Mormons for Marriage

As noted in Ray Ring's recent HCN feature, the Mormon church is throwing its impressive institutional -- and financial -- weight behind the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 in California. But like any religious group, the Latter-Day Saints are hardly monolithic. The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting (and further reporting) that a growing number of Mormons are speaking out against what they see as their church's attempt to strip a basic civil right from their gay friends and family members. Some of them are even putting their statements up on Youtube. Here's one of the best statements I've found: Mel, a devoutly Mormon mother of five, explaining how her support for gay marriage is grounded in Jesus's demand that we love others as we love ourselves.

There's also a site titled "Understanding LDS Homosexuality" that's put up a series of video interviews about what it's like to be gay -- or love someone who's gay -- while being a Mormon. It includes interviews with the father and brother of Curtis Rognan, a young gay Mormon who committed suicide.  "How would Jesus have treated my son?" Bruce Rognan asks. His answer, not surprisingly: with love, not condemnation.