Mormon Church: No Baptism for Children of Same-Sex Couples

The Mormon Church has long been staunchly opposed to same-sex marriage, but Thursday the church took this up a notch.

In an update to its leadership manual, the church announced that it would deny baptism to children of same-sex couples, and for the first time listed same-sex marriage under the definition of apostasy — the rejection of church teachings, reports Salt Lake city’s KUTV.

“A natural or adopted child of a parent living in a same-gender relationship, whether the couple is married or cohabiting, may not receive a name and a blessing,” reads the policy on baptism.

Once those children reach age 18, they can be baptized and become church members if they stop living with parents who are same-sex relationships and take a position opposing such relationships, although this would still require approval of the top church governing body, known as the First Presidency, KUTV reports.

For apostasy, the penalty is up to and including excommunication, which is the severing of all ties to the church. Same-sex marriage will now be listed alongside other actions already considered apostate, such as joining another church and advocating its teachings, or repeatedly advocating any teaching contrary to Mormon doctrine.

A screen shot of the expanded apostasy definition was posted online today, and a church spokesman confirmed to KUTV that it is accurate, along with the policy on baptism of children. Both measures go into effect immediately.

“It is an unfortunate move by the church today,” Randall Thacker, president of Affirmation, a group for LGBT Mormons and their allies, told The Advocate. Neither policy had been codified previously, he said. “It does feel like they’re cutting us further off from the community.”

Thacker said these actions will be “incredibly emotionally damaging” to LGBT Mormons, especially young people just coming to terms with their sexuality, and to parents seeking to support LGBT children.

On the baptism policy, he said, “I do not understand the Jesus Christ who would deny baptism to a child based only on the status of his parents, and I am confounded that a church bearing his name would do so.” The church’s official name is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many same-sex couples, he noted, have brought up children in the LDS Church.

The actions, he added, come after some conciliatory moves by the church, such as supporting an LGBT-inclusive antidiscrimination law in Utah and setting up an outreach website called MormonsAndGays.org. The site, however, repeats the official church teaching that while “same-sex attraction” is not a sin, acting on it is. As for transgender people, the church frowns on gender transition.

The actions also come in a week when a new study indicated that rank-and-file Mormons are becoming more accepting of homosexuality. The Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study, released Tuesday, found that in 2014, 36 percent of Mormon respondents said homosexuality should be accepted by society, up from 24 percent in a corresponding 2007 study. But only 26 percent of Mormon respondents in the 2014 study supported legal same-sex marriage; the question was not asked in 2007.

Thacker added that his purpose with Affirmation “is to help people find a positive path forward in their lives.” With moves like today’s, he said, that path for LGBT people is more and more likely to be outside the LDS Church.

Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/religion/2015/11/05/mormon-church-no-baptism-children-same-sex-couples

Resolved Question: I need a cure for homosexuality Im suicidal & not gonna "accept" this crap Don't give the "it's alright" bs Plz answer youd b saving a life?

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20151105182312AAMtR0Y

That Time Gus Kenworthy Got In Between Andy Cohen And Anderson Cooper

Gus Kenworthy is wasting no time in his effort to become our favorite new gay. Wisely sidestepping the recent (and rather silly) controversy over his Halloween costume, the newly out Olympian attended the Elton John AIDS Foundation dinner earlier this week and bumped into that non-sexual couple Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper. The three dashing gentlemen squeezed in tight for a photo op.

Related: Miley Cyrus Is A Fan Of Out Olympian Gus Kenworthy, And We’re A Fan Of His Naked Instagram Pics

See for yourself and let your fantasies about what happened afterwards run wild.

For dinner at the @ejaf gala they were serving up some silver-fox sandwich realness. Lol! Pleasure to be seated at a table with these two handsome gents.

A photo posted by gus kenworthy (@guskenworthy) on Nov 5, 2015 at 9:55am PST

Jeremy Kinser

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Singer Hozier: The Catholic Church 'Provides a Justification for Homophobia'

In late 2014, Irish singer-songwriter Hozier found his footing on the global stage with his rousing single “Take Me to Church,” and before long, the song and its video railing against LGBT oppression in Russia were both bona fide hits. Eventually the single even earned a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year.

This week Hozier gave his first longform American interview to Kelly Osbourne, who was filling in for host Larry King on Ora TV’s Larry King Live. During their chat, the singer spoke passionately about the plight of LGBT people worldwide and called out the Catholic Church for its centuries-long role in LGBT persecution.

Hozier told Osbourne writing ‘Take Me to Church” was a “human rights thing.”

“What is frightening about Russia is it is not that far from home. Especially if you are in Europe, and cultures like that cross borders. They have done in the past. This kind of scapegoating of and othering of one group in society, that has happened before in the past in Europe not that long ago.”

Hozier also said he wasn’t impressed with Pope Francis’s stance on homosexuality:

“This is one of the paradoxes and weird hypocrisy of that organization. [Pope Francis] came out last year and said, ‘Who am I to judge with regards to somebody’s sexual orientation?’ I think it is important to differentiate between lip service towards something and actually making change. I think it’s hopeful, but saying that in 2015, ‘Who am I to judge?’ is something that you should be saying 100 years ago. It shouldn’t have never been said at all, really.”

He also called out the Catholic Church for institutionalizing homophobia:

“[The Catholic Church] is undeniably an organization that has institutionalized an aversion to homosexuality. One that has institutionalized gender inequality also, dangerous policy over contraception, and in this case, it still harbors an irrational aversion to homosexuality. Which, in my view, I think that is why I was driven to write ‘Take Me to Church.’ I think the church provides a justification for homophobia.”

Watch Hozier’s interview with Osbourne below:

Gina Vivinetto

www.advocate.com/music/2015/11/05/hozier-says-catholic-church-provides-justification-homophobia

A Majority of Christians Are Pro-LGBTQ
The Pew Research Center’s latest polls released Tuesday reveal a reality that is sure to shock many: a majority of Christians in the United States support LGBTQ acceptance in our society.

That’s right, 54 percent of all American Christians as of 2014 believe that sexual and gender minorities should be accepted and normalized in American society. For those, like me, who work as an LGBTQ activist and advocate among conservative Christians communities, these numbers only add further proof to a reality that I have been seeing among Christians for the past few years. But to many these numbers are likely to be shocking because a majority of the most prominent Christian religious denominations still have official stances in opposition to LGBTQ inclusion and equality. What is going on here?

What we are seeing is one of the most dynamic shifts in the religious landscape in American history. We are seeing a stark divide between the leaders of religious denominations and the laypeople who fill the pews every Sunday. We are seeing a stark contrast between the official doctrines of a particular denomination and the lived experience of it’s members. The reality is that nearly 4 percent of the American population identifies as LGBTQ, about 10 million people. This means that it’s likely that everyone knows someone who is LGBTQ. Also, the stories of LGBTQ people have found their way into mainstream media, which has demystified the so-called “gay lifestyle” and shown us as average human beings.

When it comes to the state of Christianity in the U.S., the LGBTQ Christian movement has gained significant traction over the past two years, with dozens of theological books being published on the topic, a number of prominent new pro-LGBTQ ministries have been launched, and LGBTQ affirming Christian churches and leaders stories are being widely covered in the national news media.

A shift is happening and it’s happening quickly. It’s happening because LGBTQ people are demonstrating both our humanity and our faithfulness in very public ways. Religious leaders can no longer stand in a pulpit and proclaim that one cannot be gay and Christian with credibility, because hundreds of thousands of gay Christians are making ourselves visible in our denominations, religious schools, and in broader society. We’re no longer see faith in opposition to our sexual orientation or gender identity. In fact, a recent Pew poll revealed that over 50% of LGBTQ people identify as “Religious”, 48% identifying as Christians.

So what does this mean for the future of Christianity in the United States? It’s hard to say. But what seems clear is that lay Christians are no longer dependent on their denominational leaders for their theological and political views. Instead, they are using the wide array of resources available to them to ask the hard questions and seek the truth about sexuality and gender identity. More than that, they are entering in to relationships with LGBTQ people. We are no longer mythological figures that can easily be demonized; we are your children, friends, co-workers, and religious leaders. As we continue to do life with our straight brothers and sisters, their personal experience is challenging their disembodied theology and the experience is winning. If Christianity is anything, it’s incarnational. It’s about the enfleshed experienced of life lived in community with one another. And it’s in these incarnational communities that transformation and redemption is occurring.

So while it may remain easy for denominational spokespeople and religious leaders to sit high in their office buildings proclaiming non-inclusive theology and bolstering their opposition to LGBTQ rights, their people on the ground are actually doing life with real people in the real world, and that is changing everything.

That’s why Pew’s findings are unsurprising to me. They simply demonstrate the rapidly growing trend that will soon completely dismantle how Christian’s think about sexuality and gender identity.

A growing number of Christians are realizing that queer love is real love, and that to deny the power of love is to deny something fundamental to our faith. When reality and theology clash, reality will always win out. This is what is fundamentally transforming the way Christians view LGBTQ relationships and this is what will fundamentally reshape the positions of our religious institutions forever.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Open Question: Conservatives and liberals what can we do to limit Lgbt rights?
We need to limit and suppress Lgbt people As they are ruining America. We should have power over them and their disgusting attitude.

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20151105171656AAKwoIy

Out Rugby Stud Keegan Hirst Heads Down To The Basement For Steamy Photo Shoot

Freshly-out rugby star Keegan Hirst is no stranger to suggestive photo shoots.

It was just a few days after the athlete revealed he is gay that someone dug up a past shoot he’d done wearing nothing but a well-positioned ball.

Related: Rugby Star Comes Out, Talks Years Of Struggle: “I Tick Every Macho Box. How Could I Be Gay?”

In a new shoot for Attitude, Hirst reveals more than just skin — as an out professional athlete, he’s a symbol of hope to LGBTQ youth and closeted athletes that homophobia can and will by pried away from sports.

Of course, the skin is nice, too.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes preview of the shoot:

A photo posted by Attitude magazine (@attitudemag) on Nov 4, 2015 at 7:59am PST

Dan Tracer

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Politicians Condemn Palm Springs Attack on Gay Couple

On the eve of the city’s Pride Weekend, messages of support are pouring in as are calls of condemnation of the attack on two prominent gay residents of Palm Springs, Calif., reports The Desert Sun.

George and Chris Zander were assaulted in downtown Palm Springs around 8 p.m. Sunday, police said. Chris Zander suffered a concussion and lacerations to his head. His husband, George, broke a hip. George has been active in the Palm Springs LGBT community for decades and currently works as a field manager with Equality California.

Congressman Raul Ruiz and out Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet are calling on police to swiftly investigate the incident and arrest the two men responsible.

“Hate crimes against an LGBT individual — or anyone in our community — is a hate crime against our entire community and it will not be tolerated,” Ruiz wrote in a statement issued Monday night.

“This kind of discrimination will not be tolerated,” said Mayor Pougnet. “We have worked very hard to make sure our residents and visitors feel safe as they work and play in our city.” Organizers of Greater Palm Springs Pride expect as many as 175,000 people in their typically gay-friendly city starting Friday.

“We feel so safe here, and it’s a wake-up call that we are not as safe as we think,” said Ruth Debra, chair of the Desert Stonewall Democrats, a local LGBT advocacy group in which George Zander has been active. “This was very specifically a hate crime.”

Palm Springs are indeed investigating the incident as a felony hate crime, since detectives believe the men were targeted because they are gay, according to a statement from spokesman Lt. Mike Kovaleff.

This is the second time this year criminals have targeted LGBT people.

Chris Zander told the Sun he and his husband were holding hands as they left Hunters Nightclub, a popular gay bar, Sunday evening.

He said a man bumped into them on their way out and shouted a slur at them. Chris remembered replying, “That’s totally uncalled for.” He said the man responded by pulling him down by his shirt before running away.

The Zanders went on their way, but Chris told the paper that man returned with at least one other man, and one of them hit him on the head with an object, possibly a bottle. He blacked out and later learned that George was pushed to the ground and fractured his hip. 

“It was complete anger, it was just anger,” said Chris, who choked up as he recounted the incident Monday to the Sun. “I don’t understand why somebody would push a 71-year-old man over. It makes me want to cry every time I talk about it.”

Police don’t have much to go on. The attackers are described as a white male adult with a stocky build and red hair, the other only as a white male adult. They drove from the scene in a sedan-type vehicle, according to a statement issued by police.

“Even in the most accepting of places, hate crimes are committed against LGBT people,” Mike Thompson, CEO of the LGBT Community Center of the Desert, said in an email to the Sun. “George has worked tirelessly throughout his career to ensure that those who are most marginalized in our communities are protected.”

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/crime/2015/11/05/politicians-condemn-palm-springs-attack-gay-couple

A Letter to the Christians in Houston Who Opposed HERO
Dear Christians Voters in Houston who opposed HERO,

I am writing to you today with a deeply grieved heart. Deep in my spirit, I can hear the words of Jesus as he gave his life on the cross saying, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” (Luke 23:34) In a very real sense, you have chosen to reject Christ and have stood for his oppression and marginalization in your city, because Christ is found not behind the mighty pulpits of your churches or in the faces of the politicians you admire, but in those who your society marginalizes and fears the most — sexual and gender minorities. These are hard words, to be sure, but they are words that I feel must be spoken.

As your brother in Christ and as a queer-identified individual, I look on at the decision you have made to reject the HERO Proposition and see it as a wholesale rejection of the Gospel of Christ. Jesus said that his Gospel was “good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, liberation to the captive, and jubilee for all people.” (Luke 4:18-19) He spent his time raising up those who the religious leaders viewed as unclean. He spoke harsh words, words about hellfire and judgment, not about the minorities in his society, but about the religious elite who felt they had a commission from God to keep those minorities oppressed.

Your choice to reject the HERO was a choice to side with power, privilege, and the religious elite. It was a choice to side against the Kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed.

Now, I know that you believe that this ordinance was more about your religious freedoms than it was about human rights or equality. I know that your pastors and politicians have convinced you that it is part of a broader agenda to force Christians to conform to the desires of the secular society or face persecution at the hands of the government. I know that you think this ordinance was part of a plan that would jeopardize the safety of your children. I know that this victory feels like a win for your “Judeo-Christian values.” I really do understand your perspective.

But I also want you to know that much of what you have been told is patently false. There has been misinformation spread to your pastors and religious leaders by politicians who are less interested in opposing equal rights and more about making a political statement. We live in a day where politicians regularly deceive religious leaders in order to further their own agendas and it is clear that this is what’s happened in Houston. This is why as citizens (and even more so as Christians), we must be thoughtful with our voting. We must not simply accept what others tells us from pulpits or on television, but from actually taking time to understand the issues, so that we can make decisions with integrity, based on fact and not based on political misinformation.

Here are some facts: (I’d encourage you to do the work to verify this information!) Texas is one of a number of states that doesn’t offer protections to sexual and gender minorities from discrimination. However, a number of major cities around your state have chosen to extend protections against discrimination that the average citizen is afforded to LGBTQ citizens. These protections aren’t “special protections.” They’re basic, fundamental rights that you would want for yourself and anyone you cared about. Rights to not be fired from your job because someone didn’t agree with your religious beliefs or political views. Rights to not be refused housing because someone is prejudiced against your ethnicity or faith. These are rights that all citizens should have. But in Houston, LGBTQ people arent explicitly protected and therefore face the possibility of discrimination because of their sexuality or gender identity.

The HERO was meant to extend these explicit protections to sexual and gender minorities. (As well as everyone who lives in Houston, for that matter) That’s it. Nothing more and nothing less. It simply means that buisnesses and government agencies are not permitted to discriminate against anyone. But now that you have voted HERO down, there is a greater possibility that discrimination can occur in your city with little to no legal consequence. And that is simply not right. It doesn’t align with Christian values nor does it align with American values.

Yet, because many of the citizens of Houston have been deceived, believing that this legislation was meant to allow men to enter women bathrooms for whatever reason they desired. That’s simply not the case, and shows a fundamental lack of understanding about transgender identity. Many believed that this was meant to make it easier for the government to harass churches and pastors who didn’t employ or endorse same-sex relationships. That’s also not the case. This ordinance was simply and truly a human rights ordinance extending protection and dignity to the vulnerable. But, in the minds of many Houston voters, it was turned into just another issue in a culture war against “the liberals.”

Today is a sad day for the city of Houston. It’s a sad day for our nation. Today, the fundamental dignity and humanity of sexual and gender minorities has been desecrated by a number of Houston voters, many of whom identify as followers of Jesus. As I think about this sad reality, I hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah, who said:

You don’t know how to live in peace or to be fair with others. The roads you make are crooked; your followers cannot find peace… Injustice is everywhere; justice seems far away. Truth is chased out of court; honesty is shoved aside. (Isaiah 59:8 & 15)

We are that wicked nation who does not know how to be fair. We are the ones walking a crooked road. Injustice in the name of our God is indeed everywhere. May all followers of Jesus heed the words of our God, spoken afresh to us today. May we turn from our ways of injustice and from our crooked paths to the way of righteousness. The way of justice and truth for all people. That is our only hope.

Sincerely,

Brandan Robertson

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