Living With Mormons

I was recently assigned a new home teacher (remember, I’m still in the records) and he called me this past week to see if he could stop by this weekend.
He was careful to point out the fact that he “understood” my “situation” and that the visit would be but a friendly one; no need to bring up church issues.

Either way, I welcome the visit. I was once his son’s Scout Leader and invited him as well.

Whenever I have official visits from the Church, I really do hope (mainly for my wife’s sake) that no uncomfortable discussions ensue and I don’t have to end showing someone how ignorant their beliefs are, but I’m afraid the latest rambling of the leaders of the church; Elder Bruce C. Hafen must have really enjoyed giving his latest speech (Evergreen International Conference) as an opus to a life lived focused on “the legal rights and needs of children and the legal status of marriage.”

Bruce quickly sets the tone to his damaging speech with the following quote:

When we asked how he was doing, he began to cry and said, with a look of real anguish, “I suffer from same-gender attraction.” My heart went out to him. The longer we talked, the more compassion I felt, as I learned that the operative word for him really was “suffer.”

That’s right. It’s clear to these idiots that homosexuality is a disease, despite what anybody else says about it (more on this point later).

He continues on this wave with demeaning and hurtful associations to child abuse, misrepresentations of scientific findings, all the while making clear how loving and just and forgiving his screwed up god is.

His disconnection to the real issues involved in homosexuality debate are highlighted by one of the solutions this highly educated and yet incredibly ignorant person presents to the church youth:

“Find a therapist who can help you identify the unmet emotional needs that you are tempted to satisfy in false sexual ways.”

Really? So sex is what it’s all about for these mormons, isn’t it? What about the deep emotional needs one is “tempted to satisfy” in loving relationships. Perhaps deeper needs to be loved and accepted and live a full life are more important to most people than just sex (but yes, sex too cannot be downplayed as they try to do).

He continues on and on about his loving savior (who, let’s not forget, allegedly made people the way they are so they can suffer) and how all will be well if you just endure until the end, but his blindness and bigotry is once again replaced by his sleazy willingness to distort the facts to support his cause:

In the early 1970’s, the public and most lawyers, doctors, and therapists saw homosexuality not as normal adult behavior but as a psychological disorder.

In his historical analysis, his call for us to return to a time where intolerance was rampant and status quo is loud and accentuated by continued misrepresentation:

In 1973, in response to increasing disruptions and protests by gay activists, the American Psychiatric and Psychological Associations removed homosexuality from their official lists of disorders. Significantly, they took this action by simply putting the issue to an open vote in their professional meetings–not because of any change in actual medical findings.

First is the misconception that same-gender attraction is an inborn and unalterable orientation. This untrue assumption tries to persuade you to label yourselves and build your entire identity around a fixed sexual orientation or condition.

Wow, what a great world, wasn’t it? When we could just pretend everything was peachy in my heterosexual home and, when problems arose, we could just beat the shit out of anybody who disagreed with us. Ahh, the good ol’ days.

There have been many studies in the field and scientists continue to look at possible causes, but to me that’s beyond the point. Homosexuals are people who seek happiness in a world who hates them. Making this hate go away and allowing them to live happy lives should be the focus of our sermons and discourses.

While Mr. Hafen is quick to quote the APA on the ongoing research, he fails to take their counsel on the most important fact:

lesbian, gay, and bisexual orientations are not disorders. Research has found no inherent association between any of these sexual orientations and psychopathology. Both heterosexual behavior and homosexual behavior are normal aspects of human sexuality. Both have been documented in many different cultures and historical eras. Despite the persistence of stereotypes that portray lesbian, gay, and bisexual people as disturbed, several decades of research and clinical experience have led all mainstream medical and mental health organizations in this country to conclude that these orientations represent normal forms of human experience. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual relationships are normal forms of human bonding.

The rest of his words are directed to insult the rest of us who do not fit his utopian 1960′s family, such as unwed parents, single parents, divorced parents, and I’m sure in his flat head, interracial parents rank high on his no-no list.

As I type this, I’m really starting to think my new hometeacher picked the wrong day to come visit me. I really hope he doesn’t ask me why I don’t go to church anymore. He may find himself accidentally at the end of my wrath. If you don’t feel angry at this stuff, something is seriously wrong with you.