This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Mormon Apostle Dallin Oaks lamented the "pressures" that "confuse gender or homogenize those differences between men and women that are essential to accomplish God's great plan of happiness." Those "pressures" are responding to the fact that God's great plan of happiness created some men who are wired to be attracted to men (a fact Oaks accepts). By forcing them into a one-size-fits-all gender role, he and his brethren are creating unhappiness, not happiness. Who is doing the damaging homogenizing?
The apostle told Latter-day Saints to not "condone such behaviors or ... laws that permit them" because Mormon doctrines "are determined by the truths God has declared to be unchangeable." He knows that many formerly asserted Mormon doctrines have changed over time — polygamy, birth control, roles of wives to husbands, blacks and the priesthood.
Jesus, himself a god, didn't say a single thing about gays or gay marriage, but he did say a lot about divorce; with one exception, he forbade it. For Jesus, divorce is a really big sin.
God has not changed that scriptural doctrine, yet Mormons have found a way to allow divorce. Why? Because their lived experience of not wanting to do more harm teaches them the necessity of allowing it.
If Mormons would show similar empathy, compassion and mercy for their gay Saints, they would find away around the non-scriptural doctrine (really interpretation) that Oaks so adamantly asserts. Seek and ye shall find.
Mark Smith
Salt Lake City