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The Church has added a new video and story to the MormonAndGay.lds.org website. It is the story of Becky and Scott Mackintosh and their gay son Sean. It is a touching story of a family who lives together and loves each other in spite of differences.
Watch the video “The Mackintosh’s Story: A Son Comes Out and a Family Loves:”
Becky and Scott Mackintosh loved their son as he has grown up, served a mission, come out as gay, and left the faith he was raised in. The entire family has learned to love in new, more inclusive ways.
When Sean Mackintosh first came out to his parents as gay, he decided to tell them in a private Facebook message so they would have time to process it and then talk about it calmly. At first, it was difficult for his parents to accept. His mother tried to give him lots of advice. Fortunately, it was in a loving way. And that made all the difference.
His father struggled to accept it, but his reaction was what Sean needed. “My dad gave me a big hug and said, ‘I love you.’ That meant the world to me… The first thing that came out of his mouth was what I needed to hear.”
His father concluded, “I feel that our Savior allows us to have things in our lives that are going to make us stronger. I can’t help but think that that’s what the Savior feels about Sean. I can’t help but feel that the Savior loves him deeply.”
A transcript of the video is also published in the Stories section of MormonandGay.lds.org.
- Visit the Church’s site MormonandGay.lds.org.
- See a list of resources about same-sex attraction.
BryanMarch 25, 2017
Am I the only one who finds this piece troubling instead of heartwarming? Why in the world would a young man want to show up with his boyfriend in the ward he was raised in and gave his mission homecoming talk in . . . UNLESS he was trying to be a provocateur? I wouldn't eat a steak at a vegetarian picnic, would you? I'd either go to the picnic and leave the meat at home or eat the meat at home and not go to the picnic. But somebody who intentionally brings steak to a vegetarian outing is just trying to start something . . . or else is on a crusade to fundamentally change the group, like Mel & his buddies in “The Parable of the Chess Club” (search it on this very website), and neither one of those two things is anything to celebrate, especially not on the home page of the church's *official* website! I wonder if the church is focused on building bridges at the expense of riding fences. A recent BYU devotional ("The Return of the King" by Larry Y. Wilson) is very much on point here: "The quality of faith in Lewis’ and Tolkien’s works is not like the vague, undemanding spirituality that appears to be the preferred belief system of the millennial generation [& apparently some of their parents]. It seems that no one wants to be labeled judgmental today, so our world has posited gods for itself that never judge and are never stern. They only affirm us and never deny us of anything we want." "But that is not what our friends Lewis and Tolkien believed. Especially in the figure of Aslan, Lewis described a loving but stern God who came to save us *from* our sins and not *in* our sins."
Susan MartinMarch 23, 2017
Michael Edwards -- I am with you. As a public affairs specialist, I can see the church is putting a lot of resources into messaging on this issue -- this video took a lot of resources to produce and promote -- in my line of work -- those kind of resources are used very strategically. There is something afoot beyond simply the message: Love one another. There is an effort to reshape the conversation for some larger purpose -- what that is, I don't know.