“It was intended that we use this power only with our partner in marriage. I repeat, very plainly, physical mischief with another man is forbidden. It is forbidden by the Lord.
“There are some men who entice young men to join them in these immoral acts. If you are ever approached to participate in anything like that, it is time to vigorously resist.
“While I was in a mission on one occasion, a missionary said he had something to confess. I was very worried because he just could not get himself to tell me what he had done.
“After patient encouragement he blurted out, ‘I hit my companion.’
“ ‘Oh, is that all,’ I said in great relief.
“ ‘But I floored him,” he said.
“After learning a little more [his companion was gay], my response was ‘Well, thanks. Somebody had to do it, and it wouldn’t have been well for a General Authority to solve the problem that way.’
“I am not recommending that course to you, but I am not omitting it. You must protect yourself.”
- Boyd K. Packer, “To Young Men Only,” General Conference, Oct. 1976; online at http://www.lds-mormon.com/only.shtml
“Grant did not live to see the irony in his only patriarchal appointment. By May 1946 Joseph F. [Smith, Church Patriarch] was incapacitated with a back injury, and the First Presidency asked three stake patriarchs to serve those seeking patriarchal blessings from the Presiding Patriarch. This echoed the era of ‘acting patriarchs’ appointed during the office’s ten-year vacancy. His illness continued into the summer, but in July the hierarchy was stunned to learn that Patriarch Joseph F. Smith was homosexual. Publicly they cited ‘ill health’ as reason for his resignation and released him at October 1946 conference.
“The former patriarch soon moved with his family to Hawaii. The First Presidency instructed the stake president there to prohibit him from speaking or engaging in other church privileges....
“The hierarchy did not allow Patriarch Smith to return to any church privileges for eleven years.”
- Dr. Michael Quinn, Mormon historian, Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, p. 128
“Homosexuality is an ugly sin, repugnant to those who find no temptation in it, as well as to many past offenders who are seeking a way out of its clutches. It is embarrassing and unpleasant as a subject for discussion but because of its prevalence, the need to warn the uninitiated, and the desire to help those who may already be involved in it, it is discussed in this chapter.”
- Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 78
“... it [masturbation] too often leads to grievous sin, even to that sin against nature, homosexuality. For, done in private, it evolves often into mutual masturbation – practiced with another person of the same sex – and thence into total homosexuality.”
- Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 78
“There is a falsehood that some are born with an attraction to their own kind, with nothing they can do about it. They are just ‘that way’ and can only yield to those desires. That is a malicious and destructive lie. While it is a convincing idea to some, it is of the devil. No one is locked into that kind of life. From our premoral life we were directed into a physical body. There is no mismatching of bodies and spirits. Boys are to become men --masculine, manly men --ultimately to become husbands and fathers. No one is predestined to a perverted use of these powers.”
- Apostle Boyd K. Packer, 1976 General Conference, speech entitled “To Young Men Only”; online at http://www.lds-mormon.com/only.shtml
“... it is clear that any sexual relationship other than that between a legally wedded heterosexual husband and wife is sinful. The divine mandate of marriage between man and woman puts in perspective why homosexual acts are offensive to God. They repudiate the gift and the Giver of eternal life.”
- Encyclopedia of Mormonism, v. 2, “Homosexuality,” by Victor L. Brown
“Because Satan desires that "all men might be miserable like unto himself"(2 Ne. 2:27), his most strenuous efforts are directed at encouraging those choices and actions that will thwart God's plan for his children. He seeks to undermine the principle of individual accountability, to persuade us to misuse our sacred powers of procreation, to discourage marriage and childbearing by the worthy men and women, and to confuse what is meant to be male or female....
“In all of this, the devil, who has no body, seeks to persuade mortals to corrupt their bodies by ‘choos[ing] eternal death, according to the will of the flesh . . . , which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring [them] down to hell, that he may reign over [them] in his own kingdom’ (2 Ne. 2:29).
“The First Presidency has declared that ‘there is a distinction between [1] immoral thoughts and feelings and [2] participating in either immoral heterosexual or any homosexual behavior.’ {4} Although immoral thoughts are less serious than immoral behavior, such thoughts also need to be resisted and repented of because we know that ‘our thoughts will also condemn us’ (Alma 12:14). Immoral thoughts (and the less serious feelings that lead to them) can bring about behavior that is sinful.”
- Apostle Dallin H. Oaks, “Same-Gender Attraction,” Ensign, October 1995
“Applying the First Presidency's distinction to the question of same-sex relationships, we should distinguish between (1) homosexual (or lesbian) ‘thoughts and feelings’ (which should be resisted and redirected), and (2) ‘homosexual behavior’ (which is a serious sin).
“We should note that the words homosexual, lesbian, and Gay are adjectives to describe particular thoughts, feelings or behaviors. We should refrain from using these words as nouns to identify particular conditions or specific persons. Our religious doctrine dictates this usage. It is wrong to use these words to denote a condition, because this implies that a person is consigned by birth to a circumstance in which he or she has no choice in respect to the critically important matter of sexual behavior.
“Feelings are another matter. Some kinds of feelings seem to be inborn. Others are traceable to mortal experiences. Still other feelings seem to be acquired from a complex interaction of ‘nature and nurture.’ All of us have some feelings we did not choose, but the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that we still have the power to resist and reform our feelings (as needed) and to assure that they do not lead us to entertain inappropriate thoughts or to engage in sinful behavior.
“Different persons have different physical characteristics and different susceptibilities to the various physical and emotional pressures we may encounter in our childhood and adult environments. We did not choose these personal susceptibilities either, but we do choose and will be accountable for the attitudes, priorities, behavior, and ‘lifestyle’ we engraft upon them.
“Essential to our doctrinal position on these matters is the difference between our freedom and our agency. Our freedom can be limited by various conditions of mortality, but god's gift of agency cannot be limited by outside forces, because it is the basis for our accountability to him. The contrast between freedom and agency can be illustrated in the context of a hypothetical progression from feelings to thoughts to behavior to addiction. This progression can be seen on a variety of matters, such as gambling and the use of tobacco and alcohol.”
- Apostle Dallin H. Oaks, “Same-Gender Attraction,” Ensign, October 1995
“Church leaders are sometimes asked whether there is any place in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for persons with homosexual or lesbian susceptibilities or feelings. Of course there is. The degree of difficulty and the pattern necessary to forgo behavior and to control thoughts will be different with different individuals, but the message of hope and the hand of fellowship offered by the Church is the same for all who strive.”
- Apostle Dallin H. Oaks, “Same-Gender Attraction,” Ensign, October 1995
"The person that's working [to resist] those tendencies ought not to feel himself to be a pariah. Now, quite a different thing is sexual relations outside of marriage. A person engaging in that kind of behavior should well feel guilt. They should well feel themselves estranged from God, who has given commandments against that kind of behavior. It's not surprising to me that they would feel estranged from their church. What surprises me is that they would feel that the Church can revoke God's commandments....”
- Apostle Dallin H. Oaks, television interview on December 3, 1986, answer not telecast; excerpts printed in "Apostle Reaffirms Church's Position on Homosexuality," Church News, 14 Feb. 1987, pp. 10, 12.
"Marriage should not be viewed as a therapeutic step to solve problems such as homosexual inclinations or practices."
- Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, Reverence and Morality, p. 47
“I cannot comprehend our Father in Heaven endowing certain of his children with the unique characteristics of a gay person, then rejecting them. There are things about which I do feel guilty, but I feel no guilt for being a gay man. I feel no guilt for sharing my life with my partner.”
- “Affirmation” (Mormon gay and lesbian organization) member, as quoted in Mormon America, by Richard and Joan Ostling, p. 368