Apparently, some in the Mormon Church did not want the Roman Catholic Church to hog all the much deserved media coverage on the issue of firing folks for being gay or too gay friendly. It seems a Salt Lake City stake fired Drew Call (pictured at right), age 32, a returned missionary who is gay from a position in the church’s printing department because he refused to abandon his gay friends as a condition for renewal of his temple recommend. Fortunately, Call surreptitiously made an audio recording of one of the meetings in March so the Mormon Church cannot deny or try to spin what really occurred. The Salt Lake City Weekly has coverage on this case of religious based bigotry. I love it how bigots think they have a license to discriminate against others but don't like it when they get justly berated for their bigotry. Here are some story highlights:*
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ official policy is to accept gay people as members of the church so long as they take what is, in essence, a vow of chastity. But one Salt Lake City man, a church employee for more than a decade, is surprised and angered that he lost his temple recommend—a prerequisite for employment in the church—after he refused to give up his gay friends and was fired.
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“I want people to know that [the LDS Church] is targeting people unfairly,” Call says. “I do believe they wronged me.” Hoping to avoid the situation he now faces, Call had been looking for a new job for more than a year anyway. In this tough economy, however, it’s been difficult. The divorced father of two wanted to stay in the church’s good graces long enough that he could resign with dignity and financial security. The recording makes clear that Call’s association with gay people was the problem.
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Call served a mission in Massachusetts from 1997 to 1999 and got married at 24 to a high school classmate even though he wasn’t attracted to women. Raised in Layton, he wanted children and felt being gay was evil. “I thought getting married would fix it and this tendency to like men would go away, but it never did,” he says.
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In April 2009, he filed for divorce. . . . . In April 2010, the already-strained relationship with his parents grew more painful when they were told—not by Call—that he was gay. They were not accepting of it. He felt shunned at church and was still unsure if rumors were spreading about his sexuality or if it was just that he was divorced. His job was in jeopardy because of his small, secret steps toward living openly as a gay man. His only strong allies with whom he could be totally honest during a painful divorce, crisis of faith and job insecurity were his gay friends, many of whom had had similar experiences. “I had no idea how many great people are in the gay community,” he says. “I have better friends than I’ve ever had in my life and I’m happier.”
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To receive or maintain a temple recommend, Mormons must answer certain standardized questions. The stake president says on the recording that the question Call could not answer honestly asks, “do you support, affiliate with or agree with any group or individuals whose teaching or practices are contrary to or opposed to those accepted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?” The stake president goes on to say that that question applies to Call’s gay friends “because of the moral decay that is going in the world and that’s part of it. The church opposes the relationship between a man and a man and a woman and a woman, and you’re associating with those individuals. I don’t know how to get around that.”
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“So what are you going to do?” Call asked. “You’re going to have to look for a job,” the stake president replied.
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Its noteworthy that the stake president apparently would have preferred that Call remain in a sham marriage - note how the straight spouse NEVER gets any consideration - and abandon honest, genuine people in order to remain amongst the modern day Pharisees of the LDS.
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