Page 10 - LGBT Families

important religious rituals to take place in their houses of wor-
ship, and they encourage participation by all families who wish
to take part in their religious services. For example, the Episcopal
Church, a Christian denomination, welcomes LGBT individuals
and families and allows LGBT wedding ceremonies within the
church. This type of acceptance has allowed youth in LGBT fami-
lies to feel more comfortable both with their families and their faith
and provides them with an accepting community.
Other religions do not accept LGBT marriage or believe that
LGBT couples or individuals should have or raise children. The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints (aka Mormons) is
one of these. In 2015 Mormon offi cials announced a policy that
children living in same- sex households may not be blessed as
babies or baptized until they are eighteen. Once they reach eigh-
teen, if they wish to join the church, they must disavow the prac-
tice of same- sex partnerships or marriage and stop living within
their LGBT household. However, the church later clarifi ed that if
a child in a same- sex household was already baptized, his or
her status would not be affected. Prior to this ruling, many local
Mormon churches embraced a more open attitude toward LGBT
members. After the policy announcement, over two thousand
LGBT members and others who did not agree with the policy an-
nounced they were leaving the church.
Paul Sautter- Walker grew up Mormon, and his faith is a ma-
jor part of his life. He has lived with the same man for nineteen
years, and they married once same- sex marriage became legal.
The couple has four children and were raising all of them as Mor-
mons. Three of their children had already been baptized in the
church, and their youngest was preparing for his baptism when
the policy was announced in 2015. The baptism had to be put on
hold. “We thought we’d really like to be able to raise them with
some sense of religious understanding or some sense of spiritual
knowledge,” said Sauter- Walker. Instead, the family is leaving
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the church. The Sautter- Walkers do not want their children to be
part of a faith that rejects them and their parents.

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