Backlash over Mormon LGBT rule change spreads among faithful

SALT LAKE CITY -- New Mormon church rules targeting gay members and their children have triggered a firestorm of backlash from church members of all political backgrounds.

Mormon scholar Patrick Mason said the symbolism of targeting kids has riled up even conservative, orthodox Latter-day Saints who usually don't get on the LGBT bandwagon or question church decisions.

Under the new rules, issued last week, children living with gay parents are barred from being baptized until they're 18. After that, they can be baptized only if they disavow same-sex relationships.

The policy also makes gay marriages a sin worthy of expulsion. It marked a dramatic detour from the religion's recent push to carve out a more compassionate stance on LGBT issues.

"The surprising impact has been the amount of people who are confused and troubled and disturbed and, frankly, repulsed," said Mason, associate professor of religion at Claremont Graduate University in California and Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies. "And these aren't just progressives and LGBT advocates. ... They are saying: 'This doesn't feel right. This doesn't square with me."'

He said the furious blowback is leading to widespread speculation church leaders are working on revisions to the policy, which was leaked to the public after being emailed to local church leaders around the world.

Because the rules were made in the church handbook, and not considered doctrinal change, Mormon leaders have wiggle room if they choose to revise them.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spokesman Eric Hawkins didn't immediately have any comment on the speculation.

The new policy probably affects only a small number of Mormon families because not many same-sex couples with children are active in the church, Mason said. But it also could affect children who have one gay parent.

Mason said one possibility for revisions would be to address rules for children with only one gay parent, perhaps those with parents who are divorced.

In past generations, many gay Mormon men married women at the encouragement of church leaders as a way to overcome what the religion calls "same-sex attraction."

For the past several years, the church has tried to walk a delicate tightrope of becoming more gay-friendly while holding onto its belief that God intended marriage to be exclusively between a man and a woman.