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by HRC Staff •
First action alert leads to over 100,000 people signing petition calling on Elder Packer to make it right.
Washington - The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest civil rights organization dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, today issued a second nation-wide action alert to its members and supporters calling attention to the inaccurate and dangerous statements made yesterday by Boyd K. Packer, the second-highest leader of the Mormon Church. Mr. Packer said in a sermon broadcast to millions yesterday that same-sex attraction is "impure and unnatural" and can be overcome. He added that same-sex unions are morally wrong and "against God's law and nature"- and that the church hierarchy would continue to support marriage bans like Proposition 8.
Packer's inaccurate and dangerous rhetoric comes on the heels of the suicides of at least four teenagers over the past month, all victims of anti-gay bullying or harassment. An additional seven teens committed suicide in the past year in one Minnesota school district alone four of the teens' suicides were connected to anti-gay bullying.
The email, which includes a petition, calls on Packer to "cease putting young people in real peril and acknowledge the scientific truth: sexual orientation cannot be changed, nor should it be."
View the email, signed by HRC President Joe Solmonese that will be sent out this afternoon here.
HRC President Joe Solmonese will deliver the petitions to the Church World Headquarters on Tuesday following an 11:00 a.m. press conference at the Utah Pride Center in partnership with Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons, Equality Utah, and the Utah Pride Center.
The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
To make a general inquiry, please visit our contact page. Members of the media can reach our press office at: (202) 572-8968 or email press@hrc.org.
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