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FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"Love thy neighbor as thyself" is one of the two great commandments in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is no teaching or commandment in the church that conflicts with this law. We believe all mankind are our brothers and sisters. All who are baptized into the church have made a covenant to "mourn with those who mourn, and comfort those who stand in need of comfort". This is especially true of our brothers and sisters who are attracted to the same gender[1], commonly referred to as gay or lesbian.
We welcome our gay brothers and sisters into the church, and affirm them as good people. We empower them to make decisions that will help them attain happiness in this life, and we help them with whatever trial they are facing. We do this regardless of how they chose to live their lives.
The Church welcomes all people who seek the truth and have a desire to know and serve God. President Hinckley has specifically extended this welcome to gay men and women. In 1999, he made the following statement:
"As I said from this pulpit one year ago, our hearts reach out to those who refer to themselves as gays and lesbians. We love and honor them as sons and daughters of God. They are welcome in the Church." [2]
The Church has published several publications designed to reach out to members with same-sex attractions. The most recent, God Loveth His Children, assures that "No one is, or ever could be, excluded from the circle of God’s love or the extended arms of His Church, for we are all His beloved sons and daughters."[3] Elder Oaks similarly stated: "Church leaders are sometimes asked whether there is any place in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for persons with homosexual or lesbian susceptibilities or feelings. Of course there is." [4]
Many are faithful members of the church. LDS Family Services estimates that there are four or five members in every unit of the Church who is attracted to the same sex.[5] Their stories and testimonies have been published in the Ensign[6], are printed in books sold at Deseret Book[7], are covered by the media[8][9] and are found on the Internet[10]. Many have formed unofficial organizations, such as Evergreen, North Star, and Northern Lights. These organizations are composed of people with same-sex attractions who uphold the teachings of the church without reservation. Every year, a member of the quorum of seventies gives a special address at the annual Evergreen Conference.
Like all of God's children, the church teaches that gay people are beloved sons and daughters of God. Sometimes, gay people do not feel they are loved by God. The Church affirms them by teaching them that God loves them. Instructions given to leaders in the church in 1992 instructed leaders on how to affirm gay members:
"When members with homosexual problems come to you for help, they may feel guilty and in despair, having been unable to change their lives. You can instill hope in them. Help them to know that you and their Heavenly Father love them and that they can be healed from their afflictions through the atonement of the Savior." [11]
In addition to teaching that God loves them, the leadership has also iterated their love for gay members. In 1998, President Gordon B. Hinckley said "People inquire about our position on those who consider themselves so-called gays and lesbians. My response is that we love them as sons and daughters of God." [12]
In response to an accusation that the church rejects our gay brothers and sisters, President Packer responded "We do not reject you,... We cannot reject you, for you are the sons and daughters of God. We will not reject you, because we love you. [13]
Speaking of a gay man, Elder Holland said "I weep with admiration and respect at the faith and courage of such a man who is living with a challenge I have never faced. I love him and the thousands like him, male or female, who "fight the good fight" (1 Timothy 6:12). I commend his attitude to all who struggle with-or who are helping others who struggle with-same-gender attraction." [14]
Beyond simply expressing love for gay people, the church affirms that there are indeed good people. In a 1995 interview, President Hinckley said: "Now we have gays in the church. Good people."[15]
This affirmation is not limited to gay people who keep the standards of the church. In the Miracle of Forgiveness, Spencer W. Kimball said that men who were pursuing same-sex relationships were "basically good people who have become trapped in sin."[16]
God Loveth His Children, a pamphlet produced by the church for Latter-day Saints with same-sex attractions, reads "You are a son or daughter of God, and our hearts reach out to you in warmth and affection. Notwithstanding your present same-gender attractions, you can be happy during this life, lead a morally clean life, perform meaningful service in the Church, enjoy full fellowship with your fellow Saints, and ultimately receive all the blessings of eternal life."[17]
The mission of the church is to bring all people to Christ. We believe that this is one of the fundamental ways in which we can serve our fellow man. We believe we can come closer to Christ by taking upon us his name through the covenant of baptism, which includes a covenant to obey his commandments. Teaching and encouraging our fellow man to obey the teachings of Christ is an important part in bringing them to Christ. This is the greatest good we can do for our fellow man, and what will bring them the greatest joy.
The path that leads to eternal life is straight and narrow, but we want as many of our brothers and sisters to find that path as possible. Christ taught against fornication and adultery, and we believe that includes all sexual relationships besides that of a husband and a wife. We teach and encourage all to obey this commandment, as part of our duty to bring them to Christ. Elder Oaks explains the natural consequences if gay people do not follow the law of chastity: "Those commandments, if they are not adhered to, result in guilt. That guilt is painful to people. There are two solutions to that guilt. One is to disbelieve in God or hold a congress and pretend that you can change God's commandments. The other is to discontinue that kind of conduct to the best of your ability."[18] While the church may not follow the world's approach, we believe that our approach of promoting the commandments of the Lord will help alleviate the guilt people feel by inspiring them to live are higher moral code.
There are people who feel that by promoting this higher moral code, we are rejecting those who do not follow it. Elder Packer responded to this concern as to how it applies specifically to gay people. He said:
"We understand why some feel we reject them. That is not true. We do not reject you, only immoral behavior. We cannot reject you, for you are the sons and daughters of God. We will not reject you, because we love you. You may even feel that we do not love you. That also is not true. Parents know, and one day you will know, that there are times when parents and we who lead the Church must extend tough love when failing to teach and to warn and to discipline is to destroy." [19]
There are many gay members of the church who find the teachings of the church to be encouraging. Elder Wickman explains that this is one of the reasons why the Church teaches about homosexuality: "One of the purposes of that discussion was to try to be hopeful and encouraging to those who do but nonetheless want to conform their lives to what they understand the Lord's teachings to be."[20]
We have no other reason for teaching the law of chastity other than out of love for our fellow man. Joseph Smith once taught that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things cannot produce the faith necessary for salvation. Certainly, we would want both the gay and straight members of the church to be able to produce the faith necessary for salvation. Our eternal family would not be complete without our gay brothers and sisters.
One way that the church helps gay people is by supporting their families, and encouraging them to love and reach out to their family members regardless of how they chose to live their lives. In a 1992 statement to Church leaders, the Church counseled: "If a person with homosexual problems chooses not to change, family members may have difficulty maintaining feelings of love and acceptance toward the person. Encourage them to continue loving the person and hoping that he or she may repent." [21]
This was reiterated by Elder Oaks in 1997: "Surely if we are counseled as a body of Church membership to reach out with love and understanding to those ‘struggling with these issues,’ that obligation rests with particular intensity on parents who have children struggling with these issues... even children who are engaged in sinful behavior associated with these issues" [22]
Families with gay members are strengthened through living the principles of love and respect taught by Jesus Christ and reiterated in the Proclamation to the World on the Family. One woman with a lesbian sister submitted an Ensign article in which she describes how the church has helped her with her relationship with her sister (Leigh). "I know the best thing I can do to have a close relationship with my sister is to have a close relationship with Heavenly Father and His Son. Leigh recently commented that it has been through the way our family has loved her that she has felt what she understood to be God’s love." [23]
One of the best services that we can do for our gay brothers and sisters is to help them feel the love of God through our actions.
While the Church seeks to help all people with their problems, a special call has been issued for members of the Church to help gay people. In 1995, Elder Oaks taught "All should understand that persons (and their family members) struggling with the burden of same-sex attraction are in special need of the love and encouragement that is a clear responsibility of Church members, who have signified by covenant their willingness "to bear one another’s burdens" (Mosiah 18:8) "and so fulfil the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2)."[24] Three years later, President Hinckley echoed Elder Oaks remarks "We want to help these people, to strengthen them, to assist them with their problems and to help them with their difficulties." [25]
There are many ways in which the church helps the gay population. For example, the church is an advocate for employment and housing rights. When Salt Lake City asked the Church for its opinion on whether to pass ordinance to protect gay people from housing and employment discrimination, the Church supported the measure calling it a "common-sense right" and a question of "human dignity".[26] Elder Holland said it could be a model for the rest of Utah.[27]
Statement Given to Salt Lake City Council on Nondiscrimination Ordinances LDS apostle: SLC gay-rights measures could work for state
Beyond the legal protection for gay people, the church has also sought to protect gay people from physical and verbal abuse. Elder Oaks taught "Our doctrines obviously condemn those who engage in so-called "gay bashing"-physical or verbal attacks on persons thought to be involved in homosexual or lesbian behavior."[28]
In addition to protecting gay people from external attacks, the Church also seeks to help them with personal struggles. Mental illness is more common among gay people, and part of it is because of negative stereotypes against gay people. Some gay people try to blame themselves for being gay. The Church tries to bring hope to these people. Elder Holland teaches "No one, including the one struggling, should try to shoulder blame. Nor should anyone place blame on another-including God."[29]
Suicide rates are often higher among gay people. The Church reaches out to them, trying to install hope. Elder Packer teaches "Some are tortured by thoughts of covenants already forsaken and sometimes think of suicide. Suicide is no solution at all. Do not even think of it. The very fact that you are so disturbed marks you as a spiritually sensitive soul for whom there is great hope." (Packer 1990)
B) We fight against HIV/AIDS and other STDS.
"We should extend compassion to persons who suffer from ill health, including those who are infected with HIV or who are ill with AIDS (who may or may not have acquired their condition from sexual relations). We should encourage such persons to participate in the activities of the Church." (Oaks 1995)
C) We work to reduce the suicide rate of our gay brothers and sisters.
"Some are tortured by thoughts of covenants already forsaken and sometimes think of suicide. Suicide is no solution at all. Do not even think of it. The very fact that you are so disturbed marks you as a spiritually sensitive soul for whom there is great hope." (Packer 1990)
D) We oppose aversive therapies, and any other abusive therapies.
The aversive therapies that have been used in connection with same-sex attraction have contained some serious abuses that have been recognized over time within the professions. (Oaks some year) Teach against pressuring people to change and marriage under a lie.
They help them out.
Gay bashing.
Suicide
AIDS
Gay rights
self blame blame parents
teaches not a sin
Elder Oaks taught "It’s no sin to have inclinations that if yielded to would produce behavior that would be a transgression. The sin is in yielding to temptation. Temptation is not unique. Even the Savior was tempted." [30] The pamphlet "God Loveth His Children" encourages gay members to neither blame themselves nor their parents for their attractions.[31]
Other
There was a Georgia Tech gay rights manual that referred to the church as anti-gay. However, a judge ordered that the material be removed because there was no basis for the accusation. ("Judge rules Georgia Tech gay rights manual biased", Associated Press. May 1, 2000) President Hinckley told Larry King in an interview that the church was not anti-gay.
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