BACKSTORY
For decades, the Utah-based Mormon Church has played a leading role in the battle over gay rights in the United States. In 2008, the church helped bankroll Proposition 8, a controversial ballot measure that sought to ban gay marriage in California. Mormon leaders supported the campaign, calling on church members to “do all you can.” Individual donations totaled more than $9 million, and Proposition 8 passed (“Prophets and Politics,” HCN, 10/20/08).
FOLLOWUP
In mid-November, the Mormon Church strengthened its anti-gay stance, announcing a new policy that bars children living with same-sex couples from baptism and other rites. It also declared that Mormons in same-sex marriages must undergo disciplinary hearings that could lead to excommunication. Church officials said they needed to draw a line between civil laws that allow same-sex marriage and church doctrine, which does not. Afterwards, as many as 3,500 Mormons officially resigned from the church.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Latest: Anti-gay stance spurs exodus from Mormon Church.
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