Mormon church to allow children of LGBT parents to be baptized
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said on Thursday that it would allow children of same-sex couples to be baptized, a remarkable reversal of church policy from one of the religious groups that has long been a bulwark against gay rights.
The decision rolls back a 2015 rule that had ripped apart congregations by declaring that church members in same-sex marriages were apostates and subject to excommunication, and that children of same-sex couples were banned from rituals like baptisms and baby-naming ceremonies.
Now, three years after the church drove many members away, the change signals an effort to draw them back and represents a broader effort by the church’s newest president to bring the church closer to mainstream American views.
“While we still consider such a marriage to be a serious transgression, it will not be treated as apostasy for purposes of Church discipline,” the First Presidency, which is the church’s highest governing body, said in a statement on Thursday. “Instead, the immoral conduct in heterosexual or homosexual relationships will be treated in the same way.”
The decision, delivered by President Dallin H. Oaks, who is a member of the First Presidency, stops short of totally reversing the church’s policy that acting on same-sex attraction is sinful. It comes as the church, which has long been widely known as the Mormon church, prepares for its general conference for all members this coming weekend.
“While we cannot change the Lord’s doctrine, we want our members and our policies to be considerate of those struggling with the challenges of mortality,” the statement said. “We want to reduce the hate and contention so common today.”
Emotions among Latterday Saints across the country were raw as the news broke. In Charlottesville, Va., Meredith Marshall Nelson was at her son’s violin lesson when her brother texted her the news. She began to cry in relief, and recalled how the weekend that the 2015 policy was announced was the first time in her life that she did not want to go to church.
“It felt so incongruous with the teachings of Jesus,” said Ms. Marshall Nelson, 33, who is the editor of the Mormon Women Project. “He said, Let the children come unto me, and forbid them not.”
In Rexburg, Idaho, Kristine Anderson said she and her friends were overwhelmed as the news spread. “Everyone’s freaking out,” she said. “There is anger, frustration, happiness, all of it mixed.”
“Everything just broke” in 2015, said Ms. Anderson, who has three young children. “I couldn’t get out of bed for three days. I cried and cried. I couldn’t even look at the church building, it hurt so much.”
Even though the policy is now history, she remains frustrated. “There are so many people who disagreed with the policy the whole time, and we’ve been looked at as apostates and heretics, because you are not supposed to disagree with the prophet,” she said.