Editing Homosexuality and religion (section)

=====Latter-day Saints=====
[[File:SLC Temple Rainbow Flag.jpg|thumb|right|170 px|An LGBT [[Rainbow flag (LGBT)|pride flag]] in front of the [[Salt Lake Temple|Salt Lake City temple]] in Utah.]]
{{main|Homosexuality and the LDS Church}}

All homosexual or same-sex sexual activity is forbidden by [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) in its [[law of chastity]], and the church teaches that [[God in Mormonism|God]] does not approve of [[same-sex marriage]] and may punish same-sex sexual behavior with a [[disciplinary council]].<ref name=SSM>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/same-sex-marriage?lang=eng&_r=1 |title=Same-Sex Marriage|publisher=LDS Church}}</ref> Members of the church who experience homosexual attractions, including those who [[Sexual identity|self-identify]] as gay, lesbian, or bisexual remain in good standing in the church if they abstain from same-sex marriage and all sexual relations outside an opposite-sex marriage,<ref name=Label>{{cite web|title=Frequently Asked Questions|url=https://mormonandgay.churchofjesuschrist.org/articles/frequently-asked-questions|website=Mormon and Gay|publisher=LDS Church|date=October 2016|quote=If you experience same-sex attraction, you may choose to use a sexual orientation label to describe yourself. ... If you decide to ... openly identify as gay, you should be supported.}}</ref><ref name="Oaks-Wickman 2007">{{cite interview |first=Dallin H. |last=Oaks |subject-link= Dallin H. Oaks |first2=Lance B. |last2=Wickman |subject-link2=Lance B. Wickman |interviewer=LDS Church Public Affairs staffers |title=Same-Gender Attraction |url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/interview-oaks-wickman-same-gender-attraction |type=Interview: Transcript |work=Newsroom |publisher=LDS Church |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |date=September 2006}} See also the Salt Lake Tribune archived transcript [http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=4275317&itype=NGPSID here].</ref><ref name="hinckley98">{{cite journal |last=Hinckley |first=Gordon B. |author-link=Gordon B. Hinckley |title=What Are People Asking about Us? |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1998/11/what-are-people-asking-about-us?lang=eng |journal=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |date=November 1998 |publisher=LDS Church}}</ref> but all, including those participating in same-sex activity and relationships, are allowed to attend weekly church worship services.<ref name=Worship>{{cite web |url=http://www.mormon.org/worship#what-to-expect |title=Worship with Us: What to Expect |work=mormon.org |publisher=LDS Church |access-date=July 2, 2014 |archive-date=15 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215155922/https://www.mormon.org/worship#what-to-expect |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, in order to receive [[Ordinance (Latter Day Saints)|church ordinances]] such as [[Baptism in Mormonism|baptism]], and to enter church [[Temple (Latter Day Saints)|temples]], adherents are required to abstain from same-sex relations.<ref name=GTT>{{citation |url = https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/temples?lang=eng&_r=1 |title= Gospel Topics: Temples |work= churchofjesuschrist.org |publisher= LDS Church |access-date= July 2, 2014}}</ref><ref name=Disciplinary>{{citation |url = https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/church-disciplinary-councils?lang=eng&_r=1 |title= Gospel Topics: Church Disciplinary Councils |work= churchofjesuschrist.org |publisher= [[LDS Church]] |access-date= July 2, 2014}}</ref> Additionally, in the church's [[Plan of salvation in Mormonism|plan of salvation]] noncelibate gay and lesbian individuals will not be allowed in the top tier of [[Degrees of glory#Celestial kingdom|heaven]] to receive [[Exaltation (Mormonism)|exaltation]] unless they repent, and a heterosexual marriage is a requirement for exaltation.<ref name=Fractured>{{cite news |last1=Beaver |first1=Michelle |title=Mormon church has a fractured history with gays |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2011/03/11/mormon-church-has-a-fractured-history-with-gays/ |work=The Mercury News |agency=Bay Area News Group |publisher=MediaNews Group, Inc. |date=11 Mar 2011|quote=There are three levels to the heaven in which Mormons believe, and to make it to the highest level, one must be married. Perhaps the most sacred church ordinance is the temple marriage, a "sealing" between a man and a woman that is believed to be eternal, according to Richley Crapo, a Utah State University professor. There is no place for homosexuality in Mormon marriages, and no place for noncelibate homosexuals in the top level of Mormon heaven, unless that person has repented accordingly in the afterlife.|location=San Jose, CA}}</ref><ref name="Not Gay">{{cite news |last1=Petrey |first1=Taylor G. |title=My Husband's Not Gay: Homosexuality and the LDS Church |url=https://religionandpolitics.org/2015/02/04/my-husbands-not-gay-homosexuality-and-the-lds-church/ |author-link=Taylor G. Petrey|work=Religion & Politics |agency=John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics |publisher=Washington University in St. Louis |date=4 February 2015|quote=In the Mormon cosmos, as presently understood, there is simply no room for same-sex relationships. For Mormons, the afterlife consists of heterosexual pairs of divinized men and women. Often church leaders have counseled Mormons who experience same-sex attraction that their unwelcome feelings will disappear in the afterlife. ... [T]he very structure of heaven can only accommodate opposite-sex marriages.}}</ref>

The LDS Church previously taught that homosexuality was a curable condition<ref name=Curable>{{citation|last=Kimball|first=Spencer W.|author-link=Spencer W. Kimball|title=The Miracle of Forgiveness|year=1969|publisher=[[Bookcraft]]|isbn=978-0-88494-192-7|quote=[Homosexuality] is curable and forgivable. ... Certainly it can be overcome .... [T]o those who say that this practice ... is incurable, I respond: 'How can you say the door cannot be opened until your knuckles are bloody ...? It can be done.'|title-link=The Miracle of Forgiveness}} Quoted on page 31 of [https://web.archive.org/web/20170418092803/https://www.uvu.edu/religiousstudies/docs/msc_philips_conservative.pdf#page=36 "Conservative Christian Identity & Same-Sex Orientation: The Case of Gay Mormons."]</ref><ref name="Counselling">{{cite book|last1=Kimball|first1=Spencer W.|title=A Counselling Problem in the Church|date=10 July 1964|publisher=Brigham Young University|location=Provo, Utah|pages=13–14|url=https://search.lib.byu.edu/byu/record/lee.2278543?holding=umtmgu5gt5x6e7b0|quote=We know such a disease [homosexuality] is curable.}}</ref> and counseled members that they could and should change their attractions and provided therapy and programs with that goal.<ref name=Problems>{{cite book|title=Understanding and Helping Those Who Have Homosexual Problems|pages=3–4|date=1992|publisher=LDS Church|url=http://www.qrd.org/qrd/religion/judeochristian/protestantism/mormon/mormon-homosexuality|access-date=3 November 2016|quote=[S]uch thoughts and feelings, regardless of their causes, can and should be overcome and sinful behavior should be eliminated. ... Change is possible.}}</ref><ref name="Paradigm">{{cite web|last1=Prince|first1=Gregory A.|title=Science vs. Dogma: Biology Challenges the LDS Paradigm of Homosexuality|url=https://thc.utah.edu/lectures-programs/mcmurrin-lecture/PRINCE-MCMURRIN%20LECTURE-protected.pdf|website=thc.utah.edu|publisher=University of Utah Tanner Humanities Center|date=27 September 2017|access-date=23 February 2022|archive-date=28 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328232753/https://thc.utah.edu/lectures-programs/mcmurrin-lecture/PRINCE-MCMURRIN%20LECTURE-protected.pdf|url-status=dead}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gssnz1WZ3dU Video] of the presentation.</ref>{{rp|13–19}}<ref name="Dynamics">{{cite book|last1=Quinn|first1=D. Michael|title=Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example|date=1996|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0252022050|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXVj398JvnsC}}</ref>{{rp|377–379}} From 1976 until 1989 the [[General Handbook|Church Handbook]] called for church discipline for members attracted to the same sex equating merely being homosexual with the seriousness of acts of adultery and child molestation—even celibate gay people were subject to excommunication.<ref name="Gay Rights">{{cite book |last1=Prince |first1=Gregory A. |author-link=Gregory Prince|title=Gay Rights and the Mormon Church: Intended Actions, Unintended Consequences |date=2019 |publisher=The University of Utah Press |location=Salt Lake City |isbn=9781607816638 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfnQuQEACAAJ}}</ref>{{rp|16,43}}<ref name="Dynamics" />{{rp|382,422}}<ref name="Decisions">{{cite journal|last1=Schow|first1=Ron|title=Homosexual Attractions and LDS Marriage Decisions|journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|date=Fall 2005|volume=38|issue=3|pages=133–143 |doi=10.2307/45227379 |jstor=45227379 |s2cid=254393745 |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V38N03_145.pdf|access-date=18 June 2017}}</ref>{{rp|139}} Church publications now state that "individuals do not choose to have such attractions", its church-run therapy services no longer provides [[sexual orientation change efforts]], and the church has no official stance on the [[Homosexuality#Causes|causes of homosexuality]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mormonsandgays.org/ |work=Mormons and Gays |title=Love One Another: A Discussion on Same-Sex Attraction |access-date=June 16, 2016 |archive-date=16 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616190527/http://mormonsandgays.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Position>{{cite web|title=Interview With Elder Dallin H. Oaks and Elder Lance B. Wickman: "Same-Gender Attraction"|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/interview-oaks-wickman-same-gender-attraction|website=Mormon Newsroom|publisher=LDS Church|date=September 2006|quote=The Church does not have a position on the causes of any of ... same-gender attraction. Those are scientific questions ....}}</ref><ref name="Weeds">{{cite news|last1=Jones|first1=Morgan|title=The Weeds' story is one of many stories of LGBT Latter-day Saints that continue to be written|url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900009667/the-weeds-story-is-one-of-many-stories-of-lgbt-latter-day-saints-that-continue-to-be-written.html|work=Deseret News|publisher=LDS Church|date=7 February 2018|quote=Today, [LDS] Family Services says it offers the following: 'We assist individuals and families as they respond to same-sex attraction. Our therapists do not provide what is commonly referred to as 'reparative therapy' or 'sexual orientation change efforts'.'|access-date=23 February 2022|archive-date=12 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190512201229/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900009667/the-weeds-story-is-one-of-many-stories-of-lgbt-latter-day-saints-that-continue-to-be-written.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> These current teachings and policies leave homosexual members with the options of entering a [[Mixed-orientation marriage|mixed-orientation opposite-sex marriage]], or living a [[Celibacy|celibate]] lifestyle without any sexual expression (including [[Masturbation and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|masturbation]]).<ref name=Unethical>{{cite journal |last1=Fish |first1=Jessica N. |last2=Russell |first2=Stephen T. |title=Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts are Unethical and Harmful |journal=American Journal of Public Health |date=Aug 2020 |volume=110 |issue=8 |pages=1113–1114 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2020.305765 |pmid=32639919 |pmc=7349462 |quote=With substantial evidence of serious harms associated with exposure to [sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts (SOGICE)] particularly for minors, 21 states (and multiple cities and counties) have passed bipartisan laws or regulations prohibiting SOGICE. ... Furthermore, compared with LGBTQ youths with no exposure, those exposed to SOGICE showed 1.76 times greater odds of seriously considering suicide, 2.23 times greater odds of having attempted suicide, and 2.54 times greater odds of multiple suicide attempts in the previous year.}}</ref><ref name="Conservative Christian Identity">{{cite book|last1=Phillips|first1=Rick|title=Conservative Christian Identity & Same-Sex Orientation: The Case of Gay Mormons|date=2005|publisher=Peter Lang Publishing|location=Frankfurt, Germany|isbn=978-0820474809|url=https://www.uvu.edu/religiousstudies/docs/msc_philips_conservative.pdf|access-date=31 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418092803/https://www.uvu.edu/religiousstudies/docs/msc_philips_conservative.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 18, 2017|df=mdy-all}}</ref>{{rp|11}}<ref name="Examination">{{cite journal|last1=Cook|first1=Bryce|title=What Do We Know of God's Will for His LGBT Children? An Examination of the LDS Church's Current Position on Homosexuality|journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|date=Summer 2017|volume=50|issue=2|doi=10.5406/dialjmormthou.50.2.0001|s2cid=190443414|doi-access=free}}</ref>{{rp|20–21}}