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An Amicus Brief in Support of Gay Marriage—From Utah?

By Joanna Brooks

…atter-day Saints—a Mormon. I spoke to John Mackay, an attorney at the Salt Lake City firm of Ray, Quinney, & Nebeker, who is among the brief’s authors. With this brief, a legal team from Utah is taking lead in articulating the nature of the challenges LGBT people in conservative areas of the country face. Absolutely. That’s one of the things we are most proud of. The Utah Pride Center has partnered with the Campaign for Southern Equality and 28…

LGBT Mormons Ask in Historic Temple: “If they could just see us, don’t you think they would change their minds?”

By Joanna Brooks

…S man who had travelled all the way from London just to take part in the conference, wept openly. His mind was on the leadership of his Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Salt Lake City. “Don’t you think, if they could just see us”—Liam wiped his face and swallowed hard—”if they could just see us here, don’t you think they would change their minds?”…

NOM’s Gallagher: “Don’t Call Me a Bigot!”

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…re opposed to interracial marriage in the public square.” Speaking in Salt Lake City this week, she complained about the “relentless torrent of accusations and hatred against anyone who speaks, no matter how civilly, for marriage.” One of those “torrent[s] of… hatred” happened recently as Gallagher testified before a House committee on the Defense of Marriage Act. GetEqual cornered Gallagher in the hallway on the way to the hearing to give her an…

Heavy Metal Saved Me From Catholic Guilt; RIP Ronnie Dio

By Anthea Butler

…t good and evil when a giant demon named Murray is casting a priest into a lake (or, as Dio often pointed out, maybe it’s the priest escaping from the demon, depending on your point of view). Even though Dio went through some hard times, he continued to play well in this generation, appearing in South Park’s “Monkey Fonics” episode playing Cartman’s school dance, as well as a memorable appearance as an answer to a prayer in the 2006 film Tenacious…

All Your Dead Mormons Are Belong To Us

By Jay Michaelson

…n “genealogy” centers to research their family histories. I did so in Salt Lake City 25 years ago. Now I know I was providing the names of family members to be posthumously baptized. If my Jewish community is outraged about posthumous baptism, my LGBT community is equally outraged about the Mormons—the folks who once brought us polygamy and the doctrine that black people are cursed by God—suddenly becoming the defenders of family values at the exp…

Our Last “Genius” Stephen Hawking is Gone… Cause for Worry Or Inspiration?

By Ed Simon

…e apple tree, Einstein conceiving of special relativity while biking along Lake Como, or Hawking conceiving of the quantum radiation which bears his name as he sits in his wheelchair. The idea of genius would be with us for nearly the next four centuries, though perhaps that reign is near its end. When I argue that Hawking was the last of the geniuses, I do not mean that there are no individuals who share his rare gift, only that they don’t serve…

LGBT’s, Opponents Prep for Vatican Synod; UN Rights Council Adopts LGBT Resolution; Brazil’s Evangelicals Eye Presidency; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…astor Rick Warren, a Protestant Christian and head of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, and Alan J. Hawkins, a Mormon Professor of Family Life at Brigham Young University. Their involvement — as well as the release of the letter itself — exposes a growing sense of uncertainty among many Christian conservatives regarding Francis’ views on family issues. Indeed, even as religious conservatives push for the Vatican to stick to its older p…

The Mormon Moment?

By Joanna Brooks

…eal of it prurient and designed to hurt—only a mouse-click away, a growing number of Mormons (especially young Mormons and converts) are stumbling into harder questions about the Mormon past. 4. The LDS Church has massive wealth it continues to develop through real estate and development projects. Lately, more LDS Church members are asking questions about the Church’s investment of $3 billion USD in a redevelopment project in downtown Salt Lake C…

Debate Over Mother Earth’s ‘Rights’ Stirs Fears of Pagan Socialism

By Bron Taylor

…ry ecosystem, animal or vegetable species, snow-capped mountain, river, or lake not to be eliminated or exterminated by irresponsible behavior on the part of human beings. We humans must acknowledge that Mother Earth and other living beings also have the right to exist and that our rights end where we begin to cause the extinction or destruction of nature. 2. The right to the regeneration of bio-capacity Mother Earth must be able to regenerate he…

Katie Couric, Reincarnated

By Michael Schulson

…Couric underwent regression therapy with Weiss, in which she remembered a lake and a rowboat. “I think I’m definitely a boy,” she said—a boy wearing “loose pants” and living in 1900. She compared the scene to something from a Mark Twain novel. Afterward, Couric revealed that she had written her undergraduate thesis on Mark Twain novels, so maybe she was just channeling a familiar fictional world. Weiss, who has the soothing voice and professorial…