Today my heart is breaking. Not because my church has decided to make children of homosexual couples wait until they’re eighteen to be baptized, but because so many of my brothers and sisters are struggling with the decision, some even going so far as to say that the decision has destroyed their testimony in the truthfulness of the church.
I was raised in a homosexual household from the time I was three until I was eighteen. I was fortunate enough to have a mother that allowed me to attend church and would take me to practically any one I desired to go to. In some ways she set up my eventual discovery and acceptance of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because she always encouraged me to ask questions, and not believe something just become someone else told me it was true. She also told me to be skeptical of people, and in a way, this paved the way for me to learn how to receive personal revelation and understand its importance.
When I learned last night of the Church’s decision toward the children of gays I was initially in disbelief. Since joining the Church I have often thought about what my life might have been like had I found it while still a child, and the effects it could have had on the decisions that I made in adolescence. I cannot say for certain that my mother would have let me be baptized in the first place, but I do feel that she would not have stopped me from attending.
One thing that few people understand is that the Church at large is one of the most welcoming and understanding churches there is when it comes to homosexuality. When I was baptized into a Baptist church at thirteen years old my mother would not attend because she felt so uncomfortable, and yet when my oldest daughter was baptized both of my parents attended, and they have attended other functions such as fall carnivals at church as well. As a matter of fact, the church’s teachings regarding the judgment of homosexuals at the final judgment is one the reasons I looked further into the church in the first place.
