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Show 232 neither sexual nor racial difference. Rather than accede to a lifestyle that undercut the foundation of patriarchy and gender difference, church authorities dug in their heels. In New Horizons for Homosexuals, Spencer W. Kimball argued that "the Lord and his true church will never condone these sexual sins .... God is unchangeable. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.?" The same year the church reversed its racial ban, Apostle Boyd K. Packer gave an address at BYU which placed the burden of change on gays, warning that "the effort might require a change of social life, job, or geographic location.?" Thus, while Evan Thompson considered his sexual orientation a "genetic brick wall," he believed he had "transcended" it through marriage: "I not only put it out of my social life but I also put it out of my mind, I was really quite free ofit.,,88 While behaviorist therapy implied sexual orientation was not chosen and, as Thompson's case suggests, could not be changed, the LDS Church continued to expect gays to "transcend" it and choose heterosexual marriage as the alternative to an "alternative lifestyle." Defending their antigay policies as doctrinal, church leaders also dismissed the American Psychiatric Association's decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. Ironically, LDS leaders invoked the "ways of the Lord" to avoid blame for their slowness in changing racial policies, while condemning psychiatrists who 86Homosexuality: Welfare Services Packet 1; for a discussion of Spencer W. Kimball's differentiation between the ways of the church and those of the world, see The Open Door, February 1978, p. 28; Bayer, 149-51; Kimball, New Horizons for Homosexuals, 24, 32. 87Thayne Hansen, "Cures for Homosexuality Discussed by Elder Packer," The Open Door, April 1978, p. 6. "Thompson interview. |
