LDS Church urged to soften gay stance

A group of current and former Mormons who are at odds with the church's position on gay marriage and its political activism to ban it has launched a Web site asking the faith to soften its stance.

The site, www.ldsapology.org, includes a petition for reconciliation that calls on leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to end what it says are hurtful anti-gay policies and its involvement in anti-gay politics and fundraising.

Janeen Thompson, a site organizer from Boulder Creek, Calif., said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that the petition is a direct reaction to Mormon Church involvement in a coalition that worked last fall to pass Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California's state constitution.

A May ruling by the California Supreme Court upheld the vote.

Church spokeswoman Kim Farah said Monday that the church had no comment on the site.

As of Monday, 162 individuals had signed the petition. Thompson said signatures will be gathered through the fall and organizers plan to deliver the petition to the church's Salt Lake headquarters Nov. 4, which is the anniversary of the 2008 Proposition 8 vote.

— Associated Press