Thousands of members of the Mormon church have resigned en-masse today to protest new rules meaning children of LGBT couples can not be baptized until they are adults.
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Said children can only be baptized and confirmed by the Mormon priesthood if they disavow same-sex marriage to church leaders and move out of their parental home once they reach age 18.
The policy, approved last week by leaders of the church, which claims more than 15 million adherents worldwide, added same-sex marriage to the list of acts considered to be a renunciation of the faith and thus subject to church discipline, including excommunication.
The church clarified that the rules apply only to children living primarily with same-sex couples.
After calls for mass resignations from the church, over 1,500 people have announced their resignation in protest of the new anti-gay policies.
Naugle said the church’s clarification did not stop the resignation requests coming into his email inbox. Coordinators of the event say that although tensions were running high, ultimately the ability to resign has been a relief for most of the people.
“We had an incredible turnout”, he said.
The new policy does not mention gender identity; the LDS Church has no official policy regarding gender identity and expression.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spokesman Eric Hawkins didn’t immediately have any comment on the speculation. “This is simply not true”, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the faith’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said at the church’s April general conference.
Many said the decision to walk away is hard, but they felt it was the right decision to stand up for families.
“I stopped going to church religiously about a year ago because just the attitude towards minorities and homosexuals and women was the main three reasons that I just decided that it wasn’t real, ” he explained.
A group calling itself “LDS Church Mass Resignation” on Facebook said it was calling for the church to hear its voice that discrimination against gays and lesbians is wrong, but it is ultimately unclear how many resignations actually took place since the church is the only body that can disclose that – and it is not disclosing the information.
But Biskupski said actions like Johansen’s initial removal of a child from same-sex foster parents do much to set back the relationship between the LGBT community and Mormons. They must first, however, acknowledge the church’s teachings, especially on marriage.
The change to Mormon policy would not effect children who had already been baptised.
One of them, 17-year-old Francisco Negron, was expecting to serve alongside a few 85,000 Mormon missionaries around the world after graduating from high school. Her children are not shunned for being outside the church in a largely LDS community, but she feared the new policies will lead to shunning and suicides.
Swallow said that they want to give hope to Latter-day Saints considering leaving the religion.
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It’s prompted hundreds of members to leave, and a protest was yesterday held outside the church’s headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah.
