There's only one catch...

An LDS friend from high school recently posted this article from an LDS PR site. In light of the recent debacle starring Elder Packer with his embarrassingly anti-gay talk - and subsequent backpeddaling- during General Conference last week, this seems like a desperate swipe at saving face. Michael Otterson, representing the LDS church in response to a petition from the Human Rights Campaign, summed up the church's position:

As a church, our doctrinal position is clear: any sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong, and we define marriage as between a man and a woman. However, that should never, ever be used as justification for unkindness

and:

The Church recognizes that those of its members who are attracted to others of the same sex experience deep emotional, social and physical feelings. The Church distinguishes between feelings or inclinations on the one hand and behavior on the other. It’s not a sin to have feelings, only in yielding to temptation.

The PR statement is a response to anti-gay bullying and attempts to paint the church as the good guy, admonishing such behavior. Admirable as that may be, the press release stands in opposition to Elder Packers own recent and past statments, and one is left with a quandry: Should one adhere to the advice of a public relations specialist, charged with making the church look good to the general populace, or one of the twelve men at the very top of the hierarchy, purportedly on the receiving end of God's own broadband connection?
Even the warm, fuzzy, what-would-Jesus-do option is not as friendly as it claims to be. According to Otterson, the church fully believes that gay people are just that and cannot help the way they are born, yet still must pay a price for it. Like the airmen in Joseph Heller's iconic novel, homosexual Mormons are trapped in a cruel Catch-22: The only way to fulfill their desires without sin is to be married, but by the church's definition they cannot be married to those they love. This circular dictate is far worse than Packer's old school demonization. At least with the latter young gay Mormons have cold hard bigotry as a solid rock to push away from the religion's swirling undercurrent. The former's false embrace draws them back as they try to swim away, only to  bash them again and again against the jagged rocks beneath the placid surface.