The Mormon Church announced Friday morning it will be adding a session to its April 2016 General Conference. The new session will be targeted at LGBT Mormons and will be held Friday, April 1, 2016, at 4:17 A.M MST.

Speaking on behalf of the Church’s leadership, spokesman Daniel Renault said, “The establishment of a special session of Conference specifically for same-sex-attraction-trial-suffering Mormons reflects a recognition on the part of the Church that they need help.” Like the other sessions of the Conference, he explained, “the messages shared during this session will focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but they will have a more particular emphasis on Jesus’ primary message, the importance of respecting ancient interpretations of scripture and avoiding overly expansive or excessively inclusive applications of doctrine.” Continue reading →

Screenshot from interview

In the process of compiling a somewhat-comprehensive list of official LDS statements on LGBT issues, I have come across a few recordings for which I could not find full transcripts. One of those is the Trib Talk from 29 January 2015, between the Salt Lake Tribune’s Jennifer Napier-Pearce and Elders Oaks and Christofferson, discussing the Church’s “Fairness for All” news conference from two days prior. Here is my transcript of the interview. Continue reading →

Our ward newsletter has a “Testimony Corner” where a ward member briefly shares their personal feelings about the Gospel. I was selected to share my testimony in the Easter issue. I don’t always feel comfortable responding to such requests because I rarely use the word “testimony” to name my convictions, and I don’t believe many of the things that other Mormons believe. But I do care about many of the same things that other Mormons care about, and I appreciate the challenge of identifying those common things and celebrating them. I shared this: Continue reading →

True or false?  “The Mormon church has a policy that mandates the excommunication of any member of the church who enters into a same-sex marriage.”

False.

The church’s policy requires that members of the church who enter into same-sex marriages meet with their ecclesiastical leaders to discuss their standing in the church (a conversation known, unfortunately, as a “disciplinary council”). As Elder D. Todd Christofferson clarified, the policy “means the discipline is mandatory — [it] doesn’t dictate outcomes but it dictates that discipline is needed in those cases.” The only mandatory requirement is a conversation.

Period. Continue reading →

Am I ready?

[She smiles.] That is for you to decide. [His fingers brush a few wispy hairs from my forehead.]

I am.

Yes, you are. [They glance at each other, then at me. A wave rolls through the air and passes through my chest.]

Tell me again about the World. Continue reading →

Elder Holland held a Face to Face event yesterday evening (for background on previous Face to Face events, see my recent post), during which he responded to a series of questions, including a final two-part question about same-gender attraction. This is a transcript I made of the question(s) and response. I make no guarantees about the accuracy of the transcript, but you can check my work by viewing the video yourself here. This question begins around the 1:13:24 mark. Continue reading →

Over the last two years, the church has produced a series of “Face to Face” events for youth, consisting of conversations with Mormon celebrities or ecclesiastical leaders. The first one was with David Archuleta in June 2014, and so far there have been a total of five, with a sixth coming up next week. This is the full list:

From event page for Face to Face with Jeffrey Holland

• David Archuleta, June 24, 2014: Video
• Lindsey Stirling, November 25, 2014: Video
• David and Susan Bednar, May 12, 2015: Video
• The Piano Guys, October 20, 2015: Video
• Ronald Rasband, Bonnie Oscarson, and Stephen Owen, January 20, 2016: Video
• Jeffrey Holland, March 8, 2016: Upcoming[1]

During each event, part of the discussion is used to respond to questions that have been submitted from around the world, either on the official event page or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using #LDSface2face. The questions submitted through the official event page are posted for public viewing, and they make for fascinating reading. My focus here is on the questions submitted to ecclesiastical leaders related to homosexuality. Continue reading →

Much has been said over the last few days about Elder Bednar’s recent comments regarding homosexual members of the Mormon church. I will not re-post the original footage here, but I would like to pass on some timely thoughts, shared by an anonymous friend, that I particularly appreciate. Whether or not you agree with every word, I hope you will appreciate as I do the thoughtfulness with which my friend addressed the issue.

It is certainly essential to identify irresponsible or harmful ideas. It is also important to develop the ability to process difficult moments, which will inevitably always be a part of life, in a way that enables us maintain inner peace. We must take the time to recognize the simultaneous humanity and divinity in all people, and to hold to what is good and let go of what is not. There is no “right” way of addressing these moments, and each of us with our own temperaments must respond as best we know how. This is one response. Continue reading →

Giving us a moment to rest in the shade on an oppressively hot August afternoon, our Cambodian tour guide began to recount one of his favorite childhood stories. A practicing Buddhist, he was raised on a body of scripture and myth I had never heard. His religious beliefs are different from mine, with ideas about afterlife(s), ritual, and ethics that strike me as foreign. He is one of the kindest, most genuine people I have known, and I think his character has a lot to do with his foundational stories, like the following one he shared with four exhausted white Americans in the middle of an ancient Buddhist temple complex: Continue reading →

When I was in Primary, I often heard stories about the warm feelings from the Holy Ghost that teach true principles and indicate right behavior. Such stories appear frequently in the Friend, an official Mormon magazine for young children. I found a couple of examples to provide as a sample:

• A New Feeling, by Francislaine Urquidi Farfan Vasser (Friend Magazine, September 2015)
• I Felt the Holy Ghost, by Yichen, age 6, Taiwan (Friend Magazine, June 2014)
• Question Corner (Friend Magazine, October 2012)

These stories are heartwarming and adorable. They teach a powerful concept–that there is something inside each of us that testifies of goodness and truth. That small children are able to experience and recognize this is remarkable. Continue reading →