Mormon LGBT group rejected from Utah parades
For the second year, Mormons Building Bridges have been banned from popular Utah parades.
Erika Munson is head of the group which works to foster inclusion between LGBT people and the Mormon Church. She wants her group to march in the Days of 47 parade in Salt Lake City and the Freedom Festival parade in Provo.
She told the Salt Lake Tribune: “We were hoping that last year we really got a conversation going, and that this year, a lot of the unwillingness to look at the LGBT community as part of our community would fall away.”
She believes her group’s message of love and inclusion fits right in with the Mormon Church.
But Greg James, the executive vice president of Days of 47, which celebrates the arrival of Mormons to Salt Lake City said all advocacy groups were banned – ” whether it’s a group you might agree with or don’t agree with. We don’t do anything that’s advocacy. This one is advocacy.”
Last year the group were told they were too controversial.
But Ms Munson says: “I’m afraid that the parade committees for Days of ’47 and the Freedom Festival are isolated, which is a shame.
“These need to be parades for all of Utah.”
In January a study found that 80% of gay Mormons had tried to “cure” themselves.
2013’s Pride in Salt Lake City was attended by 400 Mormons.
