Hundreds of Mormons Quit Over New Anti-Gay Policy

Church blocks kids of same-sex couples
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 16, 2015 7:58 AM CST
Hundreds of Mormons Quit Over New Anti-Gay Policy
People gather for a mass resignation from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015, in Salt Lake City.   (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

At least 1,500 Mormons have resigned from the Church of Latter-day Saints over a new policy targeting same-sex couples and their kids. New guidelines state Mormons in same-sex relationships must face disciplinary councils and possible excommunication, while their "natural or adopted" children can't be baptized until they turn 18, disavow same-sex relationships, and no longer live with their parents, report CNN and the Salt Lake Tribune. "The fact that it affects children really upset people," says a lawyer who helped hundreds sign resignation papers at an event in Salt Lake City on Saturday. "Most people are disaffected from the church already, and this was the final straw." Indeed, the Tribune reports an informal poll of those who joined the event's Facebook page showed most were "inactive" or didn't believe in church theology.

"I stopped going just because of the attitudes toward minorities, homosexuals, and women," which are "not Christ-like," said one attendee. Another in a same-sex marriage said he and his husband had grown up in the Mormon church and recently considered returning to services after the church vowed it was against discrimination. But "if you keep your name in the church, you're supporting their decisions and the choices they're making and their doctrine," he said, per the New York Times. "We don't want to support them because they don't support us." A rep for the church says that "while it respects the law of the land, and acknowledges the right of others to think and act differently, it does not perform or accept same-sex marriage within its membership." (More Mormon stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X