Re "God can lift the 'burden' of gay LDS, leader says" (Tribune, Sept. 19):

As one who struggled for years with being Mormon and gay, my spiritual life was severely dimmed by that never-ceasing internal war. The counsel of Bishop Keith McMullin of the LDS Presiding Bishopric to Mormon gays to focus on being a true child of God and not on one's homosexuality creates a war with oneself that only heightens your focus on sex as, or more likely because, you fight so hard against it.

Only when I accepted that I am the child of a God who created me with same-sex attraction could I take "joy in my creation" and in channeling my spiritual gifts and passions into constructive relationships of love that bless me and many others.

"Each of us has problems," McMullin said of the same-sex attraction "burden." Well, calling good evil and labeling natural sexual drives as evil is itself evil. Mormonism criticizes Christian theologies that see sex as inherently sinful. Rather, it equates sex that creates love with a fundamental attribute of godhood.

Instead of turning gays into eunuchs or ever-conflicted heterosexual partners, invite them to channel their gifts into productive, loving relationships.

Colin Smith

Salt Lake City