Eye-rolling news out of Utah: the Church of Latter-Day Saints has issued a formal opposition to a proposed statewide ban on conversion therapy.
The move marks a complete reversal of an earlier stance when the LDS church said it would not oppose similar measures earlier this year. The official position of the church now says the proposed bill doesn’t contain enough religious exemption, or the “important realities of gender identity in the development of children.”
Related: The President of the Mormon Church lashes out against marriage equality…yet again
Supporters of the ban decried the move by the church, which has a long and sordid history homophobia. “It’s a fear tactic, and it’s a control tactic,” said conversion therapy survivor Justin Utley. Now age 41, Utley says he attempted suicide after attending conversion therapy sponsored by the LDS church. “They have once again interjected themselves in a discussion that they have no business being involved in. This is about mental health, it’s not about getting an exemption for mistreating people.”
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The sudden reversal by the church comes after a top elder, Dallin H. Oaks, admitted that the faith doesn’t understand “why same-sex attraction and confusion about sexual identity occur.” He also remarked that gender assigned at birth is “essential to the plan of salvation.”
Despite Oaks’ comments, polls show 85% of Utah residents support the bill, as does Governor Gary Herbert, himself a Mormon. As a practice, conversion therapy has been widely denounced within the medical and psychiatric communities as ineffective and extremely damaging to patients.
baggins435
I just left Utah last year after living there since 1999. Virtually nothing happens in the Utah Legislature without the blessing of the LDS church. There are closed door sessions with church representatives before any changes in the liquor laws and nothing happened with LGBT rights until the church said it was ok. Sex ed in schools is a joke. It is basically “no sex until you are married to a person of the opposite sex.” And no mentioning of birth control or gay sex at all. There are still Mormons who won’t let their kids play with or date non-LDS kids.
MacAdvisor
Some 62% of the population of Utah are active member of the Church of Latter Day Saints. That is nearly 2/3rds of the population and I bet more than 2/3rds of the voting population. In a democracy, those kind of numbers gives one rather strong control.
djmcgamester
The Mormons have never been our friends. Plus, the foundations of their religion are demonstrably false. Dates just don’t like up.
MacAdvisor
Demonstrably false has never hampered any religion.
frankcar1965
Too bad some painful hemorrhagic syndrome like Ebola would run rife through all the Mormons and kill them all. Maybe there’s some genetic susceptibility that only affects the nasty child molesting Mormons.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Please watch “Latter Days”
Just to pizz off these scratchy underwear wearing abhorrent noxious pukes!!
It’s a nice little GAY MORMAN LOVE STORY. And if you aren’t crying like a little girl in restaurant scene where Christian sees Aaron after thinking he committed suicide (not a spoiler), you simply do not have a heart…
MacAdvisor
“Latter Days” is one of my all time favorite gay films. I have seen it 50 times at least and still cry at the restaurant scene towards the end when Elder Aaron arrives. Every. Single. Time.
Cam
The Mormons are all about appearances too. They will arrange to have members vote on blogs or sites to makes sure anything Mormon is rated highly.
They also had the church owned Newspaper, the Deseret News run multiple bad reviews of the Movie “Latter Days” to try to bring down it’s score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Oh yeah, and they spent over $100 million in money and time fighting against LGBT rights in California and they funded NOM which pushed multiple bigoted bills in nearly every state in the country.
Cam
If you want to know how strongly the LDS church tries to bribe it’s way into insidiously fighting against rights…they have even somehow managed to apparently bribe HRC into putting up a site encouraging LGBT people to come back to the church, even though the church expels them for being open.
https: //www .hrc.org/resources/coming-home-to-mormonism-and-to-self?fbclid=IwAR1dtt3QInl6UaMw7W8l7gC7lyhg5_18UMZMFZpCYEuSFNPfVnzhl82hVIg
GayEGO
How disgusting and backwards of the Mormon Church, especially when 9 out of 10 gays arrested back in 1955 in Boise, Idaho, were Mormons! This president should be called a Moron!