After meeting with LGBT Mormons about Prop 8 and LDS views on homosexuality, an elder of the church said “To the full extent of my capacity, I say that I am sorry… I know that many very good people have been deeply hurt, and I know that the Lord expects better of us.”
An apology. An apology from a General Authority. A rare thing—no, an exceedingly rare thing—in an institutional LDS culture that prefers to leave its historical missteps and mysteries quietly behind. It was not, to be sure, an apology for Proposition 8 itself. It was not a renunciation of Mormon doctrine on homosexuality. But it was a significant acknowledgment of the experience of gay Mormons and their allies, an instance of dialogue between Church leadership and membership. It was, in short, a reason for hope.
As a non-Mormon who spends considerable time in a heavily LDS area, I get the feeling that change is coming, slowly, painfully, but it’s coming. You might not know, but the official stance of LDS on polygamy is zero tolerance. Practitioners are excommunicated, period. Is there still a wide range of opinion within LDS on polygamy. Sure. But they have changed.
So let’s encourage this change too. (LDS is clearly more capable of change and introspection than the Catholic religion I was raised in even if the change will come hard.)
Seems like they’re talking out both sides of their mouth, since Boyd Packard seems to still be preaching against it.