From Deseret News archives:
Criticism, praise for LDS pamphlet
"The part that's so difficult for me is that the subject matter is human beings who have a heart and a soul," says Valerie Larabee, executive director of the Utah Pride Center. "If your choice is to toe the line or be cast out of the only thing you know and the thing your parents live for, it can leave you desperate. It's why we have such a high suicide rate."
The pamphlet, "God Loveth His Children," was posted this week on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Web site. It acknowledges that some people may continue to have same-sex attractions "in this life" and states that "no member of the Church should ever be intolerant." But the pamphlet emphasizes that acting on same-sex attractions is a sin.
It encourages people with same-sex attraction not to choose friends who "publicly display their homosexual feelings" and not to "flaunt homosexual tendencies or make them the subject of unnecessary observation or discussion."
That advice interferes with tolerance and understanding, says Will Carlson, manager of public policy for Equality Utah.
While on the one hand it's good that the church understands that same-sex attraction is not a choice, Carlson says, the church now seems to view it as a disease. "At its core, the pamphlet is of the opinion that having the attraction is a weakness or a problem or an illness, and that's incorrect. ... The diversity of the human experience is not something we should hide."
The pamphlet, which can be found at www.lds.org (click on "gospel library"), assures that "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."
But the flip side of that, says Larabee, is the inference that "if you choose to be gay 100 percent, inevitably what's ahead of you is unhappiness. It's an uneducated way to portray GLBT people in our world.
"There are people who will read this document and will use it as a tool to continue to create separateness in their families, because being gay does not lead you to eternal life. It isn't a document that teaches you how to be loving," she says.
"I firmly believe God loves all his children for exactly who they are," she says. It's important to acknowledge, she adds, "many different kinds of families exist, and they're wonderful and spiritual families."
Larabee says she would like to see "a way for (LDS) bishops to have an educational dialogue about what it's like to deal with GLBT issues as a youth, and what happens if you don't allow youth to speak about their feelings."
E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com
