 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
“Gays Have a Problem” By Jason Clark December 27, 2004 Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, made more offensive comments toward gays and lesbians as he sat in an interview with CNN's Larry King on December 26. The nonagenarian leader said that he knows that gays and lesbians "have a problem" and he wants to "help" them. In the past, LDS leaders have "helped" homosexuals by forcing them to undergo horrific forms of so-called "therapy" and by encouraging them to get married. Now LDS leaders "help" homosexuals by forcing them to live a life of celibacy and loneliness—a second-class citizen status, at best, in a theological system that sees heterosexual marriage as essential for living with God. Gays and lesbians who dare to have partners are excommunicated, a practice that most churches long ago abandoned. In the same interview, President Hinckley admitted that he doesn't know what makes people gay. When asked by King whether homosexuality was a "problem they caused, or they were born with," he replied: "I don't know. I'm not an expert on these things. I don't pretend to be an expert on these things." This comes in strong contrast with a statement by his counselor James E. Faust, who in 1995 said that if homosexuality were inherited, this "would frustrate the whole plan of mortal happiness" (Ensign, September 1995, p. 5). One year ago, President Hinckley made some of his most offensive remarks ever, when he used a Christmas devotional to remind his audience that "Sodom and Gomorrah, and the sinful practices observed therein, became examples of that which was evil and abominable in the sight of God" and suggested that homosexuals of today will be destroyed as the inhabitants of those legendary cities. Even though Mormon leaders express disgust at the idea of same-sex couples, scores of gay Mormon men and women have found happiness by accepting and celebrating the fact that they are gay. Many of them are in long term relationships, have celebrated same-sex unions and marriages, and are raising children. |
www.affirmation.org