Hi all,

Published from the Associate Press and printed in the Las Vegas Review Journal say that there was a poll conducted in Salt Lake City.  Appearently 44% of the people who were polled agreed with the Mormon church, more specifically “with Mormon apostle Boyd K. Packer”, that homosexuality can be overcome as opposed to “31 percent disagree and 25 percent were unsure whether same-sex attraction can be changed.”  What is meant by “overcoming homosexuality” is that somehow not only can you change your sexuality, but specifically changing from any sexuality to being straight aka heterosexual.  Now the article says that this comes from more partisan lines that most republicans plus 8% of democrats say that sexuality can be changed and most democrats plus 13% of republicans do not believe that sexuality can be changed.  Also, the poll suggests that there is a split among religion (and Utah is known to having a high population of Mormon people).  The article says that “55 percent of Mormon respondents believe it’s possible to change same-sex attractions compared with 20 percent of non-Mormon respondents.”

Honestly, let me say this:  I am gay myself.  I never had any real feelings for women sexually, nor have I ever wanted to be with a women.  To me, it’s not a choice.  I have always had an attraction to men and it’s not something that I would want to change about myself.  It’s not a phase or something I could “just get over” or change my mind about.  It is just simply who I am and I would not have it any other way.

When I read this article this morning in the Las Vegas Review Journal, I was absolutely taken back by what I read.  I feel that we live in a world and especially in the United States in 2010 that there is so much close minded, unaccepted, intolerance kind of philosophy that still exists.  I hear of stories, in the US of A alone, that (specifically relating to the GBLTQ community) that us gays are discriminated against.  Think of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell”.  Recently, Gates says he wants the Obama administration to repeal the decision that allows gays to serve openly.  There are cases where young gays are committing suicide such as Tyler Clementi that were “outed”, bullied, people trying to “change” them.  It is appalling to me to hear these stories that just because someone did not accept a person for who they are.  Certainly politics and especially religion does not have a right, what so ever, to tell a person that this is who you have to be to be a good and upstanding citizen.

I certainly hope that in the future that we get past our differences and be more accepting of those who are different from ourselves.  I may have biases of others just like anyone else, but I try to put them aside and try to accept others for who they are and I do hope that others do the same as well!

Steve