(Chicago, Illinois) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says that an Illinois bishop was acting alone in sending an e-mail to members of his ward urging them to oppose a civil union bill before the state legislators.

But the Utah-based denomination has not ruled out becoming involved in the issue in the future.

The e-mail, sent to at least one LDS ward in Illinois, was authorized by Bishop Chris Church of the Nauvoo, Illinois, 3rd Ward, and was sent out by that website’s ward administrator.  

It urges members of the church to call their local legislators and tell them to oppose the bill.  The e-mail claims that civil unions would “empower the public schools to begin teaching this lifestyle to our young children regardless of parental requests otherwise.”  It goes on to also claim that “it will also create grounds for rewriting all social mores.” 

The e-mail raised the concerns of national LGBT civil rights groups.  The Mormon Church was instrumental in the passage of anti-gay measures in a number of states.

It was heavily involved in the Proposition 8 campaign in California, a voter-based initiative that prohibits same-sex marriage in that state, a similar constitutional amendment in Arizona and the defeat this year of a package of LGBT rights bills in Utah called the Common Ground Initiative.

The e-mail prompted the Human Rights Campaign to issue an alert to its members.

 

See Mormon church says bishop acting alone in civil union fight

365Gay.com -

 

The day after Proposition 8, a Mormon supported ballot measure that outlawed same-sex marriage, passed in California, the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints released a formal statement saying, “the church does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights.”

Last week however, a Utah bill that would have allowed two people who live together and who are mutually dependent and named in a will or trust to a wrongful death court action if a tragedy occurred, was defeated in a state senate committee after opponents of the bill argued that offering any legal recognition to same-sex couples, including the right to sue when a breadwinner suffers a wrongful death, could lead to a court decision legalizing gay marriage.

This week in an effort to sway voters in that state and prevent other of Equality Utah’s legislative initiative’s remaining bills from going down in flames, Equality Utah has come out swinging with a major multimedia ad blitz that turn the tables and proclaims…

“The Church does not object to rights for same-sex couples …”

In a press statement Equality Utah said…

Several polls have indicated that the majority of Utahns support the reasonable and basic protections provided for in the legislation of the Common Ground
Initiative.

Yet lawmakers rebuffed one of the Common Ground Initiative bills last week, recalling tired arguments that the proposals are somehow an attack on traditional marriage.

Far from pessimistic about the ability of Utah legislators see passed the tired arguments that surfaced during last week’s hearing, Equality Utah has launched a media campaign to help raise awareness of the reasonableness and broad public support of the basic ideals of the Common Ground Initiative.

“We’ve modeled our legislative proposals directly from the statements of the LDS Church,” said Mike Thompson, Equality Utah’s Executive Director. “We’re talking about basic rights that have broad public support and have nothing to do with marriage. We hope this media campaign will help Utahns see passed the fear-based arguments used against this legislation.”

More of Equality Utah uses the LDS own words in a new campaign for Gay Rights
Lez Get Real - Washington DC,District of Columbia,USA

A Utah Senate committee voted down 4-2 the first in a series of Common Ground Initiatives that support basic rights for the gay and lesbian people of Utah. The reasons given were that this is a “slippery slope” and that this legislation may lead to the “chipping away [of] the definition of marriage.” But this is not about marriage.

It is about civil rights. This is about a recognized group of people, accomplished and contributing, who are not protected by the law of this land. The rights to fair housing and employment protections, inheritance and hospitalization visits are basic civil liberties that are being denied to our neighbors, teachers, business owners, families and friends.

It’s not about marriage; it’s about finding common ground. I am a teacher in the valley and I know as well as anyone that students are products of their environments: their families, churches, neighbors and legislators. In a classroom activity about stereotypes, a third of my students replied that homosexual people are “deformed, horrifying.” That they are “scary people,” “rapists” and they are “insane” or have “a mental condition.” Allowing these misinformed attitudes to go unchecked is a slippery slope.

This is not about marriage; this is about what students are learning.

This is about raising future generations of people who, despite their differences, can see and respect all people for who they are. If our legislators are not willing to grant

 See Children learn bigotry at home, in their neighborhoods
Salt Lake Tribune, United States -

Rick Warren, the controversial choice to give the opening prayer at the inaugural ceremony can’t have it both ways. He has called homosexuals criminals and perverts and now he has praised the choice of Gene Robinson the openly gay Episcopal bishop who will give the invocation at the inaugural opening ceremony at the Sunday afternoon concert on the Mall.

 

Warren issued a statement praising Obama for selecting Robinson, saying the president-elect “has again demonstrated his genuine commitment to bringing all Americans of goodwill together in search of common ground. I applaud his desire to be the president of every citizen.”

 

The large inaugural audience will allow the Rev. Warren to make a public show of repentance. His cherry picking of scripture to make a political point is often translated into a cultural point by those who hate gay people. So in the name of integrity admit the contradiction and in the spirit of Christian love I suggest the following passage for inclusion in your prayer:

 

Father God I repent for straying from the path you admonished me to follow in Ephesians 4:15: …speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. Help us to go forward from this day committed to our truth but speaking it only in the spirit of love.

 

Christians believe that words have power, that God created the heavens and the earth in just six days. But the power of words can build up or it can tear down. It’s time to take the hyperbole out of your witness and demonstrate the courage to love all people in the name of Christ.

 

Rick Warren should repent