This svithe is (also) totally gay

(actually, it's probably more gay than the original one)
.

I'm writing this before Church but I rather doubt that anything will happen during, say, from 10:20-10:30 that will make me change anything. But more on that in a moment.

Two Tuesdays ago, our ward cohosted a meeting at our building with the Coalition of Welcoming Congregations, group that "brings together religious leaders, LGBT people of faith and their allies from a wide range of religious traditions in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area to form a progressive, effective and media-savvy voice on matters relating to sexuality and religion, homophobia, and the enfranchisement of LGBT people within society as a whole" (a little wordy, but that's how they describe themselves and I'm all for letting people describe themselves). I didn't make it to the meeting, sadly, but I hear it was well attended (75-100 people) and a happy and healthy discourse was held. Which makes me very happy. With all the unpleasant rhetoric spinning around in all directions, it's nice to hear that people can still be civil and then eat cookies afterward and have a dandy time getting to know each other and finding common ground (which two things are generally the same thing). This is a large part of the Mormon tradition and it would be nice if our PR better reflected that.

To read an account of the meeting from someone who, you know, was actually there, try Carol Lynn Pearson's

Which brings us to the last ten minutes of tomorrow's sacrament meeting. Our stake's newest high councilor is coming to speak. I've met him only once, but he seems like a very cool guy. He's also openly gay and has some of the speech mannerisms and gestures of one of my very favorite gay Mormons^* (I hate the words I'm using --- I sound as bad as white people who collect black friends).

For all I know, he may well be the only HIV-positive openly gay man who doesn't mind speaking about his "sordid past" who is serving as a high councilor in the entire LDS Church anywhere in the world. Frankly, I would not be surprised if that is the case.

(And forgetting for a moment that I like the guy, maybe we should consider the awesome weight he bears in being a symbol. And a variable symbol at that. I imagine he gets as much hate flung on him as love.)

I'm not interested in making large How Things Should Be-type proclamations, nor am I much interested in predicting the future.

But I will say that we Saints are commanded to be bearers of Christ's love. And I am happy to see examples of that love all around me.

And I don't care if that's totally gay.

last week's svithe