Response to the Mormon Church

LDS leader Boyd K. Packer recently gave a speech that included the condemnation of gays and lesbians. Needless to say,given the recent LGBT teen suicides, the timing seemed pretty disrespectful to me, . I was going to write a response...but given her personal experience, Serena over at Feminist For Choice just did it better than I ever could have.

In her open letter to Elder Packer, Serena writes about her experience as a Mormon lesbian:

... You’re missing out on a good one by excluding me from your church. I garnered many of the leadership skills that I have by participating in the Young Women’s organization at church. My sense of community building was also learned in church. And now I’m using those skills to serve lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, questioning, and queer folks. I am using those skills to protect a woman’s right to control her own body. And I am absolutely unashamed of who I am.

God loves me just the way I am. If there really is a heaven, I think that a lot of people are going to be surprised when God doesn’t exclude anyone from the kingdom simply for loving another person. God is love. There are no limitations on that. ...

The LDS church is missing out on some very good people, I hope they will eventually stop their insistence on disenfranchising the glbt community. To read Serena's letter in its entirety, click here.