Michael Aaron, editor of Q Salt Lake, offers a column calling for more understanding and discussion between the Mormon community and the gay community.
This is the time and this is the place where we need to come together, learn from each other, and build – not burn – bridges.
The bridge burning on the LDS side, of course, is in the headlines, including Proposition 8 and an amendment to the Utah Constitution prohibiting same-sex marriages.
But Mormons no doubt think that some actions on the LBGT side are no less damaging to understanding – if not pointlessly gratuitous. Writes Aaron:
Next month, openly-gay "Confessions of a Mormon Boy" actor Stephen Fales will be onstage at the Rose Wagner Theater, will don sacred Mormon garments, and will reveal sacred Mormon Temple ceremony secrets.
Is this building bridges?
Aaron also offers examples of efforts to reach across the divide, including the series of little-known meetings between representatives of the LDS Church and a group of gay and lesbian leaders known in the LBGT community as the "Gang of Five."
