In what appears to be a major shift in tone, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormon church, announced Tuesday that it now broadly endorses housing and workplace protections for LGBT people.
During a press conference convened by several prominent church leaders, officials reaffirmed the church’s opposition to homosexuality while simultaneously announcing formal support for bills that ban housing and employment discrimination against LGBT people. In a subsequent press release posted on the Mormon Church’s website, officials noted that it would support these kinds of laws at the local, federal, and state level — including, presumably, an LGBT workplace and housing protection bill currently before the Utah state legislature.
Neill Marriott, a member of the Young Women General Presidency, opened the conference with the following statement:
[The LGBT Rights] movement arose after centuries of ridicule, persecution, and even violence against homosexuals. Ultimately, most of society recognized that such treatment was simply wrong, and that such basic human rights, such as securing a job, or a place to live, should not depend on a person’s sexual orientation.The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believes that sexual relations, other than between a man or a woman who are married, are contrary to the laws of God. This doctrine and commandment comes from sacred scripture, and we are not at liberty to change it. But God is loving, and merciful. His heart reaches out to all his children equally, and he expects us to treat one another with love and fairness.
It is for this reason that the church has publicly favored laws and ordinances that protect LGBT people from housing and employment.
But even while the church announced support for LGBT rights, the announcement was coupled with a fervent call for protections for religious Americans, specifically the right to do things such as “share their views openly in the public square,” “the right to use church properties in accordance with their beliefs,” and legal support for church-owned businesses. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland cited the hypothetical example of an LDS physician who objects to performing abortions or artificial insemination for a lesbian couple, saying the doctor should not should not be forced to do so.
“We call on local state and the federal government to serve all of their people by passing legislation that protects vital religious freedoms for individuals, families, churches, and other faith groups, while also protecting the rights of our LGBT citizens, in such areas as housing, employment, and public accommodation in hotels, restaurants, and transportation,” said Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church, insisted that the church was not changing doctrine.
“We are announcing no change in doctrine and church teachings today,” Christofferson said. “But we are offering a way forward, in which those with different views on these complex subjects can together seek for solutions that will be fair to everyone.”
The Mormon Church has backed similar LGBT workplace protections in the past. In 2009, the church voiced official support for two ordinances in Salt Lake City, Utah that protected LGBT residents from housing and employment discrimination. That support, however, was widely panned as little more than an olive branch to gloss over the church’s support for Proposition 8 in California, which sought to ban same-sex marriage in the state. The church also released a statement on their website in December of last year saying that they supported workplace and housing protections for LGBT people in Utah, but altered the language of the statement 24 hours later to reduce their support to the 2009 Salt Lake City ordinance.