OPEN LETTER TO MORMON GAY COMMUINTY

OPEN LETTER TO MORMON GAY COMMUNITY

[To be widely circulated]

                                                        February 3, 2009

Many of you may know of me and my efforts 30 years ago to assist the church in having a new “revelation” concerning the granting of priesthood to Black male members. I began it in 1976 after a period of some three years in which I did all I could to have meaningful dialog with church leaders. They were advised in early November 1975 to respond with an agreement to meet with me before January 1, 1976 or I would thereafter proceed to do what my conscience told me to do.

While the leaders continued their usual code of deathly silence, I kept my promise of acting out my conscience by publicly ordaining a Black man to Priesthood. Many church members thought I sprang out of nowhere yet the truth is that I had patiently followed all appropriate avenues of approach to church leaders to no avail before I acted! For two years thereafter I kept up the struggle with attempts on my life and character but in the end they capitulated on June 9th, 1978.

It was no secret that I had hunches and premonitions all of my life in which I felt predestined to challenge authority. The records in Church archives will attest to that. It has also been chronicled in an autobiography, UNDER THE MORMON TREE, digitally published in February, 2001. In it I have disclosed that more service is expected of me by the Cosmos. Some of the how but not all of the what has been understood. Adepts of Quantum Physics may understand that statement.

This letter is in part to give notice to Mormon leaders (Thomas Monson on down) to discontinue their war on gay and lesbian members of the church. And even more importantly to back off their misguided goal of suppressing the civil rights of a minority section of the world's population by unwarranted political interference! The source of my enlightenment and energy in the early seventies is now putting them on notice that what was predicted in an open letter published in Oped News in December, 2007 is now upon them. And just like in 1975 I didn't know exactly the what but it is unfolding daily.

According to America's Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal by their creator.” Therefore all men are equally deserving of the full rights of civil law. The right of pursuit of happiness as an inalienable endowment of God and under the U.S. Constitution is equally afforded to all men or women without regard to sexual orientation.

As the Black priesthood ban was the result of historical mistake and error of judgment on the part of Church leaders, so too is the war they wage on gays and lesbians. They lack understanding and education on the realities of mortal gender self identity. They are guided by the common misinformation that a conscious choice has been made to be “Straight” or “gay” and that the latter is a choice of sin. Where in all creation did they get that notion? Perhaps it arises from the phallic nature of Mormonism itself that justification of constant sex requires a moral and legal goal of multiplying and replenishing the earth thus creating an expansion of the heavens by daily intercourse with plural wives!

Marriage is not a religious creation that a church can create. Nor can it be created by the state. It is a creation of the will of two people to be protected by civil law. To say that a spiritual union is only legal between a man and a woman is to deny the very existence of spiritual unions of same sex couples that have existed upon the earth millenniums before and since the stories of Abraham and Sodom and Gomorrah out of which “religious” prejudice against same sex coupling has arisen giving rise to unequal and illegal treatment of such persons. Further confusion has been provided from the story of the Garden of Eden with sexual intercourse as the forbidden fruit and its practice gave rise to the doctrine of original sin. Both stories written by the writer of Genesis infer that sexual intercourse is sinful in the absence of procreation as a legitimate goal. Since same sex coupling can never procreate it is improperly regarded as fundamentally sinful! Recreational sex while openly practiced even by church adepts often results in “accidental” pregnancies. While both the Catholic and Mormon churches advocate letting “nature take its course” (no family planning, no contraception), the practice is overpopulating earth and aggravating it's limited resources.

It can never be said that homosexuality contributes to overpopulation of the earth! Nor can it be said that homosexuality is responsible for earth's continuous wars and human conflict as is heterosexuality. Gay people have no quarrel with straight people other than the refusal to realize gays do not fit within the standard packaging of the sexes and can only act out who they really are. If there is a sin involved in this confusing (to straights) condition, the sin is on the part of self righteous “straight” people who refuse to consider alternative life style. The urge to judge is much greater than the urge to consider. Walking a “moon” in different moccasins might just bring a different attitude.

It is the epitomy of arrogant ignorance for all church leaders (not just Mormon) to preach their pious belief from the pulpit that they refuse to believe that a, “woman’s spirit is trapped in a man's body”. Or vice versus. While all this religious posturing is going on, adepts of religion have a problem with their own genitals.

It is well documented that the Catholic Church while openly opposing same sex coupling, is riddled with gay priests abusing same sex youth. Is that not homosexuality? And what happens to these priests when it is exposed? They merely get transferred. What hypocrisy to spend money, resources and preaching heterosexuality when homosexuality riddles the church! How high does it go? With all the robes and “dresses” worn it is anyone’s guess!

Within the Mormon Church the most notable recent exposed transgression was that of the late Gordon B. Hinckley who, despite his problem with his genitals in his younger years, rose to the office of The High Priest of the church. And from the pulpit condemned practices he had been a part of without confession.

Between birth and the age of three all humans become aware of their own sexual orientation. Boys behave like boys and girls like girls with some exceptions that are noticed as non-conforming to outward gender of the person. There is never a time when a person says, “I choose to be straight or I choose to be gay”. No conscious choice is made except in a relatively small percentage of cases where experimentation is made by those who can flip either way. This does not touch upon homosexuality in the prison situation.

Over the years it has been reported to me that closeted Mormon gays have been elevated both in priesthood and church office. Hypocrisy is heightened by those who conceal their sexual orientation in order to advance within the hierarchal order of the church. In doing so they betray those of their own orientation who are sought out and targeted by the “justice” system of the church and they betray themselves.

In the past when young Mormon men (some returned missionaries who slept with their companions for two years) came to me with grave questions about their sexual orientation within the framework of the church, I lacked the real concern for their cause to the degree of that which had troubled me for years about the Black priesthood ban. While sympathetic to them I could offer no comfort probably due to limbic conditioning which affects all of us about different causes to which we have simply fallen in line with the prevailing thinking (tolerating but not accepting). I often have said that homosexuality is a phenomenon I do not understand and therefore cannot judge.

After the November 4th 2008 passing of Proposition 8 in California and observing the arrogance of Mormon thought about it and the church interference in the process, it became significantly apparent to me that equal rights of same sex couples is an issue within the church of far greater magnitude than Black priesthood denial ever was before its abandonment. I have waited thirty years to envision my next mission which as it now turns out was there all the time! All of which goes to show that prejudice, no matter how slight, can blind one to the realities of life and deprive one of purpose!

This issue came forcefully to me recently as I observed the strong spiritual bond between two men I have known for well over thirty years.  I knew they were “gay” but never confronted them. I was in fact grateful and indebted to them at the time for the help they rendered to me( and others) in breaking the Black priesthood ban. They were and had become experts on the issue of Mormon Church criminal interference in the life of Howard Hughes in which his estate was skimmed by the notorious “Mormon Mafia” who effectively held Hughes a house prisoner for many years before his death.

It was that information which I published in the March-April 1978 issue of The Millennial Messenger*** that caused the church to reverse itself on its Black priesthood position less than two months later on June 9th 1978! So in reality we had a gay couple giving assistance in the course correction on the historical error of unequal rights for Black men in the church. Unfortunately the course correction was not the product of genuine repentance on the part of the leaders but a ruse to escape criminal oversight. Unfortunately that generation has almost completely passed only Thomas Monson remains.

Minimal contact was kept up with these two gay men over the years but recently my eyes welled with tears when I looked at a picture of them exchanging rings while taking advantage of the recent California Supreme Court ruling granting equal marriage rights to same sex couples. Spiritually connected, bonded and loyally committed to one another for thirty three years demonstrates a union rarely seen these days even in the heterosexual world!

Who can deny they are spiritually bonded? Who can deny them the right to be spiritually joined by civil marriage as a public civil acceptance of that bonding? God is first in line to accept their relationship for it is God who created spirituality by which they are connected and it is time Mormon Church leaders got in step with God on this issue in the same manner as they belatedly got in line with God on the issue of Black priesthood rights thirty years ago (even if they were less than honest as to the why)! what God has joined together, let no man put asunder!

I expect the California Supreme Court to rule that Proposition 8 was an inappropriate effort to revise the state Constitution which can only be amended by a process which involves the state legislature. Also, that any amendment to it may not target (directly or indirectly) the civil rights of a minority group.

However, in the meantime, I would like the gay community within “Mormonism” to know that the war against them by the church hierarchy will soon come to an end and that in the process there will be many surprises. I base this prediction on the rightness of my past mission which is well understood by church authorities (they ultimately complied!)

Happy  Valentine’s Day!

Douglas Alexander Wallace, J.D.

P.S. There are more issues yet to come

 *** A few original souvenir copies of the Messenger are available from Byron Marchant moisoiusa@nc.rr.com