Thought-provoking commentary on life, politics, religion and social issues.
When someone says that gay marriage will “destroy the family”, what they mean is that it will force them to change their definition of family. Same goes for the phrase “attack on the family”? The family isn’t under attack. Continue reading “The family isn’t under attack”
I recently found out about another local LGBTQ youth who won’t come out to their Mormon parents. They saw how their older sibling, who is also LGBTQ, was treated. Continue reading What is “destroying the family”?
I recently posted a status update regarding the rhetoric the church uses that leads to homophobia among its members. In some of the comments on that post and on versions others shared of that post, people were denying that this rhetoric exists. I thought I’d take recent examples of general conference talks and Ensign articles to show how homophobia is taught to Latter-day Saints in official ways, even if they are covert or indirect.
Continue reading “Yes, actually, LDS rhetoric does encourage parents to other their LGBTQ children”
Recently, I shared a video on Facebook that discussed the importance of LGBTQ youth receiving family support. Continue reading “Supporting your LGBTQ child isn’t enough”
You know how every time Pride Month comes around with the parades and coloured crosswalks, you start seeing comments like, “I don’t care if you’re gay, just don’t shove your sexuality in my face.”?
?Well, I’ve been thinking about that. Continue reading Why straight people are uncomfortable with gay people
A little over two years ago, Russell M. Nelson was speaking to a group of young single adults during a broadcasted fireside. During part of his remarks, he discussed the “will and mind of the Lord” and used the 2015 policy of exclusion as an example of the “will and mind of the Lord” in action.
I’ve been contemplating his remarks on this second anniversary, and I have a few thoughts, some of which I’ve expressed elsewhere over the last couple of years.
First, here are his remarks. I have left them intact, but have added bold for emphasis. Continue reading “The exclusion policy and the will of God: two years later”
Having two LGBTQ+ children makes me hyper aware of the challenges they face growing up in the LDS church.
Growing up gay in the LDS church is problematic enough. Identifying as a gender outside of the conventional binary of either male or female adds even further complexity to the challenges queer youth face in the church.
The LDS church strongly adheres to the typical gender binary. It’s reflected in their scripture stories, in their temples, in how they approach parenting, in leadership responsibilities, and so on. Segregation of the sexes begins at 8 years old, with boys being shipped off to weekly Cub pack meetings and girls being shuffled to biweekly Activity Days. This segregation continues into adulthood, right to the day one dies.
This is problematic for people who don’t identify as male or female. They feel out of place when forced to segregate, and the discomfort (to put it mildly) can lead them out of the church ultimately.
Few resources are provided to youth leaders to help them address the unique experiences of the non-binary youth they are asked to lead. This goes not only for young men and young women leaders, but bishops and stake presidents, too. So, it’s not surprising, then, that leaders do little to accommodate their non-binary youth.
I reached out to our gender-fluid child, Ash, who will be entering the youth programme next month, and we worked together to compile these 11 tips on how leaders can make non-binary youth feel welcome at church. Continue reading “11 ways leaders can make non-binary youth feel welcome at church”
In 2016, I marched with and organized a group of local Mormons in the Lethbridge Pride Parade. We marched under the Mormons Building Bridges banner.
My reasons for marching were varied. Our child had publicly come out the previous summer. The LDS church had released their divisive and damaging policy update on marriage equality just months before. I thought it might be an act of solidarity to show the local LGBTQ community that some Mormons wanted to be supportive. I also considered that marching openly as a Mormon was an act of protest, co-opting “Mormon” from the church and redefining what it meant to be Mormon.
I realize now that marching was wrong.
Continue reading “Why I was wrong to march with Mormons Building Bridges”
If your Facebook News Feed was anything like mine during the second week of July, you probably saw a lot of posts about Teen Vogue’s article on anal sex. Most of it probably in opposition to the article. There were even progressive voices criticizing it.
But this post isn’t about anal sex. Well, not really.
Last week, I was discussing the article after a Facebook friend posted a popular video of a woman criticizing the article. In this discussion, someone labelled anal sex as unnatural, using phrases like “against how the body is constructed” and “the anal (sic) is not made for that purpose”.
And it’s that idea of nature that I want to discuss. Continue reading ““But it’s not natural . . .””
Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy wrote an article titled “The War Goes On”. It appears in the April 2017 issue of The Ensign, an official publication of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Here is a quote from that article:
“Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, but same-sex marriage is only a counterfeit. It brings neither posterity nor exaltation. Although [Satan’s] imitations deceive many people, they are not the real thing. They cannot bring lasting happiness.”
See? This is just more proof that even in 2017, the LDS church just doesn’t get it. They can think they’re all clever and progressive by dropping the S from mormonsandgays.com, but stuff like this just reiterates how out of touch leaders are on the topic of its LGBTQ members. They literally don’t get it.
There are a few problems with this statement: Continue reading “The LDS church is wrong about same-sex marriage. Again.”