On Intimidation Against LDS On The Gay Issue

The comment was made:

"Forget for a moment the whole debate over the appropriateness of the 'Civil rights' analogy in Elder Oaks recent speech. Let's get right to the core of what he was communicating -- there is are deliberate attempts to intimidate and marginalize Latter Day Saints in the public forum.

Do I feel intimidated by these attempts? Actually, yes I do.

In the past year our Stake Center was firebombed and sprayed with anti-Prop 8 graffiti. (the molotov cocktail thrown through the window did not ignite.) Another building in our Stake was set on fire.

Last week, a number of LDS buildings in the Salt Lake valley were the target of a campaign of hate attacks.

Protesters by the thousands conducted angry, hostile, and vandalistic demonstrations outside LDS temples.

Latter Day Saints are being fired or forced to resign from their employment.

Whenever LDS-related stories appear in the local press, there are HUNDREDS of hostile, bigoted, hate-speech comments.

Packets of white powder have been sent to LDS Temples.

There is an active campaign to expose Latter Day Saints who donate to traditional-values political causes for the purpose of stigmatizing them...or worse.

LDS businesses are subject to boycotts because they are LDS.

There have been numerous calls to single out the Church I belong to and strip us of our non-profit status for participating in the public debate.

As a Latter Day Saint, I get the message loud and clear. "Shut up, don't take a stand, and don't participate or we will come after you and your Church.""

To which I responded:

I condemn any act of violence which is not necessary to protect a person's freedom. The violent acts by prop 8 opponents against the church and its members are, in my view, condemnable because no one is trying to take away their freedom to have a civil union with the partner of their choice, to have an intimate sexual relationship, and to pursue happiness like anyone else. It is within their right, of course, to conduct peaceful protests and to lob whatever criticisms at the church as they see fit, but physical violence simply crosses the line. That being said, it is, in my opinion, very sad that so many members of the church seem to give very little consideration to the plight of gay people, and instead insist, often in a thoughtless stupor, that these people are simply immoral and violating God's commandments. Every commandment which purportedly comes from God must be viewed through the lenses of reason and compassion, and if a purported commandment would have the effect of virtually condemning a person to a life of misery and longing (such as a gay person never being able to have a fulfilling sexually intimate relationship because homosexual acts are prohibitted from God), then it is very likely that such a commandment is not actually from God and is instead a human invention.

To those who have made up their mind that God condemns homosexuals who in good faith seek happiness and intimacy in a loving, respectful relationship, my inclination is to say, "Wo, wo, wo be unto you. See that you do not judge falsely, for by the same spirit which you judge, you may be judged also. Have you given consideration to the struggles they have? Have you no compassion? Behold, the Lord loves all His children, and though some are not by nature heterosexual, yet shall they also receive a measure of joy in this life. You have judged, but you have judged in ignorance. The Lord will suffer that, while His homosexual children remain in the flesh, they are justified in having a loving, responsible, respectful homosexual relationship. The Lord will one day reveal His eternal plans for his homosexual children, but until that happens, they are not condemned."