Disclaimer: I was born and raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a.k.a. Mormon, or LDS). This gives me a good understanding of Christian history and doctrine, but since my religion is so different from other Christian faiths and obviously non-Christian religions, I’m only qualified to address the connection between LGBTQ+ issues and LDS doctrine. So, for the entirety of this post, unless otherwise stated, I am talking only about LDS doctrine and culture, or Christian doctrine in general.

Also, usually I don’t research my posts or provide external sources on the things I say. Most of the time this isn’t a problem because I’m stating my own opinion and any religious statement is made in passing. But since the entire point of this post is to explain the doctrinal stance of the LDS Church on gender and sexuality, I will include references to scriptures and other official statements to support and expand on what I say here. I’ll also try to make sure it’s clear when I’m giving my own opinion.

Let’s do this…

We lived with God, our Heavenly Father, as spirits before we were born.

Before this earth was formed, each of us lived as spirit children of our Heavenly Father and Mother (Jeramiah 1:5, Psalms 82:6, Abraham 3:22). Our Father gathered us all together and explained His plan for our eternal progression to become like Him. We needed to leave His presence for a time, receive a physical body, and be tested. He knew that we would make mistakes, break His commandments, and sin. So a Savior, Jesus Christ, was provided to pay the price for our sins, that we may be able to be forgiven and return to HIs presence. A “veil” was placed over our minds so that we would forget our pre-mortal life, freeing us to make our own decisions and choose between good and evil.

In my own words, in order to reach our own true potential, each child needs to move away from their childhood home and learn to make their own choices. We can only progress so far while our parents provide every necessity and our only responsibility is to learn and play. By leaving home we become independent, powerful, and mature. Without the constant presence and influence of our parents, we make our own decisions on how to live, who to interact with, and what to do. Much of our personality and habits are formed in childhood, but we learn so much more about ourselves and continue to change when living on our own. We discover new strengths and weaknesses. It’s painful and difficult, but absolutely worth it.

God gives us commandments to guide us back to Him.

The purpose of God’s commandments is not to ruin our fun or punish us for misbehaving. As our Father and a much wiser person than any of us, He gives us commandments because following them is in our best interest.

Think of children or teenagers complaining about the rules their parents give. Things like “don’t run into the street” or “don’t hit your brother” or “be home by 11.” From the outside, we can see why these rules are good. They protect the child from injury. They teach respect and love. They encourage discipline and growth. But when we are the child, we often see these rules as unnecessary, barriers to our own fun. We don’t see the danger. We don’t see the benefit.

If there were no rules, there would be no good or bad. There could be no punishment or reward. While this might sound preferable to some, imagine what it would actually be like if there was no difference between killing someone and buying them ice cream. A life without good or bad, sweet or sour, hot or cold is a life without sadness, but also a life without happiness. It’s a life without diversity or beauty. We only know one because of the other. If all things were equal, nothing would be special. There must be bad for us to know and appreciate good.

Satan desires to make us miserable forever.

Now that we’ve established the necessity of evil, let’s talk about Satan.

Satan also lived as a spirit child of Heavenly Father before this earth. When God’s plan was explained and a Savior was described, Satan offered himself. He promised that every soul would return and be redeemed, but demanded he get all the glory for doing it (Isaiah 14:12-15, Moses 4:1-2). Jesus offered to fulfill God’s plan as He intended and didn’t care about his own glory, so God picked him. Satan was angry and revolted, causing himself and the spirits that followed him to be cast out, losing their chance to be born and continue in their own progression (Revelation 12:7, Moses 4:3-4).

Satan and his angels now live here, continuing the war they began so long ago. They tempt us to do evil, to seek after our own personal pleasures over the needs of others. They know our weaknesses and exploit them to make us miserable. They don’t want us to return to God, since they don’t have the chance to do so.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ enables us to repent and overcome weakness.

But God and Jesus Christ want us to be happy. They want us to return, to be cleansed from our sin and pain. The Atonement of Jesus Christ makes this possible in two ways. First, it unequivocally saves us from physical death. All must die, but because of Christ we will all be resurrected, reunited with our perfected bodies, never to be separated again through death. And second, it brings us back into the presence of God, our Father. Without the Atonement, justice would require us, because of our sin, to be forever separated from Him. But because of Christ, all are brought back into His presence. And if, at this time, we have repented of our sins and been cleansed through the blood of Christ, we will be clean before God and be able to remain with Him forever. If, however, we have turned our backs and chosen to seek our own pleasures rather than following the commandments and advice of our Father, and have not repented and returned in humility, we will not be clean before Him, and we will not feel worthy to remain with Him.

This is why the prophets cry for us to repent. Because if we do not, if we turn away from God forever and seek after our own pleasures, we will not be able to remain with Him and must settle for a lesser existence.

Procreation is a divine privilege and is subject to rules and consequences.

God is our Father. Family is the fundamental unit of eternity. Those who live with God after this life will continue to live in the families they formed here on earth, and be able to continue to grow their families in the eternal cycle.

In this mortal life, we are given the power to create life. But there are commandments given to govern the use of this power. We are commanded to only use it within the bounds of marriage between a man and woman. Procreation outside of marriage, or between those of the same sex, is outside these bounds God has made. Breaking these commandments is cause for repentance and cannot lead to eternal happiness.

What I Think

Everything else in this post is my own opinions or understanding of what I’ve explained so far.

Same-sex attraction is not a mortal choice. Perhaps we chose to experience it before we were born (for some reason we don’t know because of the veil), maybe it’s a fluke of nature in a fallen world, or maybe it is an eternal characteristic twisted by Satan into a gruesome facsimile of what it is supposed to be. I don’t care why. I can’t change the reasons. I won’t know until the Lord reveals it to me, which probably won’t be until after I die. I beg anyone who still thinks we would choose to go through scorn, anguish, and pain to open their mind and heart to this truth.

We have the freedom and responsibility to make our own choices. As parents, we must teach our children right from wrong, but we cannot force them to do right. Choosing to act on homosexual temptations beyond the bounds the Lord has set is our own choice. We must have the freedom to make that choice, but we must face the consequences eventually.

Gender identity is a complicated issue I don’t understand. I haven’t mentioned it so far because there’s almost no official LDS doctrine on the subject. The main thing people do is quote from a statement known as the Family Proclamation, which says in part:

ALL HUMAN BEINGS–male and female–are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

People say this to support their claim that someone born with male biology cannot be female, since gender is “eternal.” My response to this is that we live in a fallen world. People are born with imperfect bodies. Cancer grows, hearts stop, brains fail. We are more than our body. We are body and spirit, and our body makes mistakes. Isn’t it possible that our spirit gender – which must exist if gender is a premortal characteristic – might not match our physical biology? I’ve decided to believe people’s gender identity. I can’t dictate their feelings, and religion can’t disprove them. And as a Christian it’s my responsibility to love others, no matter what.

There is no excuse for hate. Christians have no excuse for treating anyone poorly, no matter what they’ve done. Christ told us to turn the other cheek (Luke 6:29), to forgive others (Matthew 18:21-22), and to leave judgment to Him (Romans 14:10-13). We are not responsible for judgment, but for love. Those who believe and act differently are no better or worse than we are (Romans 3:23). We have no excuse for disowning them, casting them out, hurting or killing them. Neither should we refuse to interact with them.

We are here to learn and grow. And growing pains hurt. Life isn’t easy, and it’s not meant to be. We grow strongest in tough circumstances. We learn the most in our hardest trials. This life is about learning. Learning about ourselves, what we want, who we are, and what we’re capable of. It’s about growing. Growing into someone who can withstand pressure from others and do what they know is right. Growing into the best person we can be.