Here's an interesting article by a gay man whose younger (straight) brother is refusing to serve a mission because he doesn't see anything wrong with gay marriage, and wouldn't want to preach to others that it's "wrong."

SLC says sorry, you can't go.

http://carnivalsofaffection.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/my-little-brothers-mission/

I'm glad more and more straight people are standing up for marriage equality, and though I don't know this guy, I'm proud of him.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2013 01:59PM by PapaKen.

What, PapaKen, are you wanting to soften up the Morg? Let them go to hell on their own terms. The Morg a "wonderful institution"? Yeh, it's a wonder anybody spends time with that institution, IMHO.

Nope. But it's nice to know that someone within the LD$ community is willing to say no to what he thought was an important thing to do, in favor of the right thing to do.

I shared it with the ex-wives on fb and sat and debated whether to post it on my page. I don't do much fb stuff--just keep it open to talk to ex-wives. Almost all my fb friends are TBM . . .



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2013 02:06PM by cl2.

It takes a lot to stand up for something you believe like that especially in such a conformist society. That kid deserves credit for standing for something as it were.

Seeing how awful it is for gays in TSCC, surely any advance in terms of flexibility and acceptance would be an improvement and might help to reduce suicides and crazy cross-sexual marriages.

Don't worry, though, it's not going to save the Morg.

These days, TSCC can only hope to make significant inroads among people who are desperate, uninformed (i.e. without access to information), wilfully ignorant (think of all the people who 'don't want to know if it might endanger their testimony') or stupid.

And thanks to the spread of education and the internet, such people are going to be fewer and fewer.

Of course, I may be totally wrong.

PapaKen, Blueorchid and others: would you still be TBMs if TSCC was a bit "easier" about gayness (or gayship ;-)?

Tom in Paris

I honestly believe that they would accept gay men fully in the cult before they would accept women as being equal.

For all of the kids out there that are looking for a way to not have to go on a mission.......this is the answer.

Refuse to stand up for hate and bigotry. Who knew?

This young man is an excellent example of what I would have hoped for and expected from Sen. Portman and others, who think critically, and who act according to their conscience, rather than to please someone else (e.g., voters, or church, or family).

I know I'm guilty of the same offense in my life. I'm a hypocrite, too, and I'm responsible for how I've lived my life.

Years ago, as a young man, I wish I had asked myself things like:

a) Seriously, is the LDS church what it claims to be? But I didn't.

Rather, I relied on my father's testimony, and never seriously investigated for myself until my mid-30s.

b) Seriously, should I extend that borrowed testimony to the point where I accept the counsel given about repenting of "offenses" committed, and going on a mission, and marrying a young & innocent woman? Again, I never asked these questions.

Rather, I just jumped into the pool and tried to swim around without properly learning what the water was like, or how to swim.

c) Seriously, should I believe what the GOP throws out to Americans without questioning, simply because most of my family are Republicans, and because Ezra Benson was reported to say words to the effect that no good Mormon could be a Democrat? I did not.

Rather, I tried like hell to justify my mostly blind adherence to the GOP without really thinking about it.

But those days are gone for me now. I have FAR more respect & admiration for young Emmett who refused to go on a mission (i.e., to submit to the thinking of the LD$ church, and preach it to others), than I have for Sen. Portman.

Still and all, I'm happy for the Portmans. And I'm also happy for young Emmett. I hope both stories will be spread far & wide, and will serve to wake up others.

Ken

PS to Tom in Paris: From what I wrote above, I think you can tell that I would not go back. The gay "softness" policies have nothing to do with it for me. I won't go back because the LD$ church is a fraudulent cult.

I LOVE this! It takes courage to stand up for something you believe in!
Sheesh - of course he needed to fast and pray more for God to tell him he was wrong - cuz the Church can never be wrong!

This other post adds to the history.

http://carnivalsofaffection.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/winning-and-losing/

This statement struck me:

"But here was a situation that confronted me with something I could not deny. While one arm of the administration was meeting with and assuring hopeful students and faculty that a place was being made for them, another was simultaneously being dishonest and vicious, actually creating fabrications, to eliminate them. The stark confrontation with what felt finally like BYU’s true colors, began to fill me with an immense lack of hope that what I doing was going to make any significant difference."
_______

When you run into the dark underbelly of the lds church, you see how evil it really is. You don't want to believe it--you try not to believe it, but when it happens to you, it is a whole different ballgame.

I've thought about this the last 24 hours or so--and I can't get past the idea of the new web site about support for gays that the lds church just advertised--but behind closed doors, yet again, the dark underbelly.

I do see his brother eventually leaving the lds church.

In public statements they appear caring and patient. They make it sound like they care about your happiness and well being. But the institution is about nailing your feet to the floor and "free will" boils down to a stark choice between obedience or apostasy.

I regard the wisdom and courage of your young brother highly.

I hope he will not suffer too much for his moral decisions, but my suspicions are that remaining in the Church will be made less pleasant than leaving the Church.

I believe Mormonism is a cult.

What a refreshing story. Thanks for the link! Something we'll probably never see in the SLTRIB but it's a start.