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A friend of mine works for BYU and shared the following today: Quote:This was interesting – from the church’s guidelines for the psychological assessment/screening of missionary candidates, on homosexuality:
Quote:“In the past, this has been classified by the APA as a disorder. Later it was declassified as a disorder, only listed if issues were experienced as a Gender Identity Disorder. Professional associations no longer classify homosexuality as a disorder, nor does the Missionary Department.”
Another section discusses the problem of perfectionism, and how some missionaries can become obsessed with obeying the letter of the law, and it can interfere with their functioning as missionaries.
We still have a long way to go, institutionally, but I was happy to read this.
I agree, Ray, another step forward and another tiny course correction for the church ship. My son and I have had some strict obedience conversations. His MP pounds it home regularly – almost every newsletter. I sent my son the article from the July Ensign by Elder Gong
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/07/young-adults/becoming-perfect-in-christ?lang=eng ” class=”bbcode_url”> https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/07/young-adults/becoming-perfect-in-christ?lang=eng Definitely a step in the right direction. Glad to hear it. Very true that we have a long way to go. But also true that the acknowledgement step is necessary. Recognizing something for what it is, is the surest way to proper change, because it opens the door. Maybe just a tiny crack, but still, an open door is an open door. So what does the missionary department do? If someone has SS tendencies or feelings is it noted anywhere. Would it be acceptable for a mission president to assign two Elders or Sisters to be companions if both has SS attraction? All interesting questions. I am in the process of turning in mission papers and have met with my bishop several times over the past few weeks. Our stake president has apparently passed along a list of questions to the bishops to ask prospective missionaries during the application process. I have no idea if it’s a church-wide thing or just our stake, but it sounded like just our stake. If I remember correctly, one of the questions was about whether or not the prospective missionary has ever experienced same-sex attraction. I’m not sure what the bishop or the stake president does with the answers. It seemed to be the first time my bishop had ever seen the questions, actually. Thought it was interesting to pass along here. I was reading a book about introverts the other day, and at one time, introversion was also listed as a disorder in medical compendiums. I believe it’s no longer considered a disorder, which is welcoming. I’m glad homoesexuality is not considered a disorder any longer in this statement! Regarding a question about same-sex attraction in a Stake-level pre-mission interview: that question is prompt possible followup to find out how the missionary is doing now. I heard it explained that a faithful member headed for a mission might be placed in a position of too much pressure or conflict if they are living 24-hrs with someone of the same gender. Outside of the mission they have more choice in their associations and how they handle situations. It’s not so much a “worthiness” question as an “appropriateness” question–“Is a mission a good idea?” Francoise2900 wrote:Regarding a question about same-sex attraction in a Stake-level pre-mission interview: that question is prompt possible followup to find out how the missionary is doing now. I heard it explained that a faithful member headed for a mission might be placed in a position of too much pressure or conflict if they are living 24-hrs with someone of the same gender. Outside of the mission they have more choice in their associations and how they handle situations. It’s not so much a “worthiness” question as an “appropriateness” question–“Is a mission a good idea?”
That makes all the sense. Thank you very much for the insight.I know quite a few gay RM’s that said that their same-sex attraction was not a problem on their missions. They were not open or out about it then. But, Infact, they had less same sex attraction on their missions and enjoyed the mission they said. Their biggest fear was coming home and being pushed to date the opposite sex and get married. They did not even want to come home. Now, I did have a bi-sexual companion on my mission who hit on me once but we talked it out and she was so embarrassed and felt bad about it and quickly forgave her. My gay son turned down going on a mission because of the stigma he said he would feel from others if it got out. Oh, and this idea that gays are sexually attracted to everyone of their same sex is ridiculous as straights being attracted to all of the opposite sex and wanting to [have sex with everyone]. bridget_night wrote:I know quite a few gay RM’s that said that their same-sex attraction was not a problem on their missions. They were not open or out about it then. But, Infact, they had less same sex attraction on their missions and enjoyed the mission they said. Their biggest fear was coming home and being pushed to date the opposite sex and get married. They did not even want to come home.
bridget_night wrote:Oh, and this idea that gays are sexually attracted to everyone of their same sex is ridiculous as straights being attracted to all of the opposite sex and wanting to [have sex with everyone].
I agree Briget that it is simply not that simple.
On the one hand – living an essentually asexual life could be an escape from the world of “When are you going to start dating/getting married/having kids?” It puts all that on hold for 2 years.
On the other hand – I can’t imagine having a reasonably attractive, nice, funny, female companion and not develop feelings of some sort for her. For me it is just a matter of proximity, duration, and hormones. As it was I remember being attracted to certain sister missionaries in our district. I didn’t act on these attractions of course and nobody was harmed by them. Perhaps that is the point – even if attractions to certain individuals did develop – so what!?!? Young people will be attracted to each other. Can we not deal with that?
Definitely not disagreeing that it’s a silly mindset to imply that gays would be automatically attracted to everyone of the same sex, and that attraction automatically causes problems. If that were the case, they’d have to do quite a whole lot more gender segregation to keep all of those with opposite-sex attraction in line. 
And with that insight in mind, we definitely still have a long way to go. But it’s getting better.
Roy wrote:
… As it was I remember being attracted to certain sister missionaries in our district. I didn’t act on these attractions of course and nobody was harmed by them. Perhaps that is the point – even if attractions to certain individuals did develop – so what!?!? Young people will be attracted to each other. Can we not deal with that?Wouldn’t it take on a different level of discipline if two or more were rooming together for many weeks?
Not really, kipper – since no discipline would occur unless something happened sexually, and that happens even when people aren’t rooming together for an extended period of time. Also, straight people aren’t attracted to everyone of the opposite sex – and, even if a straight person is attracted to someone, s/he doesn’t act on it automatically (at the very least unless both are attracted to each other, and, often, not even then). The same is true of gay and lesbian people. Of course, the likelihood of something happening increases with the possibility of mutual attraction, but I love what Roy said, modified slightly:
Quote:People will be attracted to each other (including old people in nursing homes). Can we not deal with that?
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