Today, on the front page of the Deseret News, the LDS Church owned paper, there is an article entitled: "LDS Church issues statement of support for LGBTQ concert event". See above in highlighted yellow.
On August 26, there will be a first-time music festival called LoveLoud, an event which is aimed at supporting LGBTQ youth. It will be hosted at the Utah Valley University campus where Elder Jeffrey R Holland's son is the University President. This event now has a statement of support from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here is the LDS statement:
“We applaud the LoveLoud Festival for LGBTQ Youth’s aim to bring people together to address teen safety and to express respect and love for all of God’s children. We join our voice with all who come together to foster a community of inclusion in which no one is mistreated because of who they are or what they believe."
“We share common beliefs, among them the pricelessness of our youth and the value of families. We earnestly hope this festival and other related efforts can build respectful communication, better understanding and civility as we all learn from each other.”
Here is the full article online:NEWS ARTICLE
To the average member, the stances that the Church takes on these LGBTQ issues is be confusing....It is almost as if the Church is bi-polar. One the one hand the Church is supporting the LGBTQ youth, but on the other hand, if you are a straight youth with just one LGBTQ parent, you CANNOT get baptized until you are an adult and are forced to renounce your parent.
