The sentiment is as ingrained in Mormon culture as a Saturday’s Warrior dance climax and conjures up equally strong emotions. It derives from a metaphor comparing Mormon heaven to a great big family feast with God at the head…
No Empty Chairs
Month: February 2013
Scrutinizing scrutiny: Same-sex rights on trial
This post is the second of several providing background information about the LDS church’s involvement in the Prop 8 campaign in California. The series will provide pertinent court case and appellate background information to readers interested in March’s Supreme Court…
Our Families (Paul and Tony–Remembering Love, Marriage and Children on Valentine’s Day)
Often it feels there’s a lot of heat and little light generated around the topic of marriage for gay and lesbian couples. In my personal experience, we must never lose track of the real impact that the political has on…
A Valentine to My Gay and Lesbian Friends–Welcome to the World of Romantic Love!
I have a story I want you to listen to and remember on Valentine’s Day and hopefully beyond. When my former husband Gerald was staying with me at the end of his life in 1984, preparing to die from AIDS…
Brother Kloosterman Goes To Springfield
On Wednesday February 6th, I had the honor of being asked by Equality Illinois to attend a press conference and stand with clergy and faith leaders who support marriage equality in Illinois. Although I am no longer a…
Gay Men Are More Happy and Other Research I Choose Not to Downplay
Since bad research by the likes of Mark Regnerus is being used to justify discrimination, I am going to put forward a list of research that I think we should use to guide public policy: 1) Gay men are happier…
Still Straight after All These Years: The Boy Scouts of America
I never made it to First Class Scout! Reading this morning’s New York Times article on the Boy Scouts makes me think the Scouts haven’t made it to First Class either! After being so adamant about never changing their policy…
Prop 8: How we got here from there
This post is the first of several providing background information about the LDS church’s involvement in the Prop 8 campaign in California. The series will provide pertinent court case and appellate background information to readers interested in March’s Supreme Court…
A Gay Mormon Reads the Scriptures
One of the most profound spiritual experiences I have ever had took place in January 2006, when I felt a particularly strong prompting from the Holy Spirit to pick up a tattered old copy of the Book of Mormon and…
Blind Follower Or Active Seeker Of Truth?
I asked a lot of questions about the church growing up. I would ask my parents, my seminary teacher, my young women’s leaders, etc. If my question was one of those to which we don’t have answers, or falls in…