Elder Jay E. Jensen and Marriage Equality
On January 8, 2012 Elder Jay E. Jensen of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. The talk was same old, same old. The Desert News covered his Church Educational System (CES) Devotional address and reported that he spoke about the three themes of the Holy Ghost. I don’t want to embed the video but here’s a link
The Desert News failed to report this quote from his address (skip ahead to the 18 minute mark of his talk to hear it):
“The adversary seeks to deorganize and to destroy, especially families, as evidenced today by abortion, divorce, and same-gender marriage.”
Let that sink in for a moment.
Divorce AND marriage are destroying families. What?!
This is the same man who spoke at a conference for Evergreen in September 2011 where he said that same-sex attraction or SSA, a term I despise that is used often by the Church, was a trial and that the Atonement helps us overcome trials blah blah blah. Evergreen is an LDS-oriented organization that fraudulently claims it can help people “overcome homosexual behavior and diminish same-sex attraction.” This is a lie. No reputable scientific organization accepts this claim and in fact research shows the “therapy” that organizations like Evergreen offers is ineffective, harmful and dangerous.
So is Jensen trying to become the new Boyd K. Packer?
Just days after this talk a letter titled MARRIAGE AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: Fundamental Goods That Stand or Fall Together, An Open Letter from Religious Leaders in the United States to All Americans was released and Bishop H. David Burton of the Presiding Bishopric is a signatory. You can read that letter here. The Church is not softening its views on marriage equality or even moving towards a place of compassion and empathy.
To the leaders, “the gays” are a big evil conspiracy, spawned on the floor of a San Fransisco bathhouse who are out to get you and your kids. What the LDS leaders have failed to understand is that the gays include their sons and daughters, grandchildren, cousins, aunts and uncles, bishops, returned missionaries. There is nothing wrong with them, they are beautiful and perfect the way there are. How many more years must we wait before the leaders of the Church see the damage they have inflicted on their own people, until they see how many families the organization has destroyed? How much more suffering must occur before the leaders of the Church repent and change their ways?
I knew Jensen back in the 80s when he was the diirector at . He was a big CES guy…just like BKP. CES is like the staunchest of the holy orders within the LDS faith.
From my experience these men have no business commenting on the realities of the human condition.
You’re absolutely right. Good point on CES, I forgot about Packer’s connection to it.
Aren’t all of the feared consequences kind of the point of pushing for marriage equality?
I’m not sure why they kept using the term same-sex “sexual” relationships. I guess they think that’s all we want out of our relationship.
Also, why would a same-sex couple go to a religious counsellor who is opposed to their marriage? Even if they didn’t refuse to see us, they would probably recommend divorce anyway.
so glad you posted this today. i’m usually not very outspoken about my religious and political beliefs when i know i have an audience of LDS friends, but it’s getting to be too difficult to keep it all in. i wrote a blog post last week about the Church’s past and present issues with civil rights, knowing full well that 7 out of the 8 blog followers i have are indeed Mormons. the backlash has been hurtful, but it was expected. i do strong-heartedly believe that one day the church will recognize same-sex marriage, but it is going to take a long time. the earliest talks i could find from church leaders involving allowing blacks to hold the priesthood date back to 1954, but it wasn’t until 1978 that the ban was lifted. it takes a LONG LONG time for the mormon church to admit fault, but they actually will never admit that they’re wrong. ‘policies change’, but doctrine doesn’t right?
Exactly. And why does it take a revelation to change a policy? That doesn’t make sense. I’m sorry to hear that people haven’t been nice to you about your post. It’s sad the social cost to just talk about the church past and present openly and honestly comes with such a high price. But I’m glad you’re doing it.
I am by no means a spokesman for the church, nor do I hold any leadership position in the church. The following are my opinions only. My friends and I had a discussion about this the other day, but on a more broad scale targeting society in general rather than the LDS church. The first thing I would like to address, is Abby’s comment about Blacks. First of all, the discrimination against blacks and discrimination against homosexuality is NOT comparable. Blacks were simply discriminated against because of the color of their skin. Homosexuality is a lifestyle and in some situations a choice. IF people are born with same-sex attraction, I feel the deepest sympathies for them and for the struggles they will be faced with in life. I also feel that the practice and act of homosexuality is one of the most unsanitary, dangerous, and unnatural practices known to humankind. I do not wish to address the first two in this post, but I do wish to address the latter (unnatural practices) as I feel it goes along with the topic of J. Seth’s original post. The unity between a man and a woman is the natural relationship that God, if you believe in a God, intended in order to reproduce and create family organizations; if you don’t believe in God, well, a simple anatomy lesson might prove this. Each child needs the nurturing of a mother and the guidance and leadership of a father. Our bodies and organs are literally made for heterosexual relationships. Based on the fact that everything, including science (as you mentioned in your original post), shows that our physical bodies are made for heterosexuality, homosexuality is, indeed, mental. Now, whether or not it can be treated, that is not my field of expertise. There is no doubt in my mind that people struggle with same-sex attraction, but whether the act on it or not is the issue. J. Seth, if you are christian, which I am assuming you are, you know that homosexuality is not a new thing, it has been around since the beginning of time. Throughout the bible it speaks of it and makes reference that it is an abomination before God. Why would it be an abomination before God? It is not the purpose for which our bodies are made. As humans, and children of God, we all have different struggles in this life. Condemning the LDS church for not being “open minded” to homosexuality is ridiculous. I am sick of the phrase “open minded”. I presume you would also condemn God for not being “open minded” because he will not allow a unrepentant sinner into heaven. Society has come to a point that they will allow the unnatural act of homosexuality and consider it “normal” because they are afraid of being labeled as “close-minded” or “judgmental”. I do not hate homosexuals nor am I a homophobe, as I have several close friends that are homosexuals; however, I do not agree with the same sex sexual activity. I consider myself very “open-minded” but at the same time homosexuality is unnatural. Also, I in fact have 2 friends that struggled with same sex feelings that are now married to the opposite sex and have families. They still have same sex attraction, but they have told me that they don’t feel like they are married because that is what they feel like society is telling them, but that they are married with families because is the overall, most natural thing. Although their homosexuality may seem most “natural” to them in their minds, all things considered, heterosexuality is the most natural.