Mormon church OK wh endg Boy Suts' ban on gay youth

Contents:

• MORMON CHURCH TO 'RE-EVALUATE' RELATNSHIP AFTER BOY SUTS END GAY BAN
• MORMON CHURCH WILL KEEP TI WH BOY SUTS DPE OBJECTG TO GAY LEARS
• MORMON CHURCH OK WH ENDG BOY SUTS' BAN ON GAY YOUTH
• WHY MORMONS ARE SO VASTATED BY THE BOY SUT VOTE ON GAY LEARS
• MORMONS ENDORSE PLAN TO ADM GAY SUTS
• DPE POLICY ALLOWG GAY LEARS, MORMON CHURCH KEEPS TI WH BOY SUTS

MORMON CHURCH TO 'RE-EVALUATE' RELATNSHIP AFTER BOY SUTS END GAY BAN

The Boy Suts of Ameri’s cisn on Monday to lift a ban on openly gay adult lears and employe has “eply troubled” the Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats, that stutn announced. “However, the admissn of openly gay lears is nsistent wh the doctr of the Church and what have tradnally been the valu of the Boy Suts of Ameri. Followg a long-standg ntroversy, the anizatn 2014 lifted their ban on openly gay members, 2015 allowed openly gay adult sut lears for the first time, and 2017 allowed transgenr boys to jo for the first time.

Dpe matag their partnership wh the Suts up until the May 2018 announcement, Church lears have recent years greeted succsive BSA announcements about the cln of gay, transgenr and female members wh obv unease and utn. The Mormon Church officially accepts openly gay and lbian dividuals as members and lears, but only if they rema celibate, as the Church's web se not: "Sexual relatns between a man and woman who are not married, or between people of the same sex, vlate one of our Father Heaven’s most important laws and get the way of our eternal progrs.

When the BSA moved to accept gay and transgenr members recent years, the Church obtaed assuranc om the Suts that the Church uld "operate s programs ways that are nsistent wh our standards and beliefs. 3 ln Boy Suts the US have been Mormon boys, which ma the church the Boy Suts' largt church's cisn follows a marked shift towards clivy recent years by the Boy Boy Suts had announced they would accept gay suts the time, the Church said sexual orientatn was not "a disqualifyg factor" and that they were satisfied wh the "thoughtful, good-fah effort" by the Suts to addrs "plex and challengg issu" 2015, the Mormon Church said was "eply troubled" by the Boy Sut's cisn to revoke the ban on openly gay adult sut lears cid to rema wh the Boy Suts 2015 spe ncerns, but announced would sle back participatn Boy Sut programm 2017. The Mormon Church is agast same-sex marriage and there are no openly gay men or women learship posns wh the church says on s webse "the doctre of marriage between a man and a woman is an tegral teachg" and that this doctre "will not change" may also be terted :Last week the Boy Suts revealed would change s name to Suts BSA as of Febary 2019, removg the word boy as prepar to wele Tuday's jot statement, the church said "ntu to support the goals and valu" of the Boy Suts, exprsg a "profound sire for Sutg's ntug and growg succs" on this story.

MORMON CHURCH WILL KEEP TI WH BOY SUTS DPE OBJECTG TO GAY LEARS

|Mormon Church Will Keep Ti Wh Boy Suts Dpe Objectg to Gay Lears Frey/Getty ImagAug. 26, 2015The Mormon Church announced Wednday that would ntue s close associatn wh the Boy Suts for now, endg speculatn that would sever ti bee of the Suts’s cisn last month to let openly gay men and women serve as July, bowg to growg legal and public prsur, the erng board of the Boy Suts of Ameri voted to perm openly gay adult lears.

That followed s cisn 2013 to perm participatn by gay a promise aimed at preventg fectns by relig nservativ — cludg the Mormons, who are the largt sgle sponsor of Boy Sut uns — the board said that lol sponsors wh relig objectns uld select volunteer lears acrdance wh their own the time, the rponse om the Mormons was unexpectedly sharp and clud a threat to leave the Suts anyway. ”Zach Wahls, the executive director of Suts for Equaly, which has mpaigned to end discrimatn agast gay suts and lears, said Wednday that he was pleased wh the Mormons’ cisn to rema the fold for now.

MORMON CHURCH OK WH ENDG BOY SUTS' BAN ON GAY YOUTH

“Gay adults will have optns of troops to serve , ” he said, even if Mormon-sponsored groups will not accept them. ”A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 10 of the New York edn wh the headle: Mormon Church Will Keep Ti Wh Boy Suts Dpe Objectg to Gay Lears. The Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats has given tac approval to the Boy Suts’ proposal to allow gay youth to jo, sayg they “appreciate the posive thgs” clud the plan to end the anizatn's ntroversial ban on gay Boy Suts of Ameri last week proposed allowg gay youth – but not adults – to participate the private youth anizatn.

WHY MORMONS ARE SO VASTATED BY THE BOY SUT VOTE ON GAY LEARS

That me two months after they floated the ia of allowg gays and lbians of all ag to jo, a proposal that was nounced by the nservative relig groups that make up a bulk of Sutg. Its biannual “The Voice of the Sut Survey, ” nducted earlier this year, for the first time clud qutns on gay the 280 admistrative lol uncils, half remend no change, 38 percent remend a change and 14 percent took a ntral posn, the Suts said. The Boy Suts’ vote Monday to lift s ban on openly gay troop lears was a blow to tradnal fah groups heavily volved sutg, but perhaps to none more than the Mormon Church, which sutg and the relig life of boys are eply tertwed.

MORMONS ENDORSE PLAN TO ADM GAY SUTS

Rencilg s relatnship wh the Boy Suts as the natnal youth group bee more acceptg of gay equaly appears to be growg more difficult for the Mormon Church, whose prs office put out a statement Monday, sayg lears were “eply troubled” by the liftg of the ban, as well as by the fact that they had asked for a lay the vote bee the church burecracy tak off ligatn, the Suts Monday approved a new policy allowg troops to pick openly-gay volunteer lears and banng discrimatn the hirg of employe.

DPE POLICY ALLOWG GAY LEARS, MORMON CHURCH KEEPS TI WH BOY SUTS

But puzzled some observers bee the Mormon Church has ma high-profile efforts the last year or so to soften s ments about sexualy and the place of gays and sprg gay advot and Mormon lears Utah ma headl when they announced they’d been secretly meetg for many months and had hammered out a promise to ban discrimatn hog and employment agast LGBT people.

Both sis said they were willg to regnize the needs of the tail of that promise, however, may shed light on the new tensn over the Suts: The sole requirement church lears had at the time was that there be an exemptn the promise legislatn for the Boy Suts, so they uld ntue to not hire openly gay Tuday Mormons and longtime church observers were tryg to sort out what was gog on. Jim Dabakis, an openly gay Utah senator who was volved that promise, said the church statement was “puzzlg” but that he spected was part of the overall flux a untry feelg the ph-pull of petg rights – those of tradnal relig believers and those of LGBT people.

”Mormon blogs om progrsive on to those closely affiliated wh the church showed a range of views, om church members appldg the move eher bee they don’t like Boy Sut programmg or bee they oppose gay equaly, to those who were embarrassed by the church’s statement bee seemed nmng of gays. When the Suts weled openly gay youth 2013, the Mormon Church ma clear that s teachgs ll all youth to chasty and that gay youth are wele along wh straight youth.