Mormon leaders stand behind rules for gays, their children

Those congregations would teach the children that God condemns their parents’ relationship.

“It is impossible for me to be a part of a religion that would attack its own members and punish them by denying their children involvement in the church”, wrote Kendell.

“If Prop 8 was a line in the sand, this is the Berlin Wall”, said the person, who spoke on condition they not be named.

Brooke Swallow, who stopped attending church in 1997 and resigned her membership three years ago, conducted the event.

“I don’t want to have anything to do with them anymore… enough is enough”.

“If you are hurting today, you are not alone. To me, my son and his husband are the best parents ever”.

Leah Leavitt, resident of the Salt Lake City area who is protesting the LDS Church’s policy on same-sex marriage. It did, however, release a video explaining the new policy.

The policy that was approved last week by Mormon church leaders who added same-sex marriage to the Church’s list of acts that are considered as a renunciation of the faith and thereby make the affected church members subject to being disciplined by theChurch or even excommunicated.

A few US bishops have fired diocesan employees in same-sex marriages, or refused to enroll the children of gay parents in parish schools, saying their presence would compromise the church’s ability to provide clear moral teaching on homosexuality. They held signs such as, “Standing on the side of love”, and “These policies harm all of us”. However, he said this new policy will greatly impact children who have one gay parent.

He’s openly gay, but he tries to abide by doctrine.

The crowd included gay and lesbian couples as well as straight couples. “We came to understand what it meant to be gay and we’ve even started a support group with a number of other people for gay LDS”. She grew up Mormon but strayed from the faith in her early 20s and formally renounced her membership a couple of years back. Church leaders said the policy was designed out of concern for the current and future well-being of children and the harmony of their home environment. The move has highlighted deep divisions in the Mormon community, testing relationships and faith. Andrea Smardon from member station KUER in Salt Lake City reports.

The Mormon temple in Mesa is the oldest of the six Arizona temples.

SMARDON: Janice sits next to her father, Todd Unsicker-Montoya.

The new rules bar children living with gay parents from being baptized until they’re 18. When Mormons publicly criticize a church policy that comes directly from these men, the church and their LDS friends and neighbors may ostracize them. “But going after kids is what really has pushed people over the edge this time”, he said.

CHRISTOFFERSON: We don’t want the child to have to deal with issues that might arise, where the parents feel one way and the expectations of the church are very different.