Some [straight Mormons Building] Bridges marchers worried how the crowds [in Salt Lake City] would react, especially given the history of LDS Church-backed opposition to same-sex marriage.
“But when we turned the first corner onto 200 South Street, the crowd just roared,” says Austin Hollinbaugh.
I recently lived in rural Utah for two years and was favorably impressed with LDS. The level of violence in Utah is negligible even as everyone has guns. Literacy is high. Being cordial is a valued trait. This is unquestionably due to the influence of LDS, who also genuinely takes care of their own with a private welfare system.
I don’t support the official LDS stance on gays (just as I don’t support the stance of my birth religion, the Catholic Church, on that either.) But my outsider take on LDS after being in Utah is, in their own way and own time, change is coming.