300 Mormons March in Utah Gay Pride Parade, Implications for Closet Jehovah's Witnesses

by Scott77 48 Replies latest social current

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  Scott77

  What are implication from this article for the Watchtower Jehovah's Witnesses LGBT Members who are still in closet?

  Scott77

  June 3, 2012 9:31 PM

  • PRINT
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  300 Mormons march in Utah Gay Pride Parade

  Mormons Building Bridges marches in the annual Gay Pride Parade through downtown Salt Lake City, Sunday, June 3, 2012. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Scott Sommerdorf)

  (AP) SALT LAKE CITY - More than 300 Mormon church members who are not gay drew shouts of approval and tears from spectators while marching in the Utah Gay Pride Parade in downtown Salt Lake City.

  The Mormons say they sought to send a message of love to Utah's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community by joining the annual parade Sunday. Their participation marked the first time such a large group of Mormons took part in the parade, organizers said.

  The Mormons, dressed in their Sunday best, included fathers carrying their children on their shoulders and mothers pushing strollers, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

  Nevin Munson, 13, carried a sign that said: "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

  "I'm very saddened by the amount of hate in the world," he said, adding discrimination against gays and lesbians exists around the world. "I don't believe in that — they're humans."

  Emily Vandyke, 50, carried a sign with the words from a Mormon children's song: "I'll walk with you, I'll talk with you. That's how I'll show my love for you."

  Along the parade route, she embraced a weeping woman who said, "Thank you."

  "I haven't recognized them as equals," Vandyke told the Tribune. "They have been invisible to me."

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  Parade grand marshal Dustin Lance Black, an Academy Award-winning screenwriter, tweeted: "In tears. Over 300 straight, active Mormons showed up to march with me at the Utah Pride parade in support of LGBT people."

  Holly Nelson, a 38-year-old lesbian from Murray, also had tears in her eyes, as the Mormons walked past.

  "I think it's amazing," she said. "It's been so hard to live in Utah knowing the Mormon church is against the gay community."

  While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not consider same-sex attraction a sin, it only regards sexual relations within the marriage of a man and a woman as acceptable.

  Some spectators said their homosexuality caused them to leave the church, and they might have remained members had the faith been more tolerant.

  "I lost everything I loved because I came out," said Carolyn Ball, a 48-year-old lesbian from West Jordan.

  The participation of the church members was organized by a newly formed group calling itself Mormons Building Bridges.

  Erika Munson, the group's founder and a mother of five from Sandy, said the success of the event reflected the "deep wounds" in the community. Organizers hope it marks the beginning of a grassroots movement, she added.

  "We want to inspire other Mormons at the local level to do things for their LGBT brothers and sisters," Munson said.

  Internet link at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57446320/300-mormons-march-in-utah-gay-pride-parade/
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  MrFreeze

  I wonder how quickly the LDS will bring the hammer down on these people? Could you imagine if some JW's did this?
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  Scott77

  I wonder how quickly the LDS will bring the hammer down on these people? Could you imagine if some JW's did this?
  MrFreeze

  I think, you have raised an important question worthy of our response.

  Scott77
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  Quendi

  This was a wonderful event and thanks for sharing it with us, Scott77. What effect will it have on the ruling clique in Brooklyn? It is difficult to say but I think they probably looked on in worried fascination. The rising tide of acceptance of LGBT people in the United States is becoming more evident every day and as I've stated elsewhere it is only a matter of time before DOMA and bans against same-sex marriage will be struck down as unconstitutional. Of course, same-sex marriage is legal in other countries, including the U.S.'s northern neighbor Canada. And New York, the home base of the WTS, has also sanctioned it along with several other states.

  What interests me is the fact that for many years there has been a clandestine but thriving gay community in Brooklyn Bethel. During Nathan Knorr's tenure as WTS president, he made determined attempts to uproot and destroy it. Still, despite all his efforts, that group has survived. That has to be frustrating to the present-day Governing Body. Whether there are other "cells" at Patterson and Wallkill I can't say, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were.

  This doesn't mean the WTS is about to end decades of discrimination and homophobia and welcome LGBT people into the religion. They say such people can become Jehovah's Witnesses so long as they embrace celibacy. I know of some who have--and they are far from happy, chafing as they do against their own nature and yearning for the freedom to be who they really are. Others have realized that their religion and their nature were at war with each other and so jettisoned the religion. And there are the number of cases in which some have tragically chosen suicide.

  I don't believe any of this will change the minds of a single Governing Body member or any who succeed them. After all, if they continue to insist that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 BC despite all the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, they're not about to reverse their thinking on something that is just as serious. While a gay pride march in Salt Lake City is truly a remarkable event, and gay pride marches are yearly and expected events in New York state, the WTS will continue to suppress, persecute and expel LGBT people in its ranks who decide to leave the closet. More and more gay Witnesses are realizing this and are fleeing this oppressive religion. That would be my advice to any and all who are in that situation. It is the only way to be truly free and live a happy, productive and satisfying life.

  Quendi
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  Dogpatch

  Good for them!

  Actually the "gay" issue has been rife in Mormonism particularly for decades - a book was written on it a few years ago. The church has been aware for years.

  Perhaps they are more prone to being homosexual. :-))

  Same is true with JWs tho, they are just way too paranoid to admit it, like Ad-min-job in Iran.

  Randy
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  blindnomore

  Jws and even ex-JWs are way too paranoid to voice themselves in general.
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  Diest

  I think the implications are limited. The LDS Church is less strict with its disfellowshiping and has shown some willingness to liberalize in small ways. I dont think the JWs have any desire to go that route.

  The Pew Center statistics are also very telling. 24% of LDS members think that homosexuality should be accepted by society, where only 12% of Witlesses hold that view. http://religions.pewforum.org/comparisons#
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  ohiocowboy

  Had the JW's not been as hard core as they are regarding homosexuality, I would probably still be in. Being Gay is not possible in the Org. unless one decides to become celibate, but even then, there would be plenty of gossip and nasty looks, so it still would not be worth it. Unfortunately I learned this first hand.

  It's their loss. It used to bother me, but not so much anymore. Let them judge and condemn. I am comfortable enough in my own skin that their hate has no effect on me any longer. Unfortunately though, there are countless other Gay people who have died-(Suicide) due to the shunning and guilt that is brought upon them by the Watchtower, and for that I am sad.

  I am glad that there are some Mormons who have decided to let their hearts guide them rather than let a religion dictate how they should feel by becoming more accepting of Gay people. Good for them!

  Diest, I have to wonder if those 12% of JW's who think that Homosexuality should be accepted by society are themselves Gay. Estimates are that in general appx. 10% of Humans are Gay, which pretty much covers the small 12% percentage of JW's who feel that it is Okay. Interesting.

  Scott77, Thanks for the informative thread!!!
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  Diest

  I was liberal enough even when I was still at meetings, to support homosexuality. I do think the number of homosexuals islower than 10%. From what I can tell its closer to 3% gay but could be as high as 8%.

  I am very open and have several gay friends, but it is no where near 1 in 10 people I know.
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  yadda yadda 2

  I'm so sick of hearing about gays and their precious rights and ridiculous pride marches. No one's treating them badly anymore or ostracising them. It's not like there's apartheid against gays or anything. What do they want? Poor diddums, we demand the right to marry each other. Pathetic.

  Find something real to protest about instead of what you do with each others genitalia and orifices. How about gays marching for the rights of tens of millions of impoverished, malnourished children everywhere? Or gays marching for an end to global banking and corporate greed and corruption.