Utah State Sen to LGBTQ youth: "You are NOT satan's plan"

The Mormon church is actually doing this to kids, telling them Satan is behind how their bodies came out? How horrific! I hope the community's get the word out to kids that they offer help for anyone who has heard such a hate filled message.

It was disgusting how many kids killed themselves in the 7 years we lived in Utah. My non LDS boys went from 8th grade to HS grad there, by the end they were so ready to leave, they were disgusted by this too. The whole “we don’t know the cause of all these suicides” attitudes there was nauseating.

Janell

I find it increasingly hard to stay quiet in order to not have family drama with some family members. I am beyond pissed at the LDS church. Apparently they are upset the electroshock gay aversion therapy in the 70's didn't work at BYU along with making them watch straight porn.

For several years, being gay was a "choice". Then they come out and say, you are born that way but it's unnatural. Remain celibate for the rest of your life and you'll be in good standing with the church. THEN they attacked the children of gay parents. It goes directly against one of their articles of faith. Yes there are children of gay parents in the LDS church, because eventually some members do come out and want to live an authentic life. It was ONLY the children of gay parents who are not allowed baptism and not allowed a blessing. Once they are 18, they must disavow their parents gay lifestyle and agree to not live with them again. Forget about the other parents who are even bigger "sinners" than them. Nope, just the gays.


I'm very sad Jim Dabakis is not running again. He was one of the first people in our state to marry his partner when marriage for everyone became legal.

The LDS church is quickly losing members, members are openly disagreeing with policies, and their influence in politics is slightly decreasing. They are against medical marijuana and sent e-mails to the members. How is this okay? They already got in trouble with Prop 8 in California and were fined. Recent polls show that close to 70% are in FAVOR of it passing.

It's harder to ignore what's going on in the rest of the world and has been for several years. However, tell the members the Mormon Tabernacle choir is changing its name, don't refer to yourselves as Mormon, and church has been reduced to two hours and throw in that little tidbit about Satan confusing, and it's overlooked by a lot of people.

ETA: bravo to that man for saying what desperately needs to be said.

Some Mormon will come on and defend Oaks’ words, saying he didn’t directly say that being LGBTQ is part of Satan’s plan, but the implication was there and is horrible all around. Huge cheers for Jim Dabakis and anyone, especially in Utah, who stands up to the huge and dangerous bully that is the MORMON church - to hell with their “rebrand” and new name.

I’ve said it over and over, but getting my children out of Mormonism is absolutely the best thing I ever did for them, period. 

Here’s an AMAZING open letter by John Bonner to Oaks:

“Dear Elder Oaks,

I watched your General Conference address this morning. You stated, “in our view, the ultimate treasures on Earth, and in heaven, are our children and our posterity.” That made me think about the experiences I’ve had with your children and grandchildren this past week.

Last Sunday, I sang at an interfaith service in the Ogden Tabernacle where your daughter Jenny and four of your grandchildren played such a stirring arrangement of Amazing Grace on the violin, piano, cello, and guitar that it made my heart want to leap out of my chest from the sheer joy of it.

During the service, which included Buddhist blessings, Laotian dances, Baptist prayers, Presbyterian bell-ringing, and all manner of praise through the universal language of song, Jenny said she wished we could all worship together every week. I felt that way, too.

We clapped along to a rousing rendition of This World Is Not My Home by the Hill Air Force Base Inspirational Gospel Choir, who only had four of their nine members present because of the recent deaths of some of the choir members’ loved ones. The song took on a certain relevance and poignancy because of that fact. It was like the entire audience’s hands (clapping in perfect time to the beat -- a rare feat for a crowd that size) were filling-in for the vacancy left by the missing choir members’ voices. You could feel the energy of the audience buoying the remaining members up. And you could sense the gift of vulnerability they were extending by allowing us to be a part of their grief, which transformed into an urgent plea for healing.

I watched from the choir loft as Clay Christiansen, former Tabernacle Choir organist, crescendoed his way through Mulet’s Thou Art the Rock. It was thrilling to see his nimble fingers make the organ keyboards sing and his deft dancing feet cause the organ pipes to reverberate their way up from the wooden floor, past my now-rumbling green velvet seat, and throughout every inch of my body until my fingers and toes were vibrating along with the music. There was a piece of divinity in that performance. I could feel it in my bones.

I share that deep love of music with your grandson, who I texted yesterday to congratulate on his recent promotion to musical director of Ballet West. I’ve known your grandson since our days singing in BYU choirs together. He is one of the most gifted accompanists I’ve ever heard.

We bonded over our shared passion for music-making. I became a friend and a confidante. He called me late one night during those years of all-night studying. I’m glad I answered. I could hear a sadness in his voice that concerned me.

I asked what was troubling him. It pained me to hear someone whose talent was so luminous weighed down by such despair. He paused for a long time and said he wasn’t sure how to talk about what was in his heart because he hadn’t talked about it with anyone before.

I stayed on the phone with him for several hours. There was a shared sense of safety as we kept talking. Eventually he told me that the sadness I could hear in his voice was because he was gay, and he didn’t know what to do.

I told him what I was certain he must have already surmised by that point: that I was gay, too. I told him I didn’t know what all the answers were (I still don’t), but I did know one thing: he was unalterably loved, that it was important for him to stick around, that the world needed his gifts and his sass and his quirky personality, and that somehow, we were both going to make it through this.

We’ve each struggled to find our way over the intervening years since that night. It’s hard to know where your place is when you’ve come to believe you may not have one. But we’ve remained in contact. We’ve continued to mourn one another’s heartaches and champion one another’s successes.

You can imagine the elation I felt, then, when I saw the news of his promotion at Ballet West and realized that the rest of the world would soon discover what I’ve known about your grandson all along: that he is extraordinary.

I know you know that, too. I’ve shaken your hand after concerts in which he’s performed. I’ve seen the expression of pride on your face as the audience leapt to its feet in response to his musical artistry. Your daughter shares the same gift. I think we would agree that level of mastery comes from a power beyond our understanding.

It is the same power I felt when I was singing at the Ogden Tabernacle last Sunday under the divinely-inspired direction of our conductor, who is also gay. It is the same power I felt as we sang transcendent arrangements of Teach Me to Walk in the Light and All Creatures of Our God and King, both composed by men who are gay.

The sadness I could sense on the other end of the phone as your grandson confided in me fourteen years ago is the same sadness I felt as I listened to your general conference address this morning. I understand the doctrines of the church. I know there is a sense of immediacy in declaring and defending the values you espouse.

But there is something fundamental missing when I hear you talk about being LGBTQ -- especially when you frame it as being a grave threat to the stability of families and society. I don’t believe that. I believe it is a gift. I believe it imbues us with a sensitivity, a bright creative spark, and an understanding that is inextricable from the ethereal beauty emanating from your grandson’s fingers every time he sits down at the piano to play all the things which cannot be expressed in words, but must be felt with the heart.

The rest of the story is his to tell -- and yours. But that is the missing piece when I hear you talk about us. And I think it’s a good place to start. Being gay or bi or trans doesn’t have to be something that is othering. It doesn’t need to be regarded as a divisive influence in the world to be condemned or feared.

Like all the variegated pieces of who we are which could separate us if we allow them to, those patchwork places can also be the cracks that let the light in -- dispelling the darkness and filling what we once regarded as our brokenness with the healing power of understanding. Understanding begins by sharing our stories. I hope you will start by telling the world the story of your grandson. It is a story of heartbreak and triumph, of loss and reclamation.

As is true of your story, and mine, and all our stories, his story deserves to be told.

In peace and hope,

John”

I just read that Gennifer, and cried. It was beautifully written and it sounds like the grandson is an amazing man. I’m glad he didn’t let the church and the culture stop him from reaching so high. I can’t imagine what he’d be thinking or feeling after listening to his grandfather’s words though... I hope he realizes too that it’s just all false.

The inclusive statement is from a non-Mormon politician, in response to some awful things said by the church yesterday.

Gawd some people suck. Cruel for being not same/like you. And often hiding behind a church and claiming to be holier than thou.

F*ck that sh!t, indeed.

Too bad this senator isn't running again. We could use more kindness and compassion. Everywhere.

Ha! I clicked in to respond and your ETA was there. Yes, like many of us in Utah, he’s a former Mormon. It just seemed like she thought his statement was an official statement from the church, or one of its leaders, and I wanted to make sure that people understood it wasn’t.

I don’t know if he was gay or not.  
I mentioned him because he was a teen suicide in Utah—one that some of us ‘know’.  
More to put a face to teen suicide.  
Apologies for the confusion.  

Oh ok. That makes sense. 🙂

Gennifer will you post a link to the letter?