And when are they gonna spend a single dollar, much less prop 8 levels of cash, supporting equal rights in places were it wasn’t already on the way to being passed? Why haven’t they thrown their support behind one that actually needed their support? unless they just accepted they couldnt stop equality for gays here and decided they might as well get some PR out of their inevitable defeat on this ordinance.

the position of this spokeperson or PR guy that adressed the city council is irrelevant.

an official statement like this is not made (and posted on the church’s press release site) without first being approved at the highest levels of the hierarchy.

i’m not claiming that the statement was not in some sense a PR move, even a tactical move in the church’s larger fight against marriage equality. but there is no reason not to also see it as a positive step for the hierarchy, a real concession of the sort they have never made before, and a product of at least some people inside the church office building working in good faith to try to find common ground with their gay neighbors in SLC.

the LDS church and the state legislature are not one and the same. if you think they are i suggest you watch the next session in january and see how many of these bigoted legislators reverse themselves on Command Ground now that the church has indirectly blessed it (hint: none).

our mormon legislators don’t oppose such things because they’re mormons, they oppose them because they’re conservative republicans and assholes and a lot of them backwater hicks besides.

I see the Mormon statements like a gift of a pair of hand-knitted socks from Grandma. Nice gesture but I have no need for them.

Whatever.

Mormons are going to get as much PR mileage out of this as they possibly can.

Then, I hear a radical Mormon conservative think-tank organization is going to do its damndest to undo the Salt Lake City resolution. They are already planning their strategy for this coming January when the 90% Mormon Utah Legislature is in session. In the sound-bites on the news tonight, they use terms like: “special groups” and conjure up imaginary threats to their livelihood. The big bad gay is the boogieman and it gives these pitiful people something to puff up their chests in indignation, bully the minority and pull the wool over the weak-minded.

And it’s pure speculation on why Mr. Otterson was sent to the City Council meeting last night.

It could be a culmination of a lot of things. Could it be the Stephen Colbert piece on his cable show about the gay kiss in front of the holy LDS Temple? The play: Sister Dottie Dixon that was a huge success? The likelihood of who controls the purse strings at NOM? The soon-to-be-released documentary about Mormons and California Proposition 8?

I’m slightly more angry about “secret” meetings by some gays with some LDS General Authorities. What was said and what was the eventual outcome from these meetings? Elder D. Oaks flipped-the-bird at the gays with his recent comments made at BYU Rexburg, ID. A lot of good those meetings did.

There will be no real debate about this move publicly by Mormons. Those True Believing Mormons who have opposed any and all rights for gay people based on their understanding of church teachings won’t make any fuss at all about this.

For such a major about face by the Mormon Church, the lack of controversy raised among Mormon members of the church is going to raise again the question about how much control the church has over the members. I am predicting no significant dissention over this latest move.

What’s more violent? Treating people like everyone else and acknowledging love? Or RIPPING children and property from couples who have done nothing wrong?

I dont buy it, the mormon church is still a HATE GROUP that despises homosexuals. This is the equivalent of beating someone with a lead pipe for half an hour, putting a bandaid on one of their scratches that was already almost healed up and saying you’ve repaid them.

The thing to note is that they didn’t send any of the church leadership (presidency, quorum of the 12, seventies, etc) nor the official church spokesman to make this statement to the city council. They sent the PR director whom I have never before seen as an official, acting “spokesperson” for the church.

You have to understand that the guy that made the statement has no place whatsoever in the hierarchy of the church. Zilch. Zip. Nada. In the eyes of the typical LDS member, they are not going to take the statement as official direction from the church leadership because of who made the statement. Therefore, it is not going to carry any weight with the general membership when it comes to shifting attitudes towards GLBT folk.

Now when they fight against marriage equality they will say, “Look how awesome we are! We aren’t bigots! We promote gay rights!”

The Mormon church has taken heavy blows to their reputation in the last year. Even pro Prop 8 people were left with a bad taste once the church’s full involvment came to light (and the kissing incident buggaboo). This will help them without really giving anything up. I mean look, even in all my cynicism I can’t help but be pleased.

And lets not forget all the Mormons that gave money as demanded even though it disrupted family, friendships, and even livelihoods.

I’m glad they did it, but I don’t see it as an indication they have softened their stance in any way.