The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Gays

When I lived in Salem, Oregon, I knew a family in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who experienced the repercussions of having a gay son in this church. The grandfather, a Boy Scout leader, molested young boy scouts under his care and his grandson. This young man is an outstanding young man who is creative and good. Is it genetics that makes this young man gay or the unfortunate experience in his youth?

With the wide variation possible in human genetics, it is most likely the genetic component. You can't help how you are inside and what genetics you possess. I can't see anyone making a choice to put themselves out there and choosing to be gay unless they are. Gays receive cruel harrassment in society and often worse. What is the alternative? To hide their identity is sometimes worse than death. This young man has the courage to be himself.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints counsels gays in the church to become heterosexual. How is that possible, if they are born gay? They are being asked to deny who they are. My husband found out when we were serving as missionaries that there are stake presidents who struggle with being gay. This was shocking to me. We sure found out more things about the church serving as missionaries than we ever did since we joined in 1995. It was nice to be part of the church in the beginning but the longer we served in leadership positions, more of the secrets hidden to the majority of the church members were revealed.

I remember reading in Time or Newsweek years ago about a missionary young man in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who committed suicide. He had developed calouses on his knees from hours of torturous praying asking God to please help him. How sad!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes on the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ commanded all of us to love thy neighbor as thyself. This means everyone. This means even those people who make us feel uncomfortable. This means those people on the other side of the world who are very different from us. This means those people who are difficult and hard to love. This means those people who we would rather not see or want to have anything to do with. This means everyone, including those who are born much different from us. This is the great challenge of Christianity.