Mormon LGBTQ dilemma:

Sharman Hunter Wilson shared a link. Nov 17, 2015 6:09pm

#15 HANDBOOK OF INSTRUCTIONS POLICY CHANGES outinzion.org This podcast was made after the first version of the policy was made public, before the partially softened version. If you care how policies made with good intentions can adversely affect people, listen and weep. Please consider that there happen to be many LGBTQ Mormons who still believe and who love the church. If they did not have to choose between a beloved life companion and the saving ordinances of the church, they would feel safe to return to their spiritual home and family, and to raise their children here. Before the policy change, even when they themselves couldn't participate fully, they wanted their children to be a part of the family. Now, we are disowning these parents and refusing the gifts they have to offer, which are amazing and needed. We are calling them super-apostates, whose "life-style" is so aberrant and abhorrent that they cannot be trusted to bring their children up in a way that wouldn't drive a huge wedge between them and the church. (Have we ever actually been around any non-traditional families?). Since it's obvious these families are beyond the pale, it would surely be best if we not complicate things even more for these poor kids. OK, that's enough snarkiness. Anyway, such a policy might make sense when parents vehemently disagree with each other about this, but we already have a clear policy stating that children need the permission of both parents to be baptized. How is it that we feel we must especially protect children of gay couples from the "inevitable" confusion and disharmony that would result from a church upbringing, even when the parents are pleading for them to be included? I can't wrap my head or my heart around that argument. Our theology has one of the most generous, expansive, universal, and loving views of salvation. Can't we adjust our policies to reflect the very best of Mormonism instead of painting ourselves into a miserly, narrow, and cold hearted corner?