ALARMED
LATTER-DAY SAINTS BAND TOGETHER FOR SAFE SPACE
Washington, DC—May 29, 2006—Many
members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were
alarmed to hear political calls over church pulpits throughout the
United States on May 28th urging members to contact their Senators
in support of an anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment. Latter-day
Saints across the Church who feel uncomfortable with political
directives being involved in worship services are banding together
to call on LDS leadership to hold more closely to its professed
policy of separation of church and state.
Church members
have created the LDS Safe Space Coalition to call for more safe
space for gay members, their families, and loved ones within the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Coalition is
currently mounting a Safe Space Campaign to send thousands of pink
flowers to the First Presidency in protest of recent anti-gay
political measures by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles.
Church members
were disturbed by the LDS leadership’s decision to back the
conservative Religion Coalition for Marriage in pushing for federal
legislation to define marriage as solely between a man and a
woman. Many report that gay and lesbian members in the Church feel
they are left with few choices: live in perpetual silence, distance
themselves from family and friends, or—as has happened in many
cases—commit suicide.
Mormon blogs and
e-mail discussion lists from coast to coast have been active with
expressions of dismay over Salt Lake’s political directives against
gay marriage. After hearing the First Presidency’s letter read in
church on Sunday,
an LDS mother on the East Coast was troubled: “It's like we're back
in the days where Brigham Young could promise ‘the Mormon vote’ on
any issue. After all, when the prophet speaks, the thinking has
been done. That's so alarming to me.” A young Mormon on the West
Coast
agreed: “What's next? A ‘Vote for Mitt Romney’ order handed down to
the obedient drones in the church from
Salt Lake?”
The LDS Safe Space
Coalition is launching a campaign to send pink flowers to Church
Headquarters as an expression of peaceful dissent. The Safe Space
Declaration reads, in part, “The color pink has been embraced
worldwide as a symbol of Safe Space, a reminder of the prejudices
and torture of the past, and a commitment to creating safe spaces
for all of God's children to progress together as equals. The
Church we believe in embodies the safest of all spaces, built firmly
on the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
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