Scroll Editorial

Approved by a 17-1 vote of the Scroll editorial board.

Last week, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held a press conference to announce its public stance of sporting laws against discrimination of the LGBT community and requested that religious rights be kept safe as well.

Idaho lawmakers have just struck down the “Add the Words” bill, which would have extended protection against discrimination in housing and the workplace for people who identify on the LGBT spectrum.

This is exactly the kind of law that members of the Church should be trying to push through.

In our own history, we have examples of ancestors being forced out of homes and families torn apart.

How can we sit by and let this happen to our LGBT brothers and sisters? This was in our hands, and we failed. Passing bills like that one is exactly what we should be doing. Although many have commended the Church for this move, there are those whose response has been more accusatory than celebratory.

An article on the website, youngmormonfeminists.org accuses the Church of calling “no-tag-backs” in the discrimination game.

The article, written by Hermia Lyly, mockingly compared the struggles of early pioneers to the struggles of current Latter-day Saints, who “can’t even say how much they hate same-sex marriage and think homosexuality is an abomination without being called a bigot.”

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She continued by accusing Latter-day Saints of being afraid of providing medical care for people who are queer, a term that has been reclaimed by people whose sexualities or gender identities don’t fit the norm.

Lyly might be aggressive, but she raises valid points.

Members of this church too often ignore the needs of minorities on the grounds that they’ll take away the rights of others.

Comments about the Church’s announcement from members of the Church already seem to have an air of “I agree, but…”

Recently, a bakery in Colorado refused to decorate a cake with two men holding hands, with a red cross above it, reading “God Hates Gays.”

The man who ordered the cake is Bill Jack, head of the Worldview Academy, whose purpose is to promote having a biblical perspective.

Jack filed a complaint with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, and told media he felt discriminated against, according to metro.co.uk.

Like Lyly said in her article, people aren’t even allowed to be bigots anymore without backlash. How sad.

Discrimination against Christians is not the rule in America; it’s the exception.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles provided real examples of people facing issues due to their religious beliefs at the press conference.

People have faced pressure from the public and were even forced out of job positions for vocalizing and sporting the fight against gay marriage.

This is tragic, but this is life. Freedom of speech is important, but equally important is the fact that freedom of speech means freedom of response and, in some cases, retaliation.

It’s not right for people to lose jobs over religious beliefs, but companies have images to keep; and if someone doesn’t match the brand; they can be a liability.

Religion is a choice to be made or not made in today’s world.

However, even the Church refuses to outright say that gay people have chosen to be that way.

LDS beliefs have not been popular, ever. It’s not going to change overnight.What’s more important than our comfort, however, is the safety of others.

A little over a month ago, Leelah Alcorn, a transgender girl in Ohio, killed herself.

In her suicide note, she detailed her life with her parents who refused to stop using male pronouns and would only refer to her as Josh, ignoring the new name she chose.

Leelah’s blog, which has since been deleted by her parents, detailed the ways her parents cut her off from sport via school and social media. Leelah’s suicide note stated that the worst time of her life was immediately after she told her parents she was transgender.

“I was completely alone for 5 months. No friends, no sport, no love. Just my parents’ disappointment and the cruelty of loneliness.”

Fifty-Seven percent of transgender people have had family shut them out, according to a study done by UCLA in January 2014. Sixty percent have been refused treatment by a health care provider or doctor. More than 60 percent have experienced physical or sexual violence at work or school. Between 60 and 70 percent of transgender people have suffered physical or sexual violence by law enforcement officers, and 69 percent have experienced homelessness.

How many people in the LDS community can match these statistics? As a whole, we probably never will. We haven’t experieced that descrimination much for a long time

We do face struggles and bias for sporting the Church, but we aren’t liable to abuse by police just for being a Latter-day Saint.

Most students have lived with or personally known someone who is not heterosexual or who may have questioned their gender.

The Church has a strong stance on each of these situations, but our duty on Earth is to forgive and to serve.

No, I’m not asking members to condone someone marrying a person of the same gender, or someone deciding to transition to another gender.

The Church, however, is asking members to love them and help protect them.

Being attacked for the religion you’ve chosen to live hurts; being attacked for something you had thrust on you is torture. Are we really representatives of Christ if we continue to let this kind of thing happen?

If we continue to shun people and decide who deserves our service based on sexual orientation or using a gender pronoun that doesn’t “make sense” to us, are we really showing them compassion?

Have we even tried to understand what it’s like to question our sexuality or gender?

Many members have, but not enough. We must put our fears aside and begin to truly serve the people who need our help.