This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Speaking of being gay, LDS apostle Dallin H. Oaks said: "It's no sin to have inclinations that if yielded to would produce behavior that would be a transgression. … The sin is in yielding to temptation. Temptation is not unique. Even the Savior was tempted." Re "New Mormon church website has softer tone on gays" (Tribune, Dec. 6).

So, now Mormons view being gay the way they do alcohol: The desire to drink is not a sin, but drinking is.

On its new website, http://www.mormonsandgays.org, LDS officials say that same-sex attraction is "not an illness or a disease," yet it seems that Oaks is saying exactly that. That being gay is a disability the same way being an alcoholic is.

Granted, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has come a long way from saying that even the attraction to one's own sex is a sin that one must repent of by changing one's nature. Now, it's OK to be a same-sex-attracted eunuch, to shut down one's emotional and love life.

And that's being championed as spiritual progress?

Steve Howard

Cedar City