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Written by Lisa Neff, Staff writer
Oct 20, 2010
Senior Mormon elder Boyd K. Packer – Photo: Courtesy
Petitions carrying the signatures of 150,000 people demanding that an LDS elder correct his statement that same-sex attraction is “impure and unnatural” were delivered Oct. 12 to the Mormon Church World Headquarters in Salt Lake City.
The Human Rights Campaign, Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons, Equality Utah and Utah Pride Center organized the petition drive targeting elder Boyd K. Packer, president of the Mormon Church’s Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
In a speech Oct. 10 to the LDS General Conference, Packer spoke about pornography, addiction and homosexuality. He said, “Some suppose that they were pre-set and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn tendencies toward the impure and unnatural. Not so! Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone? Remember he is our father.”
Packer’s statement produced an avalanche of protests from Salt Lake City to Washington, D.C.
On Oct. 12, activists carried petitions against Packer to the church headquarters.
“We’re here today to tell Elder Packer and those in the Mormon Church hierarchy who agree with him that his statements are both factually and scientifically wrong and that more importantly, they are dangerous and are putting millions of lives in great danger,” said HRC president Joe Solmonese.
Packer suggested that homosexuality is a condition that can be corrected, despite longstanding positions of the American American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association that denounce “ex-gay” therapy, said Kirk Dansie, a Utah psychologist.
“I am personally and professionally concerned that Elder Packer’s statements can be viewed as stigmatizations towards non-heterosexual oriented individuals and groups, and consequently reinforce or possibly increase further discrimination, hostility, or even violence towards non-heterosexual oriented individuals and groups” Dansie said.
An online text version of Packer’s speech has been revised, but not because of the LGBT outcry, according to a church spokesperson.
In the modified speech, “inborn temptations” replaced “inborn tendencies” and the “Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone?” was edited out. “Impure and unnatural,” however, remained in the text.
