US: Gay rights march in Salt Lake City joined by 400 Mormons

Four hundred members of the Mormon Church joined a gay rights march in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the church is based, on Sunday.

The large group of Mormons joined the march, under the banner which read “Family Reunion”, in the annual Salt Lake City event.

It is the second year in a row that gay rights marchers have been joined by members of the church. Last year the participation of the church represented the first time any member had joined in at the parade.

Mormons Building Bridges organiser Erika Munson, said to the Salt Lake Tribune, that the group hoped to change public attitudes towards gay people. She said Mormons no longer excommunicated members who come out as gay.

Back in February, a student at the Mormon Brigham Young University in Utah, recorded his experience of coming out in a video which he says he hopes more people to understand what it is like being gay and Mormon.

In December, leaders of the Mormon Church launched a new website which, despite saying the church is still opposed to same-sex marriage, encouraged churchgoers to be more compassionate in discussions over homosexuality.

The church still teaches that same-sex relationships are sinful, however now accepts gay members, as long as they pledge to remain celibate.

Back in July 2012 in Salt Lake City, the home of the Mormon Church, around 150 members quit in a mass resignation ceremony over the church’s opposition to equal marriage and polygamy.

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