Mormons Urged to Oppose Gay Unions
The president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has again urged Mormons to oppose efforts to legalize homosexual unions, which he called morally wrong.
“Some portray legalization of so-called same-sex marriage as a civil issue,” Gordon B. Hinckley said Oct. 2 at his church’s 169th semiannual General Conference. “This issue has nothing to do with civil rights. For men to marry men, or women to marry women, is a moral wrong.”
The Mormon Church has long been involved in efforts to fight legal approval of same-sex unions around the nation. The church championed efforts in Alaska and Hawaii last year that blocked such unions and is involved in a similar campaign in California to be voted on in 2000.
There are about 740,000 Mormons in California, and the church has asked them in an official letter “to do all you can by donating your means and time to assure a successful vote.” A second letter cautioned against violating Internal Revenue Service rules that preclude tax-exempt religious organizations from partisan political involvement.
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