In a major reversal of policy, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has said that children of LGBT parents may now be blessed and baptized in the faith, and that same-sex couples in the LDS Church will no longer be considered “apostates.”
The policy, instituted in 2015, had stated that the children of same-sex parents may not be baptized or serve a mission until they are 18 years old, and then only if they move out of their parents’ home and “specifically [disavow] the practice of same-gender cohabitation and marriage.” Kate Kendell, former executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and a mom, who was raised a Mormon, left the Church when the policy was announced. She wrote in a Washington Post piece that while “Spiritually and emotionally, I left the church I grew up in decades ago,” she had remained on its rolls until that point. “It was the gratuitously cruel and stigmatizing treatment of children that pushed me to disavow the church of my childhood.” Thousands like her, who had remained part of the LDS Church although not necessarily active, also formally cut ties with it when the policy began.
The First Presidency, the highest governing body of the Church, announced yesterday that at the General Conference Leadership Session, LDS President Dallin H. Oaks said, “Effective immediately, children of parents who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender may be baptized without First Presidency approval if the custodial parents give permission for the baptism and understand both the doctrine that a baptized child will be taught and the covenants he or she will be expected to make.” Additionally, “A nonmember parent or parents (including LGBT parents) can request that their baby be blessed by a worthy Melchizedek Priesthood holder. These parents need to understand that congregation members will contact them periodically, and that when the child who has been blessed reaches 8 years of age, a Church member will contact them and propose that the child be baptized.”
Oaks also stated that, “Previously, our handbook characterized same-gender marriage by a member as apostasy. While we still consider such a marriage to be a serious transgression, it will not be treated as apostasy for purposes of Church discipline. Instead, the immoral conduct in heterosexual or homosexual relationships will be treated in the same way.”
He explained, that the new policy “should help affected families” and “our members’ efforts to show more understanding, compassion and love should increase respect and understanding among all people of goodwill.”
That’s far from the full acceptance of same-sex relationships that I’m sure many are hoping for, but it’s a step in the right direction.