Mormon Church Offers Support For LGBT Rights On Condition That Religious Freedom Is Protected

The Mormon church on Tuesday campaigned for new laws protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination, as long as laws also protect people who assert their religious beliefs.

In a rare press conference at church headquarters in Salt Lake City, the church's leaders vowed to back anti-discrimination measures for the L.G.B.T. community, the Huffington Post reported.

In exchange for its support, the newspaper wrote, "the Mormon church wants gay rights advocates – and the government – to back off."

"When religious people are publicly intimidated, retaliated against, forced from employment or made to suffer personal loss because they have raised their voice in the public square, donated to a cause or participated in an election, our democracy is the loser," said Elder Dallin Oaks, a member of the church's Quorum of Twelve Apostles.

"Such tactics are every bit as wrong as denying access to employment, housing or public services because of race or gender," he said.

A church elder, Jeffrey R. Holland, said in announcing the church's position: "We must find ways to show respect for others whose beliefs, values and behaviors differ from ours while never being forced to deny or abandon our own beliefs, values and behaviors in the process."

In essence, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which has a worldwide membership of 15 million, still believes that sex is against the law of God unless it's within a marriage between a man and a woman.

"But we are suggesting a way forward in which those with different views on these complex issues can together seek solutions that will be fair to everyone," said Elder D. Todd Christofferson, a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, one of the church's top tiers of leadership.

The Church's announcement was applauded in Utah, where most lawmakers are Mormon.

"What the LDS church did today was historic," said Democratic state Sen. Jim Dabakis, who was raised Mormon and is openly gay. "This was a bold, strong, principled statement ... today we are seeing the fruits of civility and respect."

Gay rights group Equality Utah also welcomed the church's announcement.

Rev. Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention, however, was reported to have described the Mormon leaders as "well-intentioned, but naive" about hatred toward religious exemptions.

James Esseks, who directs the L.G.B.T. project of the American Civil Liberties Union, also expressed his disagreement, saying the First Amendment's protection of religious freedom "does not give any of us the right to harm others, and that's what it sounds like the proposal from the Mormon church would do – it would allow a doctor to refuse to care for a lesbian because of his religious beliefs, for example."

The Mormon church is one of several religions opposing attacks against religious freedom in recent years. Oaks cited as an example the issuance of subpoena by the mayor of Houston last year on sermon notes from pastors who are against an equal rights ordination. The order was later dropped.

A Mormon gymnast was pressured by the public to step down as an Olympic liaison in 2011 after supporting California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in 2008.

Mozilla's chief executive officer Brendan Eich was also forced to resign in 2014 because he donated money to support the passage of Prop 8.