New Mormon Church Anti-Gay Policy Leads to 32 Suicides

Image by Brian Palmer via Facebook

Religion is a toxic evil for society in my view, but it is especially evil in terms of the damage done to LGBT lives and psyches.  In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell, the bitter old men in the Mormon Church leadership felt the need to ratchet up it's anti-gay extremism and that henceforth people in same-sex marriages would be declared "apostates" and that their children would be barred from being baptized in the Mormon Church.  A support group for Mormon parents of LGBT children is reporting that the new policy is having deadly consequences: 32 young LGBT Mormons have taken their own lives since early November, 2015, when the policy was announced.  The New Civil Rights Movement looks at the depressing fruits of religious based hate and bigorty.  Here are highlights:

Thirty-two young LGBT Mormons reportedly have taken their own lives since early November — when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a new devastatingly anti-gay policy labeling people in same-sex marriages "apostates" and barring their children from being baptized.

All of the victims were between the ages of 14 and 20, with an average age of 17. Twenty-seven were male, three were female and two were transgender, and all but six of the suicides occurred in Utah. 

Those figures are based on a report from Mama Dragons, a support group for the Mormon parents of LGBT children that we first told you about last May. Wendy Montgomery, co-founder of Mama Dragons, announced recently during a conference of Affirmation, another Mormon LGBT support group, that the families of the 32 victims had contacted her directly about the death of a child or sibling.

The Deseret News, a Salt Lake City-based daily newspaper owned by the Mormon church, reported the shocking figure Wednesday after obtaining the following statement from senior LDS leaders.

But in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in favor of nationwide marriage equality, the church took a major step backward. In the policy released Nov. 5, the church relegated same-sex couples to the same status as those in polygamous marriages, labeling them "apostates," a term for those who've renounced their faith. The policy also bars the children of same-sex parents from becoming full members of the church until they turn 18, disavow their parents' relationship, and leave the household.

The new policy prompted thousands to leave the church in protest. Then, earlier this month, the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Russell M. Nelson, declared that the policy was a revelation from God to LDS President Thomas S. Monson, which elevated it to the status of church doctrine. Nelson is next in line to become church president, and his wife later said that LGBT people could "repent" and have their "sexual feelings be in harmony" with God's law. 

Even before the new policy was announced, Utah had the fourth-highest rate of suicide in the nation, and suicide was the No. 1 cause of death for children ages 10-17. Sadly, the families of LGBT Mormons who commit suicide typically don't publicize it because they want to avoid the associated shame from fellow church members.

LGB youth who come from highly rejecting families are 8.4 times as likely to attempt suicide as those who report no or low levels of family rejection. And one quarter of young transgender people "report having made a suicide attempt."

Hate, bigotry and death are the fruits of religion.  In the case of the Mormon Church, it is particularly sad - I grew up through high school in Central New York not far from where Joseph Smith claimed to have discovered the golden tablets upon which the Mormon faith is based.  Local always viewed Smith as a shyster and con-man and fraud.  That's the basis for the Mormon faith: fraud and untruth. 

More Insane Blather from "Ex-Gay" Proponents

A couple of posts on this blog looking at  the fraudulent "ex-gay" ministries  - seemingly always staffed by "ex-gays for pay" (most of whom always blame their sexual orientation rather than the insane faith traditions in which they were raised for their previously down and out lives due to bad choices on drugs and alcohol)  - have seemingly rankled some Kool-Aid drinkers.  These folk continue to live in a fantasy world where what they want to believe based on religious brainwashing trumps objective reality and legitimate medical and mental health knowledge.  Here is a sample of the types of comments left that I did not give dignity to by publishing.  The comment addresses failed "ex-gay" Matthew Manning and the demise of LightHouse World Evangelism, Inc:

Matthew Manning was touched by God, healed by God, and he apparently failed God in his ministry. This happens to many people for many reasons - lack of prayer life - lack of commitment - lack of time spent meditating and studying the Word, celebrity status - So what. That doesn't make Christianity false. .  .  .  .  I believe Matthew is still a believer and will regret the great opportunity he missed to be a light to the gay/lesbian community. But there are many others who have been successful in giving up sexually immoral lifestyles for God and those who fail, well.. God doesn't fail them.  Your accusation that all Christian ministry is conducted for money is ridiculous and outrageous. Jesus is very real to us. :)

I'm sorry, but go to any mental hospital and I suspect you will find patients who believe in invisible friends, think that the government has put implants in their heads and any number of other batshit crazy things.  These individuals may fervently believe their lunacies, but it doesn't make them any less untrue.  Self-deception and denial don't change objective reality.  As for the "many others" the The bottom line is that Matthew Manning was trying to be something that he will never be: straight.  And no one outside of the politically and financial "ex-gay" industry and ignorant by choice Christofascists believes otherwise.

The authors of these comments are free to believe whatever lunacy they want, but that right does not mean they have the right to try to impose their insane beliefs on all of society.  Yet that's the agenda of the "ex-gay" crowd.  And they work hand in glove with the hate groups who work to deprive LGBT citizens of equality under the civil laws.

Atheists, Agnostics Most Knowledgeable About Religion

With Christianist working daily to inflict their toxic and intolerant religious beliefs on all U.S. citizens, it's a bit unnerving to find that the Christofascists often don't even know what the Hell they are talking about when they blather about religion. That's what a new Pew U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey suggests. So what group is the most knowledgeable on religious dogma and beliefs? It's atheists and agnostics who score the highest it comes to accurate knowledge about religion. On second thought, however, given the increased embrace of ignorance that seems to be a requirement of today's Christianity - think about the rejection of modernity displayed by the leaders of the Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists, not to mention the creationists just for starters - perhaps the survey's findings should not be surprising after all. Here are some highlights from the Los Angeles Times:
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If you want to know about God, you might want to talk to an atheist. Heresy? Perhaps. But a survey that measured Americans' knowledge of religion found that atheists and agnostics knew more, on average, than followers of most major faiths. In fact, the gaps in knowledge among some of the faithful may give new meaning to the term "blind faith."
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Four in 10 Catholics misunderstood the meaning of their church's central ritual, incorrectly saying that the bread and wine used in Holy Communion are intended to merely symbolize the body and blood of Christ, not actually become them.
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So why would an atheist know more about religion than a Christian? American atheists and agnostics tend to be people who grew up in a religious tradition and consciously gave it up, often after a great deal of reflection and study, said Alan Cooperman, associate director for research at the Pew Forum. "These are people who thought a lot about religion," he said. "They're not indifferent. They care about it."
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Stephen Prothero, a professor of religion at Boston University and author of "Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- And Doesn't," served as an advisor on the survey. "I think in general the survey confirms what I argued in the book, which is that we know almost nothing about our own religions and even less about the religions of other people," he said.
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He said he found it significant that Mormons, who are not considered Christians by many fundamentalists, showed greater knowledge of the Bible than evangelical Christians.
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I'd venture a guess that many LGBT Americans likewise know more about religion that many of the self-congratulatory devout. Like atheists and agnostics, many of us have had to engage in reflection and study to overcome the emotional and psychological harm inflicted on us by our religious upbringings.

Those Who Wreck Lives by Peddling "Ex-gay" Conversion Therapy

Furthering the myth that one's sexual orientation is a "choice" and something that can be "changed" is a key component of the Christianists' agenda to keep LGBT citizens inferior under the law and to convince legislators and courts that LGBT citizens are undeserving of anti-discrimination protections. As the proposed "kill the gays" bill in Uganda demonstrates, the far right Christianists are busy exporting homophobia and bogus reparative therapy overseas. Besides Africa, another recipient of the exported poison has been the United Kingdom. Exposing this effort - and the bogus nature of "conversion therapy" - has been a number of stories in UK newspapers done by Patrick Strudwick who went under cover as a participant in ex-gay conversion programs. I applaud Strudwick's columns and the newspapers who have published them. The lies and dishonesty of opponents to LGBT equality need to be exposed wherever and whenever possible. For many years I tried to suppress my true orientation and was stricken with self-hate because no matter what I did the feeling did/would not go away. It is time to end needless misery induced by claims that are nothing but a cynical and calculated lie. Here are highlights from a column in the Guardian:

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My undercover investigation has led to a campaign against those who wreck lives by peddling conversion therapy
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Last year, in Britain, a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist tried to "cure" me of my homosexuality. What they didn't know was that I was working undercover investigating what happens during so-called conversion therapy. The results of my investigation, published last week in the Independent, have sparked a bushfire of anger and outrage.
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It's hardly surprising. The psychotherapist told me I had been sexually abused by a member of my family (which I hadn't). The psychiatrist tried to induce arousal in me during a "therapy" session. He also claimed to have "resolved" his own sexuality while admitting that he still masturbates over gay pornography.
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The response has been overwhelming. Countless former victims of conversion therapy have contacted me, describing the years of suffering they endured during and since treatment – some of whom were forced into it by their families. Therapists have written in impotent frustration about how they are left to mop up the psychological mess left by conversion therapists. Many readers were simply astounded that this goes on in the comparatively secular UK.
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Beyond the western countries, the response has been more troubling. Gay men and women have contacted me begging for help. Others have conveyed the growing climate of fear in Uganda. In light of all this I've set up a Facebook group called the Stop Conversion Therapy Taskforce (Scott). Hundreds joined within the first 24 hours, determined to do something.
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Our first target is a conference of conversion therapists taking place on 19 February in Northern Ireland. Mario Bergner is the guest of honour. He wrote Setting Love In Order, a book in which he claims to have become heterosexual through prayer. He also says that he was in hospital with "eleven symptoms of Aids" before being visited by "the Spirit of the Lord", who made him better overnight, and so later tested negative for the virus.
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Last April, as part of my investigation, I went to a similar conference in London for therapists and clergy wanting to learn how to "cure" their clients. I witnessed Joseph Nicolosi, the most notorious American conversion therapist, whose techniques are the basis of many of the practices in this country, treating a nervous young man in front of a live audience. I felt like I was watching a blood sport.
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The work of Scott will therefore not stop at disrupting conferences. We want professional bodies such as the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy to add into their code of conduct specific stipulations condemning attempts to alter orientation (currently they have more general ones about not letting personal feelings about sexuality affect treatment).
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We will also continue to expose individual therapists and report them to their professional bodies. It won't be easy. Many operate using euphemisms that cloud what they're really doing. They also defend their techniques vehemently, claiming: "We offer choice! We only treat those who come looking for it!" It's like a Venus flytrap blaming the hungry insect that wanders into its gaping mouth. But we are determined to root them out however long it takes. This won't be a battle. It's war.
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In the USA it is critical that the APA and licensing boards in the states shut down bogus "ex-gay" programs and sanction licensed therapists and counselors that continue to engage in the a politically and religiously motivated fraud that damages lives and helps to support bigotry.