A Little More Thought

I have put a little more thought into the transpirings in SLC last week with the church supporting a few limited gay rights. I wanted to briefly expound a little on some of my previous comments.

I think that generally, the church is pulling a thinly-veiled PR stunt. They are just trying to save some face. 99% of the GA's doesn't give a shit about you as a gay person. It's an attempt to build up some ammo for future confrontations they will have with the gay community over the marriage issue - "Oh look, we love gay people, we support their rights!" They are going to continue to fight tooth and nail against us in our quest for equal treatment under the law.

I was delighted to see Elder Holland's comment last Thursday. I met him and had a good, long conversation with him once while I was on my mission. I don't expect anyone else to take my word for it, but from that experience I do think that he really is as sincere and genuine as he appears to be.

His comment on Thursday does not change what the leaders are generally trying to do, but it does show me one thing. It shows me that there is one person in the leadership who is beginning to open their mind. I doubt that he's on board for gay marriage at this point, but I do see him as a compassionate person who may help to temper some of the ire from the general leadership over this issue.

I do not view the announcement by Otterson at the SLC council meeting as a baby step, but I do view Holland's statement as that.

The problem with the church lately is that rather than making progress through the "2 steps forward, 1 step back" shtick, they seem to be doing the "1 step forward, 2 steps back" routine which will ultimately end in a negative accrual of steps.

For Next Summer

It's time to put a little thought into vacations for next year, especially if they are going to happen in the first half of the year.

D and I are planning on going to Gay Days at Disney World Orlando the first weekend of June. Maybe we'll see you there!

Baby Steps Legitimized

WOW! Did you guys see this today? From the SLTrib:

"Anything good is shareable," Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said in an interview Wednesday, referring to Salt Lake City's new policy aimed at protecting gay and transgender residents from discrimination.

He praised the efforts of Mormon officials and gay-rights leaders who sat down to discuss the issue before the church's endorsement.

"Everybody ought to have the freedom to frame the statutes the way they want," he said. "But at least the process and the good will and working at it, certainly that could be modeled anywhere and even elements of the statute."

That is a statement that I can welcome as sincere and legit. And it came from someone in the Q12. Kudos, Elder Holland. Tip o' the hat to ya.

Holland is the new Hugh B Brown. ;)

For Immediate Release

Alternative Conference set for Oct. 3-4


The Official Gay Agenda
Tuesday, Sep. 29, 2009


The 12th Annual Alternative Conference of the Latter-gay church, to which all members are invited, will convene at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 3 and 4, 2009, with general sessions held at Disneyland on Saturday at 8 a.m. and California Adventure on Sunday at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.

A special pre-Conference Pride Cocktail hour will be held on Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, at 5 p.m. PST at the Grand Californian Hotel.

In those areas where members of the church can conveniently attend the conference in Anaheim, or participate via radio, television, satellite or Internet transmission at www.gaydaysanaheim.com, they should be encouraged to do so. Under these circumstances the usual Sunday meetings need not be held on Oct. 4.

In areas where only one Sunday session is broadcast, local leaders have the option to adjust meeting schedules or, where appropriate, to rearrange the agenda of regularly scheduled meetings to permit their members to listen to or watch alternative conference by radio, television, satellite or Internet transmission

L.A. AIDS Walk 2009

So, this year D and I are attending the L.A. AIDS Walk. He took the lead at his company for getting walkers and sponsors. I'm proud of him. He's done a good job so far, given the fact that half the people he works with are Mormon. So, please, help us out by clicking the link on the right column of this page and donating a little bit to the cause. It's in 3 weeks (Oct 18th), so don't dawdle!

I was talking about the AIDS walk with some of my coworkers (as my company also has a group doing the walk). They all know that I was raised Mormon, so there have been several interesting conversations arise from that. This was no exception. I was asked what most Mormon's opinions of AIDS was.

I sat there for a bit, and thought back to all the things I had heard about AIDS as I grew up in Utah. And, I shamefully had to admit, that most Mormons (that I knew in Utah and those that I know locally, not necessarily the entire church, but a pretty good sample) thought of AIDS as a just punishment for the dirty, nasty homosexuals out there. If the dirty homosexuals wouldn't have started f***ing monkeys in Africa, then God wouldn't have punished humanity with this disease. Honestly, that is the perception of AIDS that I grew up with in Utah.

I posted the link for donations on Facebook. Most of my friends on FB are Mormon, so I don't really expect any to donate. I hope I'm proven wrong.

Gay General Conference

So, the weekend of General Conference has an, um, alternative choice. You can call it a Gay General Conference of sorts. The rest of us call it Gay Days at Disneyland.

It's ironic that the event is always held the first weekend in October, the same weekend as General Conference. I guess it's a blessing to the Mormon families that their children won't witness homosexuality at large, since they will all be home or at the stake centers watching all sessions of conference.

If any of you are going to be in town, or want to come down for the gay version of General Conference, D and I will be going (and probably going both days). Drop me a line and we can caravan to it as a big gaggle of fags. If you want to come in from out of town, we could probably host you in our spare bedroom.

Hope to see you there!

Great Quote

I've been conversing with a friend of mine about being gay and Mormon. She left the church last year over the Prop 8 issue, and really has some bitter feelings about it. She is also straight, married and has 3 kids. BUT, she has a gay cousin who is her ultra-super-mega BFF (hence her bitterness at Prop 8).

In explaining her contempt for the church over it's stance on gay issues, she brought up that when she was a teenager she heard Vaughn Featherstone speak at a youth conference she attended. His comment was "homosexuality is a thought-up thing."

I love the ignorance of the church leaders some times.

Sigh.