As gay groups denounce Boyd K. Packer's
anti-gay message, the LDS leader is receiving messages of support
from thousands of Facebook users.
The Facebook event titled WE
LOVE YOU – President Boyd K. Packer by the group LDS Young
Men & Women urges followers to support the president of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' (the Mormons) Quorum of
Twelve Apostles as he draws heat from local and national gay rights
groups.
“My only desire in creating this
event is to tell President Packer that we love him,” the campaign's
author wrote.
“So for those who do, let's send him
100,000 letters by this Friday, October 15th, to simply
tell him how much we love him and sustain him as a prophet, seer and
revelator.”
Speaking at the church's 180th
General Conference in downtown Salt Lake City, Packer railed against
marriage – “To legalize that which is basically wrong or evil
will not prevent the pain and penalties that will follow as surely as
night follows day.” – and rejected the notion that same-sex
attraction – which he called “impure and unnatural” – is
inborn. “Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone?” he
rhetorically asked.
Packer's speech, given on Oct. 3,
sparked a
4,500-strong protest by local gay rights activists, who called the
apostle's words painful.
On Tuesday, Joe
Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's
largest gay rights advocate, delivered a petition letter carrying
150,000 signatures denouncing Packer's message.
Solmonese called Packer's statements
“inaccurate” and “dangerous.”
“We're here today to tell Elder
Packer and those in the Mormon Church hierarchy who agree with him
that his statements are both factually and scientifically wrong and
that more importantly, they are dangerous and are putting millions of
lives in great danger,” Solmonese said at a press conference
outside Mormon Church headquarters.
As of Wednesday night, nearly 30,000
people had responded to the Facebook event.