(Image source: Queerty )

 

BY KERRY LEARY

ANCHOR LAUREN GORES

 

The colorful costumes, the glitter and the rainbows at the gay pride parade in Salt Lake City weren’t what caused tears on Sunday. Mormons came to the parade dressed in their Sunday church clothes to preach love and acceptance. KSTU reports:

“This year, an unexpected group joined the march. Mormons Building Bridges. Over 300 members of the LDS church spent their Sunday showing their support of the LGBT community.”

The group organized the march to make the message clear- they do love their neighbors. The group’s Facebook page states:

“We are faithful Latter-day Saints dedicated to sharing a message of love and acceptance with the LGBT community. We seek to build bridges of understanding and respect after many years of strife and heartbreak. We want our gay brothers and sisters to feel welcome in our congregations and safe in our pews.”

LDS members prepared signs with scriptures, hymns and quotes from LDS leaders-- and even handed out lollipops stating “love one another.” The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

“The men in beige suits and ties and the little girls in white dresses were a sharp contrast to the pounding music and dancers behind them, but the crowd clapped and shouted their approval for the folks in their Sunday best.”

The Mormon Church has had a tense relationship with the LGBT community in the past after the church openly backed California’s Proposition 8 banning gay marriage. But according to a blogger for City Weekly, this was a big step for participants.

“A surreal moment for myself, being born and raised in this state, was hearing the group prayer for the parade, the participants and the patrons watching before it kicked off.”

So, what does this mean for the future of Mormonism? A blogger for Liberal Mormon Spirituality predicts:

“The upper-level leadership--those conservative old men living in their bubble, along with all the yes-men who fill the bureaucracy that does their bidding--will continue to dig in their heels on the underlying issues while applying good make-up to try to dissuade the gays from picketing outside their temples.”

America’s most famous Mormon, presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has yet to talk about his religion in depth. This summer, Mormons are organizing to walk in eight more pride parades throughout the United States.