The BSA’s decision is in perfect harmony with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, why? Simply because Jesus has been an example of love and acceptance. A lot of people seem to believe that you have to agree with someone’s lifestyle in order to accept them and love them, what a misconception and wasted opportunity! I do a lot of things that I”m quite sure makes Heavenly Father sad and disappointed, yet he never hold that love away from me, he still loves me with ALL my shortcomings and cheekiness.
How can’t He not love and accept a child of His, created in His image just because his/her sexual orientation is different than the norm? How can’t He not accept someone who had these feelings since they have memory? How can’t He, our FATHER, not love his own child?
After reading a lot of discussions about this issue with members of the Church, it left me deeply sad. Not because I think differently (everyone is entitled to their opinion) but because I imagine what the scenario would be like if some of the members who disagree with the lifting of this ban would do if they had the power to admit or reject gay people from Church membership. The possible outcome of this scenario is terrifying.
One of the arguments is that openly gay boys will be sleeping in tents with other boys. Don’t you all think this is already happening? There are already gay boys in our Church who go to camping activities with other boys and they are sleeping in the same tent. The issue here seems to be the fact that as long as you don’t know about it, it is okay because in your mind they are all ‘straight” and there is nothing to “worry” about; it’s a sort of denial symptom. Gay people just happen to feel attracted to folks of their same gender, that’s ALL. Gay men can perfectly fulfill any other gender role expected by society and lesbians as well.
Often times, I am asked why this issue is so important to me as an heterosexual woman. It is because since I was a little girl, I detested injustices. My sister used to call me “Amnesty International”. I was the one who would defend classmates when the big and tall bully was taking away their lunch in school even though I was a tiny and small little girl myself. I was the one who would stand between a gay classmate and the bullies who would make fun of him and tease him endlessly. I don’t know why I have been like that and still I am, it is almost like a strong sense/ feeling of deep responsibility I feel and the urge to stand up and defend those who need help.
Martin Niemöller wrote:
First they came for the socialists,
And I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
And I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
And I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me,
And there was no one left to speak for me.
I know I think differently than mainstream Mormonism, I know I”m perhaps unorthodox in some of my views but wouldn’t be wonderful if we could all agree and understand that this isn’t US vs. THEM? This isn’t about agreeing or condoning. This is about understanding that as Latter Day-Saints and as peculiar people, our peculiarity should be about showing kindness, love and acceptance to those who the world think and perceive as different but that our Heavenly Father only sees as His children. However, often times our peculiarity is sided towards being intolerant, judgmental, supercilious and contemptuous. How sad.
“As a church, nobody should be more loving and compassionate. Let us be at the forefront in terms of expressing love, compassion and outreach. Let’s not have families exclude or be disrespectful of those who choose a different lifestyle as a result of their feelings about their own gender.” (Elder Quentin L. Cook).
As Mother Theresa wisely said:
“When you judge people, you have no time to love them”.
About the author: Cheeky Mormon lived in many countries around the world and she is bilingual. Besides being incredibly good looking according to her mother, witty according to her fans, smart according to her past teachers and of course humble according to herself, she loves to sing and spend time with loved ones.
She is also an amateur LDS historian and spends a lot of time researching, studying and writing. Her biggest accomplishment: Remaining relatively sane despite the odds.
Thank you for articulating this–that it isn’t about us vs. Them, or about agreeing or condoning. For many of us, it’s about giving youth thebest chance to succeed in a crazy world.
Thank you so much for writing this blog post. This is exactly what I have been trying to tell my brother who disagree with the decision of allowing openly gays boy scouts. Sometimes I wonder if as LDS members we see how judgmental we can be.