Posted on 06/12/2005 9:28:57 AM PDT by Graybeard58
SALT LAKE CITY -- David Johnson stopped believing in the Mormon church about three years ago, when he came out of the closet.
At 24, he is ignoring strict principles of a church that teaches that homosexuality is a serious sin by living the life of a gay man.
But he chooses to live here, in the capital of one of the nation's most conservative states, which is shadowed by the worldwide headquarters of a church that suffuses nearly every aspect of life in Utah. The Mormon church, one of the world's fastest growing faiths with about 12 million members worldwide, won't accept homosexuals until they are spiritually rehabilitated.
During the Pride Week Festival that runs through today, plenty of people like Johnson are gathering around Salt Lake City -- a yearly reminder of just how large the gay community here has become. It culminates today with a parade that organizers say is the second largest in the state, behind the annual July 24 "Days of '47" parade commemorating the Mormon settlement of the Salt Lake Valley.
A Mormon church spokeswoman declined to comment on Pride Week, instead referring a reporter to previous church statements on homosexuality in general. They read, in part: "We realize there may be great loneliness in their lives but there must also be recognition of what is right."
Figures on Salt Lake City's gay population are hard to come by. Leaders of many of the city's advocacy groups don't even venture a guess.
The latest census did not request information about sexual orientation, but did tally 594,391 same-sex couples living together nationwide, with 3,370 of them in Utah. Gay advocates have estimated those numbers undercount the population by as much as 50 percent, because it only counts homosexuals who are in a live-in relationship and admit that to census officials.
Urban Institute demographer Gary Gates and researcher Jason Ost, authors of The Gay and Lesbian Atlas, estimate Salt Lake City to be in the top 6 percent of cities where gay and lesbian couples were likely to live.
"Clearly, Salt Lake City has a high concentration," Gates told The Associated Press.
Many gays and lesbians in Utah are former Mormons who grew up in the area and don't want to leave -- despite a political system that just passed one of the country's most restrictive amendments banning gay marriage. Others migrated from equally conservative nearby states like Idaho and Wyoming, which have no high-concentration gay areas of their own.
Many of Salt Lake's gays and lesbians don't want to abandon the style of Western living they grew up with, said Michael Mitchell, executive director of the advocacy group Equality Utah. The pace of life is generally slow, and nearby mountain ranges full of ski runs and hiking trails provide abundant opportunities for enjoying nature while still living in an urban area.
Other benefits like affordability and a relatively low crime rate are enough for some people to justify staying, he said.
Besides, Mitchell notes, "the next big city is Denver, eight hours one way, and Las Vegas, five hours the other way."
The decision for gays and lesbians to stay in Utah can be complicated, especially since the Mormon church is as much a culture as a faith, but Johnson said he's been able to negotiate his own set of beliefs.
"Some of their core values I really like," he says of the church, "but some of their extenuating guidelines and morals, they just don't work for me."
"But he chooses to live here, in the capital of one of the nation's most conservative states, which is shadowed by the worldwide headquarters of a church that suffuses nearly every aspect of life in Utah. The Mormon church, one of the world's fastest growing faiths with about 12 million members worldwide, won't accept homosexuals until they are spiritually rehabilitated. "
Last I heard, fewer than 1 in 5 citizens in SL county are LDS - I guess this guy (person?) is one of the other 4..... I feel sorry for them - they are doomed in many ways, but I also don't need this kind of 'in your face' antics either.
Yes, but do the various ethnic groups dress up like clowns in a bondage flick when they go and march in a parade? The parade simply serves the need for absolutely shameless self-exhibition en masse. They costume themselves so that they can't even recognize themselves, and then go out with a bunch of folks with a similar dislike of self. But since theyre all making so much noise and being so outlandish, they fool themselves. They're not parading as they are. They are parading around in a costume that makes themselves unrecognizable, so that if they look in the mirror, they can't see what they detest so much.
It's too bad for me that I had to re-install my web browser and couldn't post the picture I saw on a thread a few days ago with a man parading around in a 10-inch hot pink "afro," high heels, and nothing on the rest of him except a gumball machine with the globes holding the gumballs as his imaginary breasts and the dispenser down by his genitalia. Such an outfit was not anything near what I would call a display of pride in self, but alas, I have no way to find it.
later pingout.
Who wouldn't want to be eternally entertained by a bunch of virgins?
I'm pretty sure not! From what I know of their religion, they strongly encourage marriage, and believe that a husband and wife are eternally "sealed". They'll be reunited after death and be together forever.
I'm female, and I tell ya, I would not want to be entertained by a bunch of male virgins. I want a pro who finds me attractive, not some joe-joe I have to teach everything to and spoon feed. Besides, have you ever met a 30-something or 40-something virgin? I've met only one and she's really quite nuts. I guess you mean an 18 year old virgin for after you die at 76. Yeah, she'll find you attractive. Don't forget your checkbook. :P
Check it out at http://www.mormon.org/
and I thought it was Mr.winkie, that he negotiated with.
I think even today it would be a riot to stage an ambush
and have normal people all along the rout to catch them in a cross fire with really gooey fudge-- or something disease free to make a statement.
In your face proof that they control the government so to
H___ with the people who know what they do is unnatural and
unwise.
This guy isn't negotiating with Mr. Winkie. Negotiating implies a give-and-take. This guy is worshiping at the altar of Mr. Winkie and paying homage to him, and following him without question.
What polygamy thing?
There is no such thing as a gay Mormon.
Eek! The one in the front row with what looks like three sets of fake boobs is especially disturbing to view. But it illustrates my point very well...they're out there pretending to be proud of themselves. But they're not being themselves. They're caking on makeup and squeezing into pantyhose and wearing hot pink shawls so that they can't even see who they are. I find that it demonstrates self-hatred much more than pride. But that's totally just my 2 cents.
Re your question: No they do not! That would be the Muslims.
Absolutely not. That would be the Muslims, and how they get so many kids to be suicide bombers.
It's not entirely accurate that Mormons believe being a homosexual is a sin. More accurately, Mormons believe homosexual activity, like any sex outside of marriage, is a sin. Homosexual behavior is considered as much of a sin as premarital heterosexual behavior.
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