how politically correct such tolerance is at the moment. Furthermore, the law will never compell established religious groups to accept anyone of whom a congregation disapproves into its ranks, as there is a separation of church and state written into the Constitution of the the United States.
In a nation predicated on freedom of religion, nothing is stopping the GLBT faithful of any specific belief system from banding together to have their own places of worship, open to anybody desiring to freely practice any given with them. There are plenty of liberal, progressive people, gay and straight, who would faithfully commit to membership and church building of such ministries just to have a place to worship freely with like-minded believers.
It’s high time for the GLBT community to come out from among their dismissive detractors to tailor their congregations to their specific spirital needs. It’s obvious their spiritual needs are not beeing adequately met in established institutions of faith and practice.

Ernie C., Only Members of Good Standing……..
This sounds cold, and cult like to me. Christ’s Church is warm and beckoning, or you should look around and see if He has left your church, and the people in it.

rage & Erine C-
You make it sound like lgbt people are somehow a group apart from all people. Not so. Lgbt people are a part of the group called “all people”. As far as sexuality is concerned….yes, lgbt people are not a part of the group called straight. However that only involves sexuality.
Name any religion or denomination and there are indeed lgbt people who make up the total of that group. As the article notes, there is a group of Mormons that have joined together and call themselves “Affirmations”. Certianly not all lgbt people who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints are members of Affirmations.
As to the question of why lgbt people do not form their own religion, I would think it is because the only two things that all lgbt people have in common is that they are all human and they are all lgbt. Do you really think that all lgbt people share the same religious beliefs? Certainly all straight people do not share the same beliefs…why would all lgbt people do so.
Christians do not even all share the same beliefs….that is why there are so very many different denoms. And, you have probably noticed that not all people within a particular denom share all the same beliefs.
Again, I wish Affirmations well.
Peace!

I like this new position. In the first place homosexuals should never be kicked out of their family of origin. They like all other sinners should be embraced and welcomed in the church and have equal rights as men and women although I do not believe in special rights for homosexuals and acceptance of homosexual acts.
Nor should any role of leadership be held by practicing homosexuals in the church the bible is very clear on sexuality and for good reason. homosexuality is a unhealthy practice, physically, mentally and spiritually. I don’t think the church should try to change homosexuals but I think the church should be unwavering in it’s commitment to one man one woman relationships it is the standard of the bible.

Eventually we will all have to admit that as human beings we are drawn toward one another according to how that “other” reflects or complements our own personhood. It’s been called “Hardwired to Connect” and is a human trait. –“No man is an island.”
Sexualizing that relationship, however, is not “who you are” –it’s what you do! Even sexualizing our physiological response to another person is psychologically conditioned or “learned” behavior.
Apparently, our culture is currently tolerating or even encouraging this behavior, which history has shown time and again is destructive of society in general –relationships, families, individuals, and even nations and civilizations. The health statistics of the LGBT community are truly dismal. It’s because of millennia of human experience that LGBT behavior has been declared “wrong” and rejected by cultures that would remain whole and healthy.
Our choice is to either sit back and watch our civilization disintegrate over the next several generations, or to speak up and allow the truth to be known that this behavior can ultimately destroy us all.

How many centuries has someone said that certain behaviors are going to destroy us all? Don’t worry,DAVE, humans will be around for a very long time.

You are right, I admit. Of course I wasn’t referring to humanity, I was referring to Western Civilization. Historically, other civilizations with a more realistic and operant morality acknowledging right and wrong behavior for the betterment and perpetuation of humanity have replaced those who refused to commit to long-established moral behavior codified according to what works and what doesn’t. LGBT behavior is ultimately destructive of those civilizations who embrace it; it always has been and always will be. When will we ever learn?

Dave-
“Even sexualizing our physiological response to another person is psychologically conditioned or “learned” behavior.
Apparently, our culture is currently tolerating or even encouraging this behavior, which history has shown time and again is destructive of society in general –relationships, families, individuals, and even nations and civilizations.
The health statistics of the LGBT community are truly dismal.
LGBT behavior is ultimately destructive of those civilizations who embrace it; it always has been and always will be. When will we ever learn?”
Where do you get this nonsense?
First, no one does not have to learn what to do when one is sexually aroused.
Second,yes our society and much of the first world is moving towards acceptance and equality. How exactly is that “distructive”?
Third, the statics are only dismal if the group studied is lgbt people who have been to a clinic for an ailment. Rather than lgbt people in general. Straight people have the same dismal statistics when the researched group is limited to people who have been to a clinic due to an ailment.
Fourth, please provide even one example of a civilization failing because the civilization embraced equality rather than prejudice, discrimination, and bigotry.
Sheeesh!
I commend Affirmations for seeking a meeting with the First Presidency. I wish them much success. For their success with improve the lives of millions of LDS members. Hinckley did much to move the church to a place of equality. I am optimistic that Monson will follow in his foot-steps.
Peace!

SPeaking asa a man who has battked same sex issues, I am thinkful that the church (even LDS) are addressing this. In the past, the church rejected people like me and drove me away. Now I have been loved (like Jesus would have doen) and God has brought healing to my life. My problems were not abouot sex but about relationship.
Prasie God that He loved me enough to accept me just as I was and loved me too much to leave me there.

“As to the question of why lgbt people do not form their own religion, I would think it is because the only two things that all lgbt people have in common is that they are all human and they are all lgbt. Do you really think that all lgbt people share the same religious beliefs? Certainly all straight people do not share the same beliefs…why would all lgbt people do so.”
The tenets of most established institutions of faith in which groups like Affirmations wish to to be included have an established stance that is diametrically opposed to the life choices of the GLBT community. These established institutions, particularly mainline Bible-believing groups, are not about to change their faith and beliefs to accommodate a community they feel should not exist because the Bible says homosexuality is an abomination. Alas, the government does not legislate religious tolerance in this society of religious freedom. Knowing that, Affirmation and groups like them should found their own institutions of religious faith and practice that serves the needs of their community.
Appealing to parent institutions empowers them to continue to dictate and demonize the beliefs and practices of offspring cells seeking foundational affirmation. It only works to stifle their progress and growth, while exascerbating the already strident, bitter acrimony chafing between parent and child organizations of the same faith. At some point, Affirmation needs to ask themselves this question: “do we really require inclusion and affirmation from our parent church to serve God in the world?” And, the answer is NO! Think about it, John Smith and Brigham Young both grew up in established Christian faiths from which they found it needful to break away to found what is now globally recognized as the Mormon Church. Perhaps, Affirmation needs to follow their founders’ lead on this. Maybe now Affirmation’s Hagar, a concubine with her bastard son, thrust out into this barren brutal wilderness with just one day’s rations and the clothes on their backs, needs to seek the Lord for shelter independent of her hosts who have no desire to accept or include her in their numbers, depending on GOD for their survival, not their parent church.
This pathetic whining about being dissed sounds like Affirmation is more caught up with being accepted and included by their elders than actually giving themselves of their own volition as an offering to God through serving their community. Affirmation can’t force the parent church into what does not fit their ways of salvation. Affirmation really doesn’t need the parent church’s permission, acceptance, or inclusion to serve the Lord. They can show their elders better than they can tell them that they love God.

rage-
I am unsure of why you believe that prejudice-supportive Christians/Mormons/Jews/Muslims/Catholics/_____________ (fill in the religion/denom of your choice) have a greater claim to that religion/denom that non-prejudice-supportive Christians/Mormons/Jews/etc do?
Mr. Melson was born a Mormon, I was born an Episcopalian….why do we have less of a right to be Mormons or Epicopalians than prejudice-supportive Mormons or Episcopalians do?
Again, Pres Hinkley moved the church to become more accepting…why should Pres Monson do any less?
BTW, I can demonstrate to God my love of God perfectly fine as an Episcopalian. And, I do not need any other Episcopalian to see that.
Peace!

“Mr. Melson was born a Mormon, I was born an Episcopalian….why do we have less of a right to be Mormons or Epicopalians than prejudice-supportive Mormons or Episcopalians do?”
I never implied or said that you have less right to be whatever you possess the faith to be. The truth that those to whom you were born are grieved by what they perceive to be an abhorrant choice on your part, and DO NOT WANT YOU NUMBERED AMONG THEM! Religious institutions are just as free to adamantly practice their age-old orthodoxy as you are to practice your newfound reformation of the exact same faith. Just because you were born to the Episcopalian faith does not entitle the Episcopalian Church to rewrite its creeds to be more gay-friendly.
So, you can renounce your sexuality, or renounce your faith, or independently practice your chosen faith while being the person you born to be. No one is stopping you from being Episcopalian. The age-old institution of the mainstream Episcopalian Church, however, is withdrawing it offer of membership to their church to professed homosexuals. The Episcopalians are going to continue to teach that homosexuality is an abomination. So, you have to make a decision. You’re either going to grin and bear it, or be the Episcopalian the Lord intended you to be in the world.
If the privileges of membership outweigh the preeminance of God’s mandates of service for you, pressing your church for her acceptance of your sexuality is right for you. But, if your true desire to serve the Lord by loving and serving His people in the places where they need you most, whether tolerantly accepted and graciously affirmed by your mainstream institution of faith, or most probably not, seeking the Lord for guidance on being the best servant you can be is the way to go. If you’re led away from the comfort of your Ur, Abraham, you will be blessed for following the guidance and will of the Lord.
Alas, JohnQ, you were born to serve and please the Lord, not to be the gay Episcopalian martyr whose butt is planted one day in seven in a pew in some hostile religious environment. God is not concerned with your church affiliation. God wants to know that you loved and served His people when they needed you most. Forsaking not the fellowship with the household of faith is about more than coveted membership in a fill-in-the-blank institution of religion.

JohnQ, it is because you are re-writing Scripture to fit your mistaken 21st century ethics. Just because you call yourself the “King of France” doesn’t make it so. Same with claiming to be a faithful Christian.

rage-
“The truth that those to whom you were born are grieved by what they perceive to be an abhorrant choice on your part, and DO NOT WANT YOU NUMBERED AMONG THEM!”
It is very obvious, that you do not know my family and do not know my church. Neither my family nor members of my church choose to be prejudice-supportive Christians. Rather, we choose to follow the teachings of Christ.
As far as pleasing the Lord, that is between me and God….no offense, but, I do not need your assistance in this area.
Peace!

Actually JohnQ if you choose to follow Christ then you would follow His teachings on sexuality, sin and relationships. So saying that your Church chooses to follow Christ is incorrect. Your church chooses to follow it’s own understanding in more accurate.

cknuck, cknuck, cknuck-
As you already know, there is nothing recorded that indicates that Our Lord Jesus Christ specifically commented on homosexuality.
I do my very best to follow all of Our Lords teachings. As does the Episcopal Church. There is nothing recorded that indicates that Our Lord every specifically addressed sexuality of any type.
And, yes our church strives through discernment, prayer, and study of the Bible and other texts to fully understand Our Lords Teachings and the Will of God. If to you that means that we follow our own understanding….so be it.
Peace!

cknuck:
You and JohnQ. are both Christians, by your own statements. You both follow what you believe to be the right way, as set down by the Bible, and it’s teachings.
Your way of following the rules isn’t superior to JohnQ’s. JohnQ. is as much of a Christian as you are. Supposedly you both worship the same God. Why aren’t you both equal in the eyes of that God?
Guess there are different levels of Christianity.

“As far as pleasing the Lord, that is between me and God….no offense, but, I do not need your assistance in this area.”
I neither said you needed nor offered my assistance. I’m just making comments.
God is no more a member of the Episcopalian Church than He is member of any of the hundreds of other Christian denominations. So, the coveted entitlements of membership to this institution of religion is of no importance or value to GOD. You don’t really need the frills of church membership to please God. All that’s required is faith and holiness. But, you want, make that DEMAND the entitlements of membership to this church because you were to this manner born. And, you’re livid that this church refuses you the privileges to which you feel entitled by virtue of birthright, just because you are gay. This public martyrdom allows you to be the the outcast gay member of a congregation you’re out to disparage and castigate for daring to adhere to their beliefs that homosexuality is a cardinal abomination. In the end, your demands for church membership center more around a battle to make others accept and tolerate you than your earnest journey of faith to know, serve, and worship God.
If you and folks like Affirmation were to found your own churches apart from the traditional institutions of your oppressed nativity, you would no longer be able to publicly capitalize on how obsoletely inapplicable the Jesus Message of scripture is perceived to be in our 21st century cultural economy. Yet, such protracted demonstrations of fundamentalist religious intolerance, particularly in a society predicated on religious freedom, don’t quite substantiate your justification for attempting to rewrite the sacred creeds of Christendom to appreciatively encourage your inclusion in the church to which you’ve cast your lot. You’re obviously frustrated by this, but not outraged enough to establish your own institutions of religion. You would rather brood in exasperation from the pews of a church that has made its contempt and scorn for you public than to enjoy the liberty of exercising your faith in your own institution of religion.
I just question your real motives for wanting to impose yourselves on a resistant congregation unwilling to change its belief system to include you, rather than to freely worship with like minded believers who are you. It’s more an observation of the pattern of petulant whining than my offering of advice or council.

I was your future leader.Ah.. Now, you see. What for?

I do not trust the Mormons. They will never change. Sorry. Lol.