On Gay Mormons and Apostasy

FYI to all Mormons: There is a difference between Excommunication and Apostasy.

Apostasy is defined as: "a total desertion of or departure from one's religion, principles, party, cause, etc."
Excommunication is defined as: "to cut off from communion with a church or exclude from the sacraments of a church by ecclesiastical sentence." and "to exclude or expel from membership or participation in any group, association, etc."

Being kicked out of the Church for being gay or for being in a gay relationship is one thing. You do not have to be in Apostasy to be excommunicated. All that is needed for excommunication is stubbornness about bad behavior. Apostasy is more like Heresy in other Churches. There is a much lower chance of being allowed to return to the Church in the future if you are labeled an Apostate, and you are the one who is abandoning ALL the principles of the Church and the Gospel. In essence, Excommunication just means you sorely misbehaved, being an Apostate means that you are denying God and turning your back on Him.

There is no justification, none whatsoever, to assume that because a gay man or woman who enters in a same sex marriage is turning their back on God or on the Church. If you believe that to be the truth in any way you have some serious soul searching to do to find out why. What quantifiable evidence do you have to support that theory? Are you believing that it's true simply because someone else told you to? Or have you gone out and worked the street and pounded the concrete or gotten to know any Gay Mormons and what they go through every day? Do you personally know their fears, trials and pains? Do you know why they still are members of the Church despite everything? Do you even care? Gays are not the villains we are made out to be by other human beings on this world. We are not turning our backs on God or the Church, instead, more often than not, we are the ones picking up your slack in the Church or in the Gospel or in Christlike behavior. If you haven't seen what we do or have done lately it's probably because we've already been exhausted and beaten and abused to the point of simply be stunned we're still alive much less caring about the Church.



You might say that the new LDS policies are meaningless because they are similar to what is done to Polygamists or Muslims. Similar, maybe, but not quite the same either. Also just because something is already done to someone else doesn't mean it's right. That's just the childhood argument of "everyone else is doing it". And that simply isn't a good reason.

You might say that the policy came from God simply because it came from the Church. That is also incorrect. For one thing a doctrine cannot be presented in a press statement, a magazine or manual of instruction. A doctrine must be formally presented before the general body of the congregation of the Church (usually at General Conference) and accepted by vote. Yes, I do mean vote, not by the sustaining hand. The history of how this works is quite clear. That was the method used in both of the last two major Church proclamations (ending polygamy and granting blacks the Priesthood), in accepting President Joseph F. Smith's vision of the Spirit World into the Doctrine and Covenants, and it is also the method used to refuse the popular book Jesus the Christ from being added to LDS cannon scripture.

Second, we must remember that the Prophets and Apostles cannot always speak for God, they are human and allowed agency and self-determination just like everyone else. They are not God's puppets. And if an Apostle did always speak God's word then we would not have examples in Church history such as Lyman Johnson, Thomas B. Marsh, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon etc. and we would not have multiple occasions where Bruce R. McConkie, Skousen, Elder Jay Golden Kimball and others (even Apostles) were forced to recant their statements, step down from their office or be excommunicated in recent times. The truth is that since the leaders of the Church are human they do not always speak the mind and will of the Lord. Christ commanded the Nephites to decide for themselves with God and the Holy Ghost if his words were true and not to simply take him at his word, even though he was the Son of God, the Savior. If we are not supposed to simply take Christ himself at his word, then why do so for humans who are less than him?

Thirdly, we are given a test from the Prophets as to how to tell if a position is truly doctrinal. We are to compare that "new doctrine" with other pre-existing doctrines and verify that the new instructions fall in line with already established teachings of God. The debate on whether homosexuality is even a sin is not finished in the eyes of many and the scriptural basis for that belief is mostly circumstantial. But, just because something is (or might be) sinful does not make it Apostasy. According to Jesus himself divorce is a sin, yet it is not an act of Apostasy, according to the Book of Mormon misusing the sexual powers of creation is a sin below murder in importance, sexual offenses against children are also mentioned in their severity ("it would be better for them if they had never been born"), Adultery made God's top 10 list in the Ten Commandments (not homosexuality) and Jesus himself in the New Testament nor in the Book of Mormon never mentions homosexuality in any way despite the fact that it was common in ancient Greece and Rome. There are many other examples I could cite from but the point is that there are many "sins" that are labelled as FAR more severe than homosexuality or gay marriage and yet none of these instances are branded as Apostasy or treated with a guarantee of Excommunication. That fact alone should be enough to question why the Church is so willing at this time to use gays as a prime target of purification or expulsion and disgust. But there are many many other reasons (also directly from the scriptures) that also bring up problems with the Church's current stance against the children of gay couples and other groups.

 But I digress, Excommunication is one thing as it requires disobedience to a certain principle. But Apostasy is entirely another matter one only used to describe situations of spiritual death. The Great Apostasy, the Apostasy of the Nephites, the Apostasy of the Early Modern Apostles etc. those are all final declarations of death within someone's faith and spirit. To label anyone in a Same Sex Marriage as an Apostate is merely an act of spite and an attempt at covering legal bases to prevent homosexual couples from participating in ordinances and the sacrament while protecting themselves from any discrimination lawsuits.

There is, however, another problem I find with the new stance of Apostasy for Same Sex Marriage. During the legal debate across the nation on the legality of Same Sex Marriage and the illegality of marriage bans Elder Christofferson came out publicly and made clear the fact that members of the Church were free to publicly support Gay Marriage in the legal proceedings on social media or through other venues so long as that support was not hostile to the Church. That promise is now void of all power by the sheer reality that Same Sex Marriage is now considered Apostasy. Supporting an Apostasy is very close to being in Apostasy yourself and such a philosophical position could potentially be grounds for excommunication thanks to the new rules and policies. The policy thankfully does not specifically state that possibility, but instead ignores it. There is now a void where instruction once was thanks to this new policy. Any legally astute or smart reader could easily make the connection between being in a Same Sex Marriage and openly supporting one and call both Apostasy. There is nothing in these new rules to prevent that tragedy, and even if there was the cultural and social freedom to disagree with the Church's stance on Same Sex Marriage has been removed entirely.

There are also a large number of problems with the separate but connected policy of controlling the conversion and blessings granted to the children of gay couples. However, I will discuss that at a later date. I apologize if this article has lacked a certain easy flow, but this is intended more as a somewhat emotional and logical appeal to faithful LDS Church members who may be looking to know or understand why Gays are so hurt and outraged by these changes than as a scholarly or academic paper.

If you have any more doubts considering the reactions of anyone in the LGBT community or the LGBT Mormon community please consider this: Paul of the New Testament and the Book of Mormon both teach that the faithful should not lay stumbling blocks before their neighbors (or anyone else for that matter). Paul used pagan or "unclean" food to teach that principle while the Book of Mormon prophets used the simple construction analogy of a stumbling block. According to Paul, things that the faithful do (which are not wrong) can be offensive and prevent another member (new or old) from progressing in the faith and so it is prudent to avoid being offensive while in the others' presence. The Book of Mormon explains that the sins of the Church was a stumbling block to the unbelievers and that because of the sins of the Church itself (both leaders and members) others were prevented from growing spiritually and even from accepting the gospel thanks to the offenses given by the faithful. These new LDS policies are hurting most if not all of the Gay Mormon community and causing many to remove their names from Church records or simply go inactive. Paul and the Book of Mormon teach that you "faithful" members of the Church should try to remove such barriers and try to heal the wounds that have been made. You may not understand those wounds at first but if you listen with an open heart you will come to understand and even love those who before you were hurting.