Mormon gay rights: A shockg speech by Jefey Holland at BYU sparks a new LGBT fight.

Contents:

• WERE THE SPARTANS GAY? HOMOSEXUALY SPARTA, ANCIENT GREECE
• MISTER ROGERS ENURAGED GAY COSTAR OFFICER CLEMMONS TO STAY THE CLOSET AND MARRY A WOMAN
• ENURAGED AND GAY
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE
• HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY
• DISGT SENSIVY PREDICTS TUIVE DISAPPROVAL OF GAYS
• 'YOU MT COME OUT': HOW HARVEY MILK'S CHALLENGE RONAT WH GAY CHRISTIANS TODAY
• Y, GAY MEN SHOULD BE ORDAED
• THE PCA’S VERY SLIPPERY SLOPE PROGRSIVISM, THEOLOGIL LIBERALISM, & THE GAY PASTOR
• THE GAY CHURCH
• I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK

WERE THE SPARTANS GAY? HOMOSEXUALY SPARTA, ANCIENT GREECE

And Poland, supporters of the erng PiS (Law and Jtice), which has explicly targeted gay rights as anathema to tradnal Polish valu, are 23 percentage pots ls likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted by society than those who do not support the erng party. A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law. He was followed by Arizona’s ernor, Doug Ducey, who, after barrg mors om genr-affirmatn treatment, wouldn’t even state for the rerd that trans people were Florida lawmaker Michele Rayner-Goolsby, left, hugs her wife, Bian Goolsby, durg a march at cy hall St Petersburg agast the ‘don’t say gay’ bill.

Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockPolicians are supported the media by mentators like Tucker Carlson, who claimed “no one had heard of this trans thg four years ago”, or Charlie Kirk, channelg 1980s fears sayg “gays want to rpt your children” rejuvenated, the right wg is poised to make transphobia and homophobia rnerston of the midterms and 2024 electns, wh promis to liver “don’t say gay” legislatn stat cludg Michigan and New Perks, the print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative lobbyg group, veighed agast the ernors of Indiana and Utah for vetog legislatn banng trans women om participatg sports, llg the bills “timely, mastream protectns”. ”The bs-iendly wg of the GOP that would quietly team up wh Democrats to scuttle rabidly homophobic bills is now outnumbered, and legislators a dozen or more stat that lean even farther to the right than DeSantis are takg, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights legal director, believ Florida is the tt se for a renewed ph for an aggrsive, Christian-natnalist program.

“I thought was really important to ph back on the policy level, and to send a clear signal that California and other stat really re about the kids, ” he believ that “don’t say gay” is “patently unnstutnal” but also ntends that relyg on the judicial system to protect human rights may no longer be a sound optn. And when the left relentlsly sells LGBT liftyl and sexualy, you're jt imagg that has anythg to do wh turng kids away om heterosexualy; makg them vulnerable to pedophilia; and, wh the whole transgenr shtick, alienatg them om their own 's the al: homosexualy has existed as long as humans have existed, but 's not now, nor has ever been, a very healthy liftyle.

MISTER ROGERS ENURAGED GAY COSTAR OFFICER CLEMMONS TO STAY THE CLOSET AND MARRY A WOMAN

And believe me, you don't want to know what gay sexual activy do to the my children had e had as gay or lbian, I would still have loved them — but I would have put tremendo prsure on them to avoid the "gay liftyle" and, as much as possible, to adopt a tradnal liftyle.

Morn velopments Attus toward homosexualy are generally flux, partially as a rult of creased polil activism (see gay rights movement) and efforts by homosexuals to be seen not as aberrant personali but as differg om “normal” dividuals only their sexual orientatn.

ENURAGED AND GAY

The Ksey report of 1948, for example, found that 30 percent of adult Amerin mal among Ksey’s subjects had engaged some homosexual activy and that 10 percent reported that their sexual practice had been exclively homosexual for a perd of at least three years between the ag of 16 and 55.

In rponse to their activism, many jurisdictns enacted laws banng discrimatn agast homosexuals, and an creasg number of employers Ameri and European untri agreed to offer “domtic partner” benefs siar to the health re, life surance and, some s, pensn benefs available to heterosexual married upl. However, most shared wh gay men the sire to have a secure place the world muny at large, unchallenged by the fear of vlence, the stggle for equal treatment unr the law, the attempt to silence, and any other form of civil behavur that impos send-class article was most recently revised and updated by Alison Eldridge.

Most people the LGBTQ+ muny know om experience that acceptg your sexualy will lead to your beg a happier, more open this gui, the term gay has been ed to clu all forms of non-heterosexual attractn, whether that be people who are lbian, gay, bisexual, queer, pansexual, or otherwise not straight. As predicted, the more disgt sensive participants were, the more likely they were to scribe an agent whose behavr had the si effect of g gay men to kiss public as havg tentnally enuraged gay men to kiss publicly-even though most participants did not explicly thk wrong to enurage gay men to kiss public. So I suppose the general ias I'd like to discs is that some people have gay feelgs that n be creased or creased pendg on the culture, and that sce is preferable to be straight herently, we shouldn't have a culture which enurag beg gay or bisexual, so the number of people who are gay or bisexual are limed to those who really are very very gay or bisexual.

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

“A distctn is drawn, and seems wh some reason, between homosexuals whose tenncy…is transory or at least not curable; and homosexuals who are fively such bee of some kd of nate stct… In the pastoral field, the homosexuals mt certaly be treated wh unrstandg and staed the hope of overg their personal difficulti and their abily to f to society.

Unlike some other Christian groups at the time (and ntug today, unfortunately), when the Catholic Church regnized that homosexual people were, to borrow a phrase om a morn pop song, “born this way, ” they did not say that a person was sful bee of this part of their personaly. Third, the Vatin was llg for pastoral re for lbian and gay people, not to “change” them or punish them, but to help them bee more tegrated their personal and social liv, prumably bee of the tense rejectn and ostracizatn that lbian and gay people experienced almost everywhere at the time. So, this document opened two new areas of church teachg about gay and lbian people, addg to the tradnal teachg forbiddg sexual activy: affirmatn of the non-sfulns of a homosexual orientatn and a ll to church lears to provi appropriate pastoral re to gay and lbian people.

WELE TO THE ‘GAY GAM,’ AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE OLYMPICS, WHERE ACTIVISM IS ENURAGED AND EVERYONE’S AN ATHLETE

Homosexualy had always been erned by the church’s sexual ethics tradn which strsed that the only moral sexual acts are those that are open to procreatn, which brg two people (one male, one female) closer together lovg timacy, and which are performed the ntext of Christian marriage. While none of the new official teachgs challenged or ntradicted the tradnal teachg agast sexual activy, a number of stanc, church lears enuraged gay and lbian people to velop strong, chaste iendships, and there were also a number of remrs about the church’s teachg on nscience.

) At the same time, the Catholic theologil muny began to velop criqu of the tradnal teachg about gay and lbian sexual relatnships, often emergg om the femist criqu of sexual teachg, dissent on ntraceptn, and new unrstandgs of sexualy based on new evince om the natural and social scienc. In 1986, the Vatin’s Congregatn for the Doctre of the Fah (CDF) issued a document entled Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons (also known by s Lat tle, Homosexualatis problema) which they scribed the homosexual orientatn as an “objective disorr. A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this year.As same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ hysteria.The most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law.Supporters of Florida’s ‘don’t say gay’ bill gather outsi Walt Disney World this month.

HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY

DeSantis’ prs secretary, Christa Phaw, for example tweeted: “If you’re agast the Anti-Groomg bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t nounce the groomg of 4-8 year old children.”To be gay, their view, is to be herently sexualized, a threat to nocence a way that straight Amerins are not.Such vehemence has ught even veteran LGBTQ+ advot by surprise. He was followed by Arizona’s ernor, Doug Ducey, who, after barrg mors om genr-affirmatn treatment, wouldn’t even state for the rerd that trans people were real.The Florida lawmaker Michele Rayner-Goolsby, left, hugs her wife, Bian Goolsby, durg a march at cy hall St Petersburg agast the ‘don’t say gay’ bill. Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockPolicians are supported the media by mentators like Tucker Carlson, who claimed “no one had heard of this trans thg four years ago”, or Charlie Kirk, channelg 1980s fears sayg “gays want to rpt your children”.Newly rejuvenated, the right wg is poised to make transphobia and homophobia rnerston of the midterms and 2024 electns, wh promis to liver “don’t say gay” legislatn stat cludg Michigan and New York.Tony Perks, the print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative lobbyg group, veighed agast the ernors of Indiana and Utah for vetog legislatn banng trans women om participatg sports, llg the bills “timely, mastream protectns”.

Now ’s gog to an dience of 4 ln.”The bs-iendly wg of the GOP that would quietly team up wh Democrats to scuttle rabidly homophobic bills is now outnumbered, and legislators a dozen or more stat that lean even farther to the right than DeSantis are takg note.Mter, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights legal director, believ Florida is the tt se for a renewed ph for an aggrsive, Christian-natnalist program.“That’s why ’s important that Disney has dramatilly stepped up,” Mter says, referrg to s ially uneven but creasgly vol opposn to Florida’s new law.

DISGT SENSIVY PREDICTS TUIVE DISAPPROVAL OF GAYS

LGBTQ+ people and women and people of lor are the primary targets.”The “don’t say gay” bill, Mter not, is very siar to what’s been passed Rsia, tetherg Amerin nservativ to their thorarian unterparts who have succsfully rolled back mocratic norms across eastern Europe.“There is a worldwi thorarian rurgence and our untry is not immune om that,” Mter says.“I’ve seen this movie before over the last 30 years: The right wg cid to target the LGBTQ muny, whether ’s around marriage or adoptn or trans kids playg sports or bathrooms,” says the California state senator Stt Wiener, who is gay. Photograph: Rich Pedroncelli/APWiener troduced legislatn to explicly make California a refuge for fai who may no longer feel that they n raise a queer or trans child stat such as Texas.“I thought was really important to ph back on the policy level, and to send a clear signal that California and other stat really re about the kids,” he says.He believ that “don’t say gay” is “patently unnstutnal” but also ntends that relyg on the judicial system to protect human rights may no longer be a sound optn.“Once the urt lawlsly allowed that Texas abortn law to stay place, that sent a powerful signal that we n’t rely on the urts,” Wiener said. Other nods to LGBTQ cln clu gay actor Ben Whishaw securg a nomatn for supportg actor a limed seri or TV movie for A Very English Sndal; transgenr actrs Laverne Cox beg nomated aga for gut actrs a drama seri for Orange Is the New Black; and RuPl’s Drag Race receivg ne noms wh host RuPl Charl himself petg agast Ellen DeGener for bt realy host.

Today, the Church provid a badly need ntext for the re of the human person when she ref to nsir the person a "heterosexual" or a "homosexual" and sists that every person has a fundamental inty: a creature of God, and by grace, his child and heir to eternal life.

Cardal Lopez Tjillo, speakg on behalf of the Holy See, had the followg to say about the work of Courage: "This Pontifil Council for the Fay supports the anizatn lled Courage which was found by Father John Harvey, OSFS, for helpg homosexual persons to live acrdance wh the laws of God and the teachg of His Church. Jt two years ago, the church received much public praise for rcdg a 2015 policy, ntroversial among Mormons at the time, that clared the mor children of gay people uld not be baptized to or jo the church as members—at least not until they were 18 years old, and only then if they would nounce their parents’ marriage and nmn their sexualy. Mormonism is now facg a world which not only the majory of outsirs, but also a signifint portn of their own membership—cludg s own universy’s faculty—seem to regnize that doctre for what is: a list of proposns phrased as irrefutable tths, issued by a group of men who grew up wh homophobia suffg every stutn their liv.

'YOU MT COME OUT': HOW HARVEY MILK'S CHALLENGE RONAT WH GAY CHRISTIANS TODAY

The same day Holland issued his revanchist addrs to the faculty, BYU’s admistratn was openg and publicizg s new Office of Belongg, a long-sought-for refuge not only for BYU’s growg number of openly gay stunts, but also s relig and racial mori, who are reported to face wispread bias and prejudice on mp, acrdg to a report issued by an ternal Commtee on Race, Equy, and Belongg. ” He went on to draw the bizarre ncln that there are some fields that should not be open to certa people: “I don’t thk dg addicts should be pharmacists, I don’t thk alholics should be bartenrs, I don’t thk kleptomaniacs should be bank tellers and I don’t thk homosexuals should be prits.

” Obvly he believ every homosexual person is a sex addict and, if we barred them om the prithood, the sex sndal would be quietly bishops do not go so far as to nsir all homosexual men to be sex addicts; neverthels, they bar them om the semary and the prithood.

Joseph’s Foundatn, a non law anizatn Texas, would like to see the church make the ban on homosexual semarians more explic non law, although he ntends that if non law is terpreted rrectly already prohibs homosexual fact, one bishop has already publicly taken this posn.

Y, GAY MEN SHOULD BE ORDAED

All the posns ntribute to the sharp crease the negative feelgs that so many the church and our society have toward homosexual first step toward reversg the harsh judgments and negative feelgs about gay prits and homosexual persons general is to exame our own experience. Y, your love n be tted by this realy, but n also grow stronger through your stggle to rpond not be a blsg for parents who are stgglg to accept and unndnally love their homosexual child if the church were to accept gay prits and bishops openly and gratefully?

THE PCA’S VERY SLIPPERY SLOPE PROGRSIVISM, THEOLOGIL LIBERALISM, & THE GAY PASTOR

I fd unbearable that there is so much hate that ntu to be fueled by those who claim to speak for our rencilg is another example:I am a prit who is gay and celibate, and I have stggled all my life wh the many issu associated wh beg born Holy Spir has obvly lled many gays to the prithood the last few years. This, together wh the eedom to no longer “hi an important part of who I am, ” would greatly lsen the number of those who otherwise might fail to be fahful to their celibate I sist that we mt reject any suggtn that a gay prit or bishop nnot make the same celibate mment a heterosexual man would make.

The celibate homosexual prit or bishop brgs the same charism to the service of the church as the heterosexual and n achieve the same “peaceful chasty and sublimatn of sexual energy” for pritly say that the only thg a gay prit has to give up is “an abomatn” manifts not only profound ignorance of what celibacy really is, but also is an sult to every homosexual person. Jack Talbot scrib very well what needs to happen if we hope to achieve a good rolutn of the current crisis the church:The church hierarchy needs to accept the help of her gay and lbian members as misters of healg, rather than makg spegoats for a problem that we did nothg to create.

We affirm that those our church would be wise to avoid the term “gay Christian” … even if “gay, ” for some Christians, simply means “same-sexattractn, ” is still appropriate to juxtapose this sful sire, or any other sful sire, as an inty marker alongsi our inty as new creatns Christ. And yet those remarks, bee they make his support for gay civil unns mon knowledge, may have greater practil import the long term than his bold statements about climate change, migrants and refuge, or the global enomy—at the same time that they put a h foc on the tensns the Church’s attu toward the liv of L.

THE GAY CHURCH

Church teachg holds that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that gay sex is sful for a number of reasons—for example, bee is sex outsi what the Church regards as a properly nstuted marriage, and bee, not beg orred toward procreatn, is “ntrary to the creative wisdom of God.

” It is “a more or ls strong tenncy orred toward an trsic moral evil, ” the words of a document issued by the Vatin October, 1986—at a grave moment the AIDS epimic for gay men the Uned Stat—which unselled people wh the homosexual “ndn” to live chastely and to jo the “suffergs and difficulti” brought on to those of Christ on the than thirty years later, neher progrsive Catholics nor tradnalists actually envisn a world which large numbers of gay people will live mted same-sex relatnships but will shun sexual activy as an “trsic moral evil.

Alarmed by the possibily that divorced and remarried people might be weled as well as gays, tradnalists lnched a fierce rearguard mpaign agast the new papacy, wh a foc on what some lled a “Lavenr Mafia” nng the church, and broke new ground nnectg this directly to the horrifyg revelatns of sex abe that me to light 2002. At one pot as we spoke the next day the hospal, he was greeted by a woman who asked for an on-the-spot nfsn and he shooed me asi; later I met an anguished gay man om an ultra-Catholic fay he was unselg; and for a few hours on Sunday morng, he was wh the wife and teenage sons of a dyg man.

I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK

For example, as the late historian John Boswell monstrated his groundbreakg, ntroversial book Christiany, Social Tolerance, and Homosexualy, a fourth-century Christian wrer, John Chrysostom, attacked the lears of the church for beg too acceptg of same-sex love and even sex: “Those very people who have been nourished by godly doctre, who stct others what they ought and ought not to do … the do not nsort wh prostut as fearlsly as they do wh young men … None is ashamed, no one blh … the chaste seem to be the odd on, and the disapprovg the on error. Carl Jung intified the archetypal gifts of the homosexual: “a great pacy for iendship, which often creat ti of astonishg tenrns between men”; a talent for teachg, athetics, and tradn (“to be nservative the bt sense and cherish the valu of the past”); “a wealth of relig feelgs, which help to brg the ecclia spirualis to realy; and a spirual receptivy which mak him rponsive to revelatn. He was also the theologian who monstrated a manic sire to police the slightt viatn om orthodoxy, who scribed gay people as “objectively disorred” and cled toward an “trsic moral evil, ” and who, after he banned gay prits, lled them “one of the miseri of the church.

I was one of few soldiers who joed the service before graduatg high school, but the admistratn at the time, which I believe was homophobic, chose to act as if I never existed bee of my queer hate that I experienced growg up on Long Island was my first enunter wh how others would treat me as a queer soldier.