Of Murder and Suicide

[Ed. The following was stolen from flattopSF]

One of Matthew Shepard's murderers was a Mormon. Was he influenced by the cult's teachings? Who knows. Let's just say the cult, unlike other religious organizations, did not publicly decry the tragedy. Nope, From them there was only dead airspace. Maybe a bit of static...and this:

Of particular concern is the recent re-release of the pamphlet "To Young Men Only" which admonishes young LDS men to "protect themselves" by physically assaulting gays when confronted with their homosexuality. This was re-released at the same time as the Matthew Shepard murder trials. Very few people in the LDS Church are aware that one of the two young men convicted of Matthew Shepard's beating death was a young Mormon Priesthood holder. As parents of gay children, it is difficult for us to understand why the Church, in the face of the national attention surrounding Matthew Shepard's beating death, would re-release something as inflammatory, insensitive and troubling as this.

The Mormon church member who they are referring to was Russell A. Henderson. After his conviction, the cult decided to excommunicate him. What a gesture: create and use the tool, then discard it!

[Ed. Back to JNOV ]

The pamphlet they're referring to contains this language, written by Boyd K. Packer:

After patient encouragement he finally blurted out, "I hit my companion."

"Oh, is that all," I said in great relief.

"But I floored him," he said.

After learning a little more, my response was "Well, thanks. Somebody had to do it, and it wouldn't be well for a General Authority to solve the problem that way."

I am not recommending that course to you, but I am not omitting it. You must protect yourself.

There is a falsehood that some are born with an attraction to their own kind, with nothing they can do about it. They are just "that way" and can only yield to those desires. That is a malicious and destructive lie. While it is a convincing idea to some, it is of the devil. No one is locked into that kind of life. From our premortal life we were directed into a physical body. There is no mismatching of bodies and spirits. Boys are to become men—masculine, manly men—ultimately to become husbands and fathers. No one is predestined to a perverted use of these powers.

"To Young Men Only," General Conference Priesthood Session, October 2, 1976.



Henry Stuart Matis (1967-2000) killed himself at the Los Altos, CA LDS chapel in response to the Mormon church's involvement in Prop 22.

Affirmation has created a memorial to GLBTQ Mormons who have committed suicide. Their memorial was created in response to "four gay Mormons kill[ing] themselves within four weeks" in March 2000 "while leaders of the LDS Church were engaged in a costly anti-gay crusade in California...." They have compiled a list of church members who should never be forgotten.

This is what it all boils down to: Real people are simply trying to live their lives the best way they can. Being gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, queer, intersex or asexual is not a crime, and it's certainly not a crime against nature. It is nature in all its beauty and splendor and diversity.

It's time to stop worrying about who's putting what where, because it's nobody's damned business. And it's time religions STOP PREACHING HATE. So many religions foment violence against innocents who are just. trying. to. be. These religions also shame adherents into believing that they are other. That they are less than. That they are not worthy. That they are damned. That they must change the fiber of their beings to reach exaltation. Well, you know what? That's some bullshit right there. As soon as I can stop being brown (oh, wait), my GLBTQI brothers and sisters will start being straight.

No one chooses to be straight. No one chooses to be GLBTQI. It's just how we are. It's part of who we are, but it's not what defines us, no matter how hard the bastards try to box us in.

Human beings are lovely, complex and beautiful in their diversity and in their individuality. We are whom we are, and we love whom we love, and at the end of the day, we should be pleased that some of us are able to find meaningful and lasting love. That is the meaning of life.

Welcome to GLBTQIA Day: Celebrating Nearly 180 Years of Mormon Homophobia, Bigotry and Violence!

But first, your morning dose of Boop (I scratched him, then he scratched me, but I'm the only one bleeding):



Thanks for joining us for our second weekly installment detailing 180 years of Mormon asshattery and dumbfuckery! Last week on "Lamanite" Day, we established that Mormonism is fundamentally based on racism. (We only addressed the racist tenets held about Native Americans and Pacific Islanders -- we will be addressing racism directed at Africans and people of African descent in the near future.)

In addition to being fundamentally based on racism, Mormonism is also fundamentally based on sex. Now, there's nothing new about a religion telling you whom you may fuck and in what position said fucking must occur, and many religions tell you that God doesn't like you very much if you're not a 0 on the Kinsey scale. But Mormonism takes sex to a whole 'nuther level that could possibly only be matched by those wacky Raëlians. Joseph Smith, Jr. liked sex. A lot. I mean, he liked sex so much that he was married to at least 30 women at the same time, and some of them were already married to other living dudes.

Now I'm not going to fault Old Horny Joe for enjoying sexual encounters with multiple sex partners -- that's the one thing we have in common. What I am going to call him out on is basing exaltation on being a temple-married breeder, and on Misogyny Day, we'll talk about how Smith married underage girls -- two of them 14 years old.

But today we'll be discussing a wide range of topics w/r/t Mormonism and GLBTQIA (although Mormonism really only recognizes gays and lesbians) members and the GLBTQIA community outside of Mormonism -- I guess Mormons have to take their bullshit ideas of love and marriage on the road and impose them on the rest of the world.

As a straight nevermo, I don't have any personal experience to draw from, but I get by with a lot of help from my friends. Today I will be joined by three guest bloggers, all ex-Mormons with first-hand experience of Mormon ashattery and dumbfuckery when it comes to sexual preference, gender expression and gender identity.

We'll be publishing a post at least every half hour; personal story posts will be published every fifteen minutes.

Expect:

1. Some background on LDS doctrine w/r/t the three levels of heaven and why GLBTQ folks who do not consummate hetero temple marriages will not get into the highest level of heaven;

2. Notable quotes about GLBTQ folks from church leaders;

3. A discussion about the excommunication of GLBTQ members;

4. A comparison of the process of acceptance of sexual identity and the process of leaving Mormonism written by an exMormon marriage and family therapist;

5. The despicable history of Evergreen, past and present, including BYU aversion torture;

6. An overview of Mormons and Prop 8 meddling;

7. Stories of church-induced suicide and violence;

8. To learn about how the church pressures members to marry someone of the opposite sex even if a member is out to the local church authorities; and

9. Personal stories posted by GLBTQ exmormons

We've got a lot of ground to cover, and our posts won't be exhaustive, but we will provide you with the ability to continue your study of this fucked up bullshit if you so choose. Connell O'Donovan has crafted a well-researched and comprehensive book, "The Abominable and Detestable Crime Against Nature": A Revised History of Homosexuality & Mormonism, 1840-1980, revised in 2004. We can't come close to providing you with the depth and breadth of information and analysis Connell O'Donovan provides, and I encourage you to read further at his site.

So, thank you for joining us, we hope you learn something useful, and please feel free to comment, correct, challenge and vent. The anonymous commenting option is open, and comments are not moderated.