Mormon leaders address coronavirus pandemic, somehow manage to make it about ‘sinful’ gay sex
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Russell M Nelson, April 2019 general conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, attended by thousands of Mormons. (George Frey/Getty)
Mormon church leaders tried to give followers hope during the coronavirus pandemic, but it somehow descended into a rant against “sinful” same-sex marriage.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), commonly known as the Mormon church, live-streamed its biannual general conference last weekend due to social distancing rules.
During the event, church elder Jeffrey Holland attempted to give Mormons around the world hope during the coronavirus pandemic.
“When we have conquered it — and we will — may we be equally committed to freeing the world from the virus of hunger and freeing neighbourhoods and nations from the virus of poverty,” he said on April 5, the second day of the conference, according to the Daily Herald.
“May we hope for schools where students are taught — not terrified they will be shot — and for the gift of personal dignity for every child of God, unmarred by any form of racial, ethnic, or religious prejudice.”
Mormon conference quickly descends into anti-LGBT+ rant.
While the coronavirus portion of the conference got off to a positive start, things took a turn when church president Russell M Nelson spoke.
He said that Mormon worship would be the antidote to “earthquakes, fires, floods, plagues” and added that the devil was working through social media and marketing.
Dallin Oaks of the first presidency, the governing body of the LDS church, then bizarrely managed to turn what should have been a message of hope during the pandemic into a condemnation of LGBT+ people.
While discussing who would qualify for salvation, Oaks said: “Outside the bonds of marriage, all uses of the procreative power are to one degree or another a sinful degrading perversion of the most divine attribute of men and women.”
Mormon church not welcoming to LGBT+ people.
The Mormon church has been receiving a lot of attention for its anti-LGBT+ policies this year.
In February, the LDS church-run Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah appeared to remove a ban on “homosexual behaviour”, before backtracking a few days later and saying it was still grounds for expulsion.
In the same month, the Mormon church released a new “general handbook” in which it detailed harsh punishments for trans members.
