Several news outlets blew up my phone this morning announcing that the Mormon Church will allow children of LGBTQ+ couples to be baptized effective immediately. This news is especially relevant to our class given our recent reading focused on the relationship between religion, morality, and homosexuality.
Although this news is a move in the right direction, the statement released by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says, "While we still consider such a marriage to be a serious transgression, it will not be treated as apostasy for purposes of Church discipline" (NYT). I'm not sure what to make of this. Although the Mormon church has repealed an intolerant policy, it remains generally intolerant of LGBTQ people and their rights. It would be even better if the Mormon church found no issues of morality with LGBTQ people and their sexual/gender identity- perhaps that's another feat for a later point in time.
This is so interesting...In the wake of the Brunei law allowing stoning as punishment for gay sex, it makes me think about how gay rights and liberation is not, and has not been, constantly upward sloping line. There are occasional progressive moves forward, such as this example with the Mormon church (although I agree Kai, that this is hardly much more tolerant than their previous stance) but in other parts of the world and in different societies, the LGBTQ community still faces extreme obstacles.
ReplyDeleteI also think it's interesting that it's a rule about the *children* of LGBT couples being baptized, but nothing about LGBT couples themselves. There seems to be some sort of connotation that the children cannot be blamed for the sins their parents committed
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