Mormons Prepare for WA Marriage Equality Fight

If National Organization for Marriage-paid signature gatherers have their way a referendum to roll back marriage equality laws passed by the Washington state legislature in February will appear on the November 2012 ballot. ...

Religion Dispatches • May 22, 2012

Gays and Lesbians Can Save Marriage

Marriage is already on a trajectory to redefining itself as those who participate it are shaped by our changing society. It would seem that an institution that is falling out of favor with heterosexuals would receive a much needed revival if gays and lesbians were welcomed to the party. If NOM is really concerned about the health of marriage, this seems like a natural cure. Gays and lesbians can s...

Religion Dispatches • Jun 12, 2011

Tea Partiers and DOMA

As the Public Religion Research Institute showed last year, tea party adherents are much more likely than the general population to oppose gay marriage. The PRRI poll found that while 33% of the general public opposes any legal recognition for same-sex couples, 45% of tea partiers do; while 37% of the general public supports gay marriage, only 18% of tea partiers do. This mirrored a similar findi...

Religion Dispatches • Mar 17, 2011

Pro-Gay Marriage Mormon Keeps Faith Despite Church Pressure

But according to Melanie, the story of the circumstances that led her to take the video down is not as important as the story of why she put it back up. "The real story for me," she explained, "is what does a good Mormon do when you've prayed and you've gotten answers as real and strong as the answers other people have gotten, but they lead you in a different direction? It's easy for people to sa...

Religion Dispatches • Feb 19, 2011

How Should Mormons Respond to Leader's Anti-Gay Comments?

Unfortunately, there are lots of people who are interpreting President Packer's message to be: Homosexuality is an unnatural addiction/temptation from which God will free you if you work hard enough. While that may be a comforting message to people who don't like their orientation, and while it may give strength to the few who've "recovered" (whatever that means) from being gay, I personally have...

Religion Dispatches • Oct 7, 2010

Mormon Leader: 'I'm Sorry' For Hurtful Legacy of Prop. 8

There was sobbing. There were tears. Elder Jensen also shed tears as he listened and took notes to share with other General Authorities back in Salt Lake City. At the conclusion of the hour, he apologized for the pain he was witnessing. According to attendee Carol Lynn Pearson, a Mormon author and long-time advocate of LGBT concerns, Elder Jensen said, "To the full extent of my capacity, I say th...

Religion Dispatches • Sep 29, 2010

Why Would More Latino Catholics Be For Same-Sex Marriage Than Protestants?

One of the most interesting findings of the poll was the split between Latino Catholics and their Latino Protestant brothers and sisters. Both groups had warmed to the idea of marriage equality for gays and lesbians, but Latino Catholics outpaced Latino Protestants in acceptance of the idea (57 percent to 22 percent respectively). In a column in the Washington Post, Joseph M. Palacios, an Adjunct...

Religion Dispatches • Jul 24, 2010

Distortions Aside, Clergy Support Gay Rights in Surprising Numbers

An in-depth analysis of Mainline Protestant clergy shows large majorities of support for anti-discrimination laws, hate crimes legislation, and the right of gay couples to adopt children. Even same-sex marriage, so often portrayed by Religious Right leaders as an attack on the church, draws support from nearly half of Mainline Protestant clergy when it is clarified that no church would be forced t...

Religion Dispatches • May 24, 2009