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Show 235 problem that belongs to all of us (italics mine)." Similarly, they reprinted the LDS Welfare Services pamphlet because "it is directly opposed to the gay lifestyle, and are influenced ... we daily by the philosophy of the Mormons in one way or another, directly or indirectly, here in Utah." Open Door managing editor Spare R. Joseph also asserted gays' collective right to be informed of LDS policies on homosexuality: "We, as a community, have a right to know exactly what the Church says. Weare all affected by the Mormon religion if we have any connection with Utah." While Spencer W. Kimball framed homosexuality as an ecclesiastical matter by claiming that the church had 8,000-10,000 bishops ready to counsel members with "homosexual problems," filmmaker Andrew Welch defined it as a political issue affecting "an estimated 50,000 people and families along the Wasatch Front.Y" Once the APA declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder, partly in response to organized gay protests, gays' redefinition of homosexuality as a political issue not only broke the isolation of the psychiatrist's office, but the bishop's office as well." In particular, gays revealed that church leaders simultaneously violated privacy and relied on it to maintain exclusive authority over Mormon homosexuality. Debate over decriminalization of private, consensual homosexuality struck a chord locally since LDS notions of hidden sin and "Satan's plan of force" denied the possibility of privacy and consent in homosexual relations. In New Horizons for Homosexuals Spencer W. 93The Open Door, November 1978, p. 3; January 1979, p. 5; "LDS Leader Hails Anti-Gay Stand"; "LDS vs. Homosexuality," The Open Door, December 1978, p.5. 94Bayer, 91, 100. |
