This weekend, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will hold their semiannual pow wow to discuss how else they can infringe upon the rights of gay Americans. (They do other stuff, too, we’re sure.) That same weekend? The Foundation for Reconciliation (which tries to bring the church and gays together) will hold a different sort of event: a memorial service for gay Mormons who took their own lives, often because they couldn’t reconcile their sexuality with their faith. Organizers were hoping to let Mormons know about the event by advertising in local Salt Lake newspapers. Except one of those papers, the Deseret News, happens to be owned by the Mormon Church. Guess that explains why the ad was rejected?
In an email trail provided by the Foundation for Reconciliation, the org’s executive director Cheryl Nunn is now publicly voicing her frustration with the church’s ad censorship. And because Nunn says her group already paid for the ad, LDS is in breach of contract. She writes the media buying agency MediaOne:
I am so disappointed that The LDS Church has chosen to not print my ad about the Memorial Service in the Deseret News.
Can you please reply with the contact name and information of the person who made this decision so I can ask them to clarify their concerns?
If I cannot advertise in both newspapers it does not make financial sense for me to run the ad in the Tribune alone. Our Memorial Service attendance should not be penalized because the LDS Church made a decision not to run my ad in the Deseret News.
Really, the bottom line is that I feel our contract has been breached. I placed an ad, believed that it was accepted and then after I was charged for publishing in both papers, I was informed that my ad was refused by the Deseret News without any reason and would not be published in that paper as I had been told. Therefore, I would like to pull my ad from the Tribune as well and receive a full refund this week.
It’s likely she’ll receive that refund, and the matter will end there. That’s because it’s standard practice for publishers to include in their advertising contracts a right to review and refuse advertisements for any reason. (This website includes such terms with its advertisers.) It’s an unfortunate circumstance, but really, the situation has paid off in free publicity: The group’s memorial service will receive much more press (i.e. this post) for its weekend memorial service by not being allowed to run the ad.
And really, is anyone terribly surprised the LDS Church is not in the business of promoting Mormons who killed themselves over their sexuality?
How about we take this to the next level?
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adamblast
The Mormon Church is so incredibly repressive that LDS teens kill themselves not only over being gay, but even over *masturbating*. It’s the one and only, genuine, original, Stepford religion.
Common Sense
Come on really now?…..
So are you trying to say that there are a disproportionate number of gay mormons that kill themselves versus, gay catholics, gay baptist, gay jews, gay muslims etc? Or is the mormon church just an easier target.
I agree with you that it is a terrible tradgedy that someone would feel compelled to kill themselves over the conflict of their lifestyle versus their faith, but isn’t that a bigger problem that with just the mormons. Should you also honor the gay catholics, jews, muslims etc?
By being so narrowly focused, you are really doing a disservice to a much larger issue. An issue that is bigger that what you are trying to highlight in the mormon church. This is a world wide issue. I have two aunts and a cousin that are gay and none of them are mormon, but they have had to face so many of these same issues in their own faiths. By focusing so much on one Church’s beliefs, you only shine a very small candle light on an issue that is better served with a flood light. Get off your personal agendas with the mormons and if you really want to cause some real change, focus on the larger picture, otherwise you are just seen as mormon bashers and you fall into a crowd of people that are not being taken seriously.
Republican
common sense,
I have a lot of relatives who are mormon. For the most part, they are wonderful, educated, and beautiful people. It has been hard the past year to hear so many half-truths spread about the LDS Church.
However, one thing is certainly true. Mormon life revolves around being mormon much more than almost any other church I know. The mormons have tons of dances, basketball games, potlucks, etc. You may say, “So what? The others have those kinds of events, too.” Yes, but participation is expected at a level that is not expected elsewhere. As a young mormon person, you WILL go meet other young mormons on nights for singles. You WILL fall in love with another mormon. You WILL… And that’s the problem.
Because mormon life revolves so much around being mormon, young gay mormons are particularly vulnerable. They know that if they come out that they will lose everything. Not just their church, but their entire social circle and quite possibly their family. Their life as they know it will be over. Some are able to handle that transition just fine, but others cannot.
adamblast
common sense, no one here is claiming the Mormon church to be unique among religions in posing a danger to their gay adolescents. But yes, the problem in their church is qualitatively more dangerous than most.
The fact that most religions oppress gays doesn’t mean they all do it the same way or to the same extent. Some religions *are* worse than others. It’s certainly more dangerous to life and limb to be a gay Muslim than a gay Mormon. But it’s probably more dangerous to mental health and self-worth to be a gay Mormon than any common religion practiced in the US.
golow
Mormons are just doing what they need to do.
They have every right to their oppinion as anyone else…what else is new?
We need a new subject.
Jim
You must not have done much background. The ad execs and editors are responsible for what ads to run in a newspaper, not the owner. Or didn’t you know? The Salt Lake Tribune is also owned by the LDS Church.
Oh the Pointlessness of It All
“Common Sense,” get your head out of the ground. You are lost in a circus cult con game. If the Mormon “church” weren’t so rich, it would be a punch line on a late-night comedy show.
Evan
Indeed, the ‘pointlessness’ of it all.
A particularly pathetic article, and one which is clearly deluded into thinking it is more important that it is in reality.
Anyone reading this who is not an idiot would be lying if they didn’t conclude that the author is merely another angry gay seeking to spread divisivness and hatred whenever possible, oh, just like the gay ‘tolerance’ riots after getting whipped in Proposition 8.
A most interesting fact is that until the 20th century, there was no actual ‘gay’ identity. This belies the ‘gay’ lie that has been pushed onto so many in the west, that gays are ‘born that way’. There is no evidence, either historical or scientific to prove this.
Josh
@Evan: “Indeed, the ‘pointlessness’ of it all.”
Really? Gay teens kill themselves and you consider it “pointless?”
Christians preach and teach that homosexuals are wrong, sinful and deviant. In addition to that belief preventing our equality – it kills hundreds of young gays and lesbians a year.
You must be a Mormon or another brand of Christian. That makes you the “enemy.”
Brian
Religion kills a lot of people. The particular denomination really doesn’t matter. They all make LGBT wrong and defective. Disposable, if you will. Try finding a religion that doesn’t make gays “wrong.” Good luck.
jessi
@Evan: The mormon religion wasn’t founded until the 1800’s, which is well after many other religions were formed. Christianity wasn’t even the first religion. Before that people from Greece and Rome believed in a bunch of Olympian Gods. There was also same-sex relations between younger and older men. If same sex attraction didn’t exist before, then why does the bible (written thousands of years ago) forbid it? Ha, there goes your theory smart one! Just like it forbids people from eating pork and shellfish and thousands of other stupid laws, but HEY Incest is OKAY since it happens alot in the bible. Right? I mean after Lot and his two daughters walked away from Sodam and Gohmorrah they had sex in a cave. So do you have sex with your mother? You have a very twisted way of thinking. You can’t just take parts of the bible and use them to deny something you disagree with and not others.
Peter
Evan, Evan Evan,, Wake up. Read some history. Even ancient history. Gay people have been around for ever. Its just that in days before the 400’s AD, no one had decided that it was a good “money maker” to go after the homosexuals. AND in many civilizations, homosexuals were looked upon as desirable addition to the group.
Every political or religious group “needs” something or someone to demonize in order to get donations and a common ‘fear’ to hold their group together. “Hell” is a perfect ‘fear’, and “homosexuality” is and excellent device to keep it alive during the years of one’s life before the idea of ‘death’ and where one will end up, becomes a focus.
PK
I suspect that the reason the add was not published is because it is in conflict with the values that readers expect. The Deseret News has a socially conservative feel to it. If this add is published, then maybe they will publish adds for gay singles and after awhile, the Deseret News will look like a San Francisco paper.
Sherri K
Utah holds the #10 spot in the nation for number of suicides each year. Suicide is the #2 cause of death in the state, and the LEADING cause of death in men ages 14 – 40.
Don’t you think there’s something up with that statistic, and that 40% of those suicides (who actually know the reason) stem from gay/lesbian issues and the church. Not mormon bashing, just a plain statistic. And beings that an overwhelming majority of the state is mormon, and the legislature is all mormon, you’d have to agree that its pretty difficult to escape the church’s footprint on your doorstep, even if you’re not LDS.
Vo Dong Cung
Sherri K, Is it looklike Mormon government not US government, right?
ben hughes
why do you queers care what a church and a people who worship God and not another prick or asshole??
Live your life and let Mormons and other live their lives.
Or move to Iran and see what gets cut off
Ben