In a rare press conference at the Mormon Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, a Church Spokesman called for a truce with LGBT groups.
Well, a partial one anyway. Mormon leaders pledged to support anti-discrimination laws for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people, as long the laws also protect the rights of religious groups. In exchange, the Mormon Church wants gay rights advocates — and the government — to back off some of their very questionable practices.
“When religious people are publicly intimidated, retaliated against, forced from employment or made to suffer personal loss because they have raised their voice in the public square, donated to a cause or participated in an election, our democracy is the loser,” said Elder Dallin Oaks, a member of the church’s Quorum of Twelve Apostles. “Such tactics are every bit as wrong as denying access to employment, housing or public services because of race or gender.”
However Tuesday’s announcement doesn’t change church doctrine, including its opposition to gay marriage, Mormon leaders said. “But we are suggesting a way forward in which those with different views on these complex issues can together seek solutions that will be fair to everyone,” said Elder D. Todd Christofferson, a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, one of the church’s top tiers of leadership.
Let we forget Mormons have fought the legalisation of same-sex marriage, and the pernicious PROP 8 to strike it down in California was a Mormon-backed referendum
