Every LGBTQ should be able to count on a Latter-day Saint to be an ally.
During my mission to New England, I found out that people in the Northeast were far more flamboyant with their sexuality than they were back home in Orem, Utah. Growing up in the early 2000's I knew almost no one who identify as part of the LGBTQ community, but on my mission, quickly I found myself teaching the gospel to people, or at least interacting with people, who identify as part of the LGBTQ community on almost a daily basis. Many of these people were kind and loving, and as I was looking, I saw within them the divine spark that every child of God has.
On top of those we taught, many members had family or friends who identified as part of the LGBTQ community and I could see and feel their love for them. Even some of the members themselves identified as LGBTQ. One of the best member missionaries I knew in New England, experiences same-gender attraction, but she is amazing, she gave us more referrals than the whole ward combined, she befriended and loved everyone, and always invited them to learn more, she personally brought 4 people to the waters of baptism!
While being a missionary I learned to love everyone, including those who identify as part of the LGBTQ community, as my brothers and sisters. I also experienced something that disturbed me. I heard members and missionaries talk disparagingly about my brothers and sisters who identify as part of the LGBTQ community. I had one companion who said many off-color comments including, "If my son ever came out as a gay...I would disown him." Since getting back from my mission I have heard many people, of many denominations, talk ill and treat poorly those who identify as part of the LGBTQ community. Almost as if their sexual orientation exempted them from the commandment to love and befriended their neighbor.
Since coming home from my mission I have volunteered with Encircle and at Ignite (programs to help youth in the LGBTQ community who are at risk to commit suicide or feel unloved) to know that there are those that love them. I have been received with both joy and shock when I came to these events and people found out I am an active Latter-day Saint. I think it is sad that it was such a shock that a Latter-day Saint wanted to be an ally. One person's mouth hit the floor and was speechless that a straight, white, male, conservative, super-active Latter-day Saint, who unequivocally supports the Family Proclamation, would spend his afternoon helping youth who identify as LGTBQ. I explained that the only label I try to see is one: Child of God. And if you stop at that label, then helping the unloved feel God's love is my religion.
I share this to set the tone for what needs to be said: Every member of the LGBTQ community should be able to count on a Latter-day Saint to be an ally.
What exactly does it mean to be an ally? I believe that the true meaning of being an ally is that they should be able to count on us to mourn with them, comfort them, and love them as Christ would love them. It means that we should treat them right, love them, and serve them, befriend them! Being an ally to an individual (not the movement) is to be a true friend to our brothers and sisters. After all, have we not covenanted to do that when we were baptized?
Being an ally does not mean that we need to change our doctrine, but rather that we live it. In the words of Elder Marlin K. Jensen: "Having been so richly blessed by Christ’s friendship, I pray that we will now be to others what He is to us: a true friend. At no time will we be more Christlike than when we are a friend."
My thesis is that real Christian allyship is being a true friend. Now, Satan is attempting to twist the meaning of words, he wants us to believe that to be a friend and an ally we must embrace their lifestyle choices, but in fact, the exact opposite is true. Robert D. Hales said that "The measure of a true friend is one who will not have us choose between his way and the Lord’s way. A true friend makes it easier for us to live the commandments of the Lord. A true friend will not let us do anything we want. True friends will correct us when we do something wrong and bring us back on the straight and narrow path that leads to exaltation." For more on this idea that being a true friend requires we stand up see "The Lie About Loving the LGBTQ+ Community That Many Latter-day Saints Are Believing"
Now I know what you are thinking, "What about marriage and family? Are they not important to defend?" Absolutely! My friends who identify as part of the LGBTQ community know that I love them and that I also believe in traditional marriage and family. They have no doubt that I believe and follow the commandments and gospel. But they also know that my love for them is unconditional as they are my brothers and sisters.
It would be wise to remember that the Pharisees of old loved the law more than people, and they often justified mistreating others because they were defending the law, Sabbath, or the temple. It was a rebuttal of their ideology when Christ replied that the most important commandment was to " love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind...And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Matthew 22:34-40).
If we make it to the judgment bar having mistreated, judged, shamed, and withheld our love and friendship aka allyship from others in our attempt to protect and defend marriage and family I can see us saying to Christ, "I spent our lives defending the family and marriage. I defended your kingdom!"
To which Christ would reply, "I did not ask you to spend your life defending My Kingdom." And in sorrow, He would continue, "I asked you to spend your life loving God and your neighbors, more than the law. I told you that by your love they would know you were My disciple. I asked you to love, serve, help, and befriend others! I asked you to build my kingdom, not just defend it."
Christ has declared visitors are welcome in His Church. We would be wise to truly incorporate that teaching in our lives also. Christ befriended the publicans, sinners, harlots, and the Romans. We should too. President M. Russell Ballard has stated that we can and must do better he said: “I want anyone who is a member of the church who is gay or lesbian to know I believe you have a place in the kingdom and recognize that sometimes it may be difficult for you to see where you fit in the Lord’s Church, but you do. We need to listen to and understand what our LGBT brothers and sisters are feeling and experiencing. Certainly, we must do better than we have done in the past so that all members feel they have a spiritual home where their brothers and sisters love them and where they have a place to worship and serve the Lord.” (Click here for his full address)
After all, regardless of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual preference, political party, and preferred college football team (even the Utes 😉 we are all sons and daughters of God. Yes, He has commandments. Yes, His laws will be enforced, but that is His job, not ours. Our job is simple: Just as He loves us unconditionally, we are commanded to love unconditionally. Let us learn to love and be true friends or allies to all around us; let us leave judgment to Jesus Christ, who truly understands and is the only fair and impartial judge. In the words of the Elder Marion D. Hanks, "We cannot, my dear brethren, condition our love ... There have to be standards and they must be enforced, but our love must be unconditional."
If only this were the teaching from the top down.
As to your final statement- President nelson have a talk called divine love.
While divine love can be called perfect, infinite, enduring, and universal, it cannot correctly be characterized as unconditional.
Gods love does not have conditions. His love does not rob justice. President Nelson was correcting the notion that Unconditional love outweighs agency and accountability. When in reality it just means that God will always love you, the heavens wept for Satan when he fell, that sounds like God loved him even in his actions of rebellion. That is love without conditioning.
Does God still love Lucifer?
I would assume so, God and the heavens, wept over his fall.
Absolutely! Lucifer is His son. And God being a God of love is about who God is, not who Lucifer is.
I grew up LDS in a small town called Enterprise in Utah. I am also lesbian. I stopped going to church years ago because I feared there wouldn’t be a place for me. I feared rejection. My family moved away 3 years ago and I haven’t been to church since. I’ve loved girls for as long as I can remember. I do believe that god loves us unconditionally. Although I’m very sad that I’ll never see the inside of those temple walls or be sealed to my wife. This post is all I’ve ever wanted to hear. Thank you.
Love it. Just a thought though. You should say "Every LGBTQ PERSON should be able to count on...." The way you have it written would be like saying "every Chinese needs a friend". Thanks for your support. I'm a gay man with a partner and I grew up LDS. I know my family doesn't agree with my choices, but we all love echother anyway. Not everyone has that so more people like you speaking out is important.
I think communication is the number one challenge most people face. We think by loving unconditionally, we without question accept all behaviors. That isn’t what unconditional love says. It really is just saying you love others regardless of their human qualities. Fear is the other enemy to unconditional love. People are afraid that they’ll convey the message of accepting a certain behavior or even accept a behavior to the point of doing the behavior. I believe if we focus more on God and learn of Him, we’ll learn through His example how to love everyone.
I totally know what you mean Stephanie. I have worried about this so many times and have often been quiet when I wasnt sure how to support and not condone. I got help from a Come Follow Me class. When Christ is brought the woman taken in sin, no one but her hears his command to sin no more. The point was made that in that moment, clarifying and teaching the law was not the Saviors focus. SHE was. Is it possible that people walked away "thinking" Jesus condoned her behavior because he did not condemn it? Maybe. Everyone will be given a chance to learn Gods laws even if I'm not the one to teach them. But, as Justin pointed out and I agree with, I dont think my Savior will be asking me about the times I didn't clarify His law, but about the times I was unkind or withheld love.
I truly love your thoughts and words. Is there any way to get a copy of it? I am LDS and I have a few beautiful friends who are gay. I love them with all my heart and I’ve learned so much from your post. Please keep sharing. Love from a grandma who keeps the commandment to love one another every day.
Great article...and so true! We are all sinners in one way or another. One sinner doesn't deserve more love than another sinner just because they sin differently. Who are we to judge another? Sound familiar? Thank you for writing this...great job!
I think the LGBTQ community takes the word "ally" to mean a lot more than is implied in this blog.
Some do, but I remind them that I can love them, and be their friend, and ALLY but not advocate their lifestyle. Sadly some don't accept this, but many do.
Truly I think it is better to proclaim you are their "friend" rather than "ally." Seriously, the term does carry the connotation of aligning with social/political aims.
I view those titles interchangeably within this context.
Tom, in the right context we should be their Allies. We should ally with them in suicide prevention. In equal rights in the nation. In fair practices by the law and in the workplace. There are countless things we can ally with people I the LGBTQ community on and still be true to our faith.
I agree- unfortunately we are in a time where meanings of words are changed, and it is important to have clear cut definitions, ally being one of them. Of course we are to love, mourn with, befriend, and minister to everyone; let us not slide into condoning or aligning with things that are not in line with God in doing so. Christ loved all, and called them to repentance; He never supported or aligned with false teachings in order to love and serve. This movement to accept sexual identity takes the focus off of the identity as sons and daughters of God, and puts the focus on accepting the lifestyle, even if ever so slightly. I think we need to be careful as followers of Christ that we do not veer off the path and start heading to the great and spacious building and the worlds version of Christ.
My son is gay. He knows we love him but he insists that unless we accept his marriage as one from God that we don't love him unconditionally. In fact he unfriended me on FB inpart because he starts up political iscussions and because I don't agree with his politics he gets mad. We agreed to not have those discussions. A few text down he says unless we accept his marriage we dont love him. I stated we accept D as part of the family. He then asks me what that has to do with politics then gets mad when I say he brought it up. I love my son but I love Heavenly Father and seek to live his commandments. I am 68 years old and he came out just three years ago after he & his wife divorced. Now he PM's me the stuff related to the hugging mom. I currently live outside the mainland. So not sure what he is xpects from me. I am also having health issues. Anyone else going through this.
Sounds like you are doing your best in a hard situation. President Oaks discussed these same things in his most recent General Conference talk "Two Great Commandments" I'll post the link below!
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/10/35oaks?lang=eng
The misunderstanding with the referencing of the two great commandments is a missing of which one is important when they are in conflict. Look at the good samaritan as an example. The priests that passed and did not help - they saw the conflict of loving their neighbor and helping or keeping the first law of loving god and keeping his laws. So they crossed the road and kept his laws and rules for cleanliness. The samaritan gave grater value to loving his neighbor.
Two great commandments - love god love your neighbor.
Lesson - when they are in conflict - love your neighbor.
The first great commandment is to love God. The Priest and the Levite passed by because of pride. What would happen if they were unclean for 30 days? What would the elites in Jerusalem think? There is no incompatibility between loving God, and loving His children. Especially when God commands us to love His children. Any notion of choosing between the two is a false choice.
I have a son who came out as gay a year ago. He wrote us a 12 page letter about how hard the 30 years were keeping this a secret. He had been on a mission and tried to live life in the church. He has since left the church. He has moved home for the past 7 months. The last 7 months have been an amazing journey and I have grown so much closer to him. I am very thankful for articles like this. A Raney, I too cannot talk religion or politics with my son. I love him unconditionally and we get along great. He has taught me the full meaning of the word love. One of the things that has really helped me was to read the book "That We May Be One" by Tom Christofferson. Tom is the gay brother of Todd Chistofferson. He writes about his whole journey. He too left the church, for 19 years. He is back now and loves the church and his family so much. His book is amazing. I think every gay, parent and church leader, friend, etc needs to read this book. It puts everything into perspective. It is true what Jeremy says in this post that the most important thing is unconditional love, which the Savior was a great example of.
Agreed! However, I am concerned that we are not sharing the law as we share the love. I know of many youth who are currently experimenting with homosexuality because all they are is "you go girl!" or "you live your life boy!"
If we confuse the behavior with the person, in either direction - the love or the law - we have bought into satan's plan and undermine our place in the plan on salvation.
Thank you so much for writing this article! I feel like it was truly inspired! I have thought about their struggle so much over the past few years because I love my LGBTQ+ friends and there has to be some sort of a way to bridge the gap between us. I look forward to reading other people's comments and future articles that you my post. Thank you again!
I believe that most Latter Day Saints want to be an ally, they are just on a learning curve, how to love unconditionally and stay true to what they believe. I know there are those who are definitely not even willing to consider change, but I truly think most are trying to navigate a world that seems very unfamiliar to them, while trying to follow the Savior's words in ALL aspects of their lives. I have some dear friends who identify LGBTQ+ and I never want them to feel judged by me but I think sometimes they are hurt by the fact that occasionally I will post something on social media standing up for what I believe about the family and the Family Proclamation. I hope that over time, they will see that my love for them isn't conditional even though my beliefs and convictions are unchanged.
Thank you for sharing this. As a gay Mormon, I often feel like I’m caught in the crossfire between the LGBT community and well-intentioned but tactless members of the Church. There are so many members of the Church who experience same-sex attraction (there have been some in every ward I’ve been in) but they don’t get the support they need because they fear rejection largely because some of their ward members struggle to understand that being gay isn’t a sin and it isn’t something to be ashamed of. When members of the Church use the Family Proclamation as a club rather than a healing salve, it drives people away and buries them in shame.
No one should be more loving to the LGBT community than those who follow Christ. Your gay family and friends know what you believe; now live what you believe.
I'm LDS and I'm active within the church. However I truly believe all LGBT people should be treated the same as everyone else. Surely being being a friend means accepting everything about a person. I go crazy when some LDS go on about people "choosing to be gay" or saying gay people can "pray the gay away". People are born gay just as I was born straight. They don't belong on the fringes of our church but in the heart of it like everyone else. As followers of Jesus Christ we are meant love our fellow man. But I feel we offer members of the LGBT community "restricted love". It's time to love everyone the same.
Thank you Jeremy. This was the right article for me to find at the right time. You have put into eloquent words what I have needed help articulating. Sometimes I wonder if president Nelson's declaration that we haven't seen the end of the full restoration has more to do with the personal revelation we all need to understand HOW to better live the gospel than it does about radical procedure changes.
Thanks Jeremy. I find this article to be fitting with my understanding of Christ and His doctrine. I appreciate seeing your words express His love. Keep spreading the gospel the way the Lord has instructed you.
A very well written article. Thank you.
We have been told to repeatedly defend his Kingdom. Repeatedly. Defending, as in to explain to other intelligently. I think what you meant to say was that we don't need to protect his Kingdom. Defending allows us to meet other where they are and to teach them the Restoration. It is more likely we'll have fewer interactions with LGBT than we will people of other faiths. Just a few thoughts I had to put this all into perspective. However, good emphasis on being loving to all.
I think many members think that by supporting LGBTQ persons, they are somehow supporting their lifestyle. Those are two very different subjects, by being an ally you are not supporting their lifestyle, but their happiness.
Growing up in Utah myself, then moving to Vermont, it was quite the change! It took me a long time to get over myself and learn to love the people here. I realized that i wasn’t happy. I was always upset at something that one of “those dang liberals” or “LGBTQ” people were doing. I learned to live as Jesus loved, and it has changed my life! I have been here for 14 years now, and I have never been happier. I am also a straight, white, conservative LDS guy, who lives his guns and Traditional definition of family. After all, we are all children of God, and we need to be THE example of how He would treat others.
We need to see others through God's eyes. None of us are perfect, but we are all perfectly loved by God. God commanded our love for one another. Everyone, regardless of their Earthly circumstances is deserving of our love and respect, our kindness and our friendship.
Love the person not the sin, for are we all not sinners?
I am saddened that we jump to the conclusion that because someone is gay, trans or whatever that they are committing a sin. That is a judgement and love does not judge that which it doesn't understand. Why is someone gay? I don't know, that will, if necessary be revealed to us at sometime. Probably when we are on the other side of the veil. Would we shun our son or daughter because they did not marry their partner and instead they lived together? No, we would be saddened by their choice but we would still want to be with our child, have them over for dinner, celebrate holidays together. So because for some reason unknown to me and you, someone is attracted to the same sex, we are only supposed to love them because Christ has told us too? Then we don't love them. You can not love someone because you are "supposed too." You love them because of who they are, gay, straight, bi, trans. You love them because they are good people and contribute to society, often believe strongly in the Savior and Heavenly Father as we do. They too want to live in peace, get along with their neighbors, contribute to society, are kind, loving and want to be treated as equals. That because we believe in being chaste and they don't meet our standards of chastity (I can assure you that many of the couples who are married in the Temple broke the law of chastity, but that is none of our business) we will not stop on the side of the road and wash their wounds, quench their thirst? We will just walk on the other side of the road and convince ourselves that we love them but because of their sexual orientation we shouldn't reach out to them, hold their hand, soothe their fears and woes. We don't hold a straight couple having sex before marriage to the same standards as a gay couple because the straight couples love or lust is "natural." Science has taught us, truthfully, that for the most part we don't wake up and say, "today I am going to be attracted only to people of the same sex as me." No, the LGBTQ community for the most part, wakes up tortured over their attractions. They have woken up wishing they were dead, fearing leaving the house for fear of harm, hiding their attractions because of the judgements that will be heaped upon them. It isn't a matter of we love them even though we don't accept their lifestyle. Rather it should be we love them. Nothing more, nothing less. When we stand before the Lord and He asks us how we think we did on earth, He isn't go to say, "hey I understand that you didn't associate with them, you crossed the street, you condemned them in your heart, because after all, I said sex outside of marriage is wrong. Sex should only be between a man and a woman." We wish!! No, He will ask us what we did for our fellow man, regardless of who they had sex with, He is not worried about our feelings on if they were sinful or not. He is concerned about how we treated each other. That love is given freely even when we don't know the journey that led someone down the path. Because we don't know another person's journey is the very reason we must never judge them. It is irrelevant to the Lord that you are not going to be friends with someone because of who they slept with. He wants to know how you, not them, treated other people. We don't stand in front of the Lord excusing our behavior because it went against His teachings. He and Heavenly father love all of their children. And until we KNOW, really know as Heavenly Father and the Savior know, we have no business passing judgement. And you all lose out on not have gay friends because you lose out on being compassionate and having empathy for someone who is equally as unsure why they are gay as you are. Go and be their friend, you can't catch being gay.
The Law of Chastity applies to everyone equally. Any sexual relations outside the bonds of marriage between a man and a woman is a violation of God's law.
However, I completely agree with you that we should be kind to everyone that breaks this law because we all sin differently.
With regard to the comment, "I am saddened that we jump to the conclusion that because someone is gay, trans or whatever that they are committing a sin," I fail to understand why people jump to the conclusion that people who believe in God's laws are claiming that the sin lies is being "gay, trans or whatever," rather than any number of actions we all commit in violation of God's laws. I pretty universally see people who are striving to acknowledge God's laws and live according to them being chastised as being unkind when they are not engaging in any such unkind behavior.
Amen!
I would refrain from ally because that word is very often (if you do an online search, linguistically speaking, look at the frequency of ally in the corpus of public text when used in combination with LGBT-related words) meant to support and defend the legalization of this lifestyle, when we should use friend, a term the Savior, as our best example, used. There is a reason, outside of the term "Mormon", that President Nelson specifically guided the Church's PR department to remove the MormonAndGay.ChurchOfJesusChrist.org subsite. That's also why the Church had CES remove the homosexuality section in the Honor Code. Just as we don't have a site specifically devoted to MormonAndAlcoholic or MormonAndThisSin or MormonAndThatWeakness, we don't let our challenges identify us as President Oaks reiterated some time ago. We identify by our eternal identity as children of God and by our goal as disciples of Jesus Christ, that eternal glory we so aspire after. There are appropriate ways to discuss our challenges and sins, but there is a reason Preach My Gospel says "Do not discuss your past transgressions or ask those you teach to discuss their past transgressions." Anyone who was oncechallenged by smoking or alcohol will readily tell you that outside of fasting and prayer, when they decided to not let their challenge define them and in turn they fully focused on and filled their life with good ("every good thing comes of Christ"), that force of good, Christ's Atonement, is what enabled them to prevail and triumph. You might note that when Alma taught his sons, he discussed the overcoming of his sins, not his past sins specifically, when teaching repentance, of turning to Christ, and such should be our model as well. When we allow sin and weakness self-identification to be our process or when we promote that kind of self-identification, we unknowingly turn inwardly to our past, to the very things that are limiting us, and we unwittingly ignore Christ who is our Champion and Friend and the only One who can transform our natures.
I choose to refuse to let others define words. The minute I cede the ability to define words then they control the whole debate. An ally is someone who has your back, who you can count on, who if you are attacked will defend you. Jesus Christ is our ally and we are called to be like Him.
@SonOfZorro, Thank you. The word ally has been co-opted whether we like it or not.
Yup, they have tried to hijack the word. I refuse to let them. When we surrender our language we lose a vital aspect of the battle.
Beautifully written article. Very timely message....thank you for sharing....:)
We can love our brothers and sisters, including LGBTQ persons. How often do we "love" new converts to Christ? However, we do not love them to the degree that we ignore the Christs Gospels. If members had not been steadfast intheir beliefs about sin, I would not have had the opportunity to repent and be truely born again. My opposit sex attraction has been a problem for me. If my brothers and sisters did not love me with a firm face toward Christ, I may never have turned to face Christ to see the difference between love and lust, and been able to repent. Lust is a very strong deciever. Thankfully no one felt an emotionally based sympathy for my position or I would have recieved that as condoning my imperfect state. It doesn't help to play along with the fantasy that Christ cannot change "my" affliction as though I am supposed to carry it into eternity. True love changes the person. Christ's individuallized love changed people, that is part of the great message. Christ's general love for sinner's was to forgive them and ask Father for mercy, which He accomplished. Father and Christ are in perfect order. They uphold the law and respect the permance of the law and abandond not the law as they spead their unwavering love and mercy to bring wayward children home to righteous. There is no such thing as unconditional love. All love has conditions including Father's love for us by condition of His only begotton son. Including Jesus's love on condition of his surrender to Father's will not his own. If I am unconditionally loved it is the same as putting a millstone around my neck, because I am led to believe that my will as holy as Christ's and that I can continue to do that which is right in my own eyes an think myself righteous. It has been my brother and sisters steadfast love that has directed me to Christ's merciful love and doctrine of repentence. I Thank God because wickedness never was happiness, I just didn't see the truth. Freedom from the bondage of sin is beautiful and only comes from choosing to believe on the eternal all-encompassing and healing love of Christ. No matter how deeply you feel about unconditionalism, do not feed me from a soulish interpretation of Love, rather feed me the unconditional Word of God and show me forgiveness for my "attractions" while I learn to mature in Father's truth and working of a change in my spirit/heart. I need to be saved from myself ansd my sins no matter how decieved by them I am.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I would disagree with your take on unconditional love. We are loved by God because we are His children. That love does not excuse our actions, but it is all surrounding and penetrating. It is that love that motivates the Godhead to work for our salvation.
I think it's important to realize we all struggle with something. May not be the same struggles. There's so much on television and movies making things look appetizing along with social media. I don't have same sex attraction, but I do have other struggles. We can come together with our different struggles and still love each other.
I am an active member, I experience same sex attraction, I agree with pretty much everything in this article, but I disagree with your idea of trying to change what "LGBTQ ally" means in this context. I just think its too much of an uphill battle at this point seeing what it actually means in the LGBTQ community, and you're probably better off using a term like "friend" or "neighbor" or even "traditional ally" to get your point across and avoid a lot of confusion.
Side note, I experience same sex attraction, but I don't identify with the LGBTQ community or use their labels, and it's largely because I think there's a lack on their part to actually gain common ground with the religious community in general. We can follow the example of Christ and always have our hand extended, but ultimately there has to be some effort to grab hold of that hand.
And that may be the case, but I want to hope we can still save words. But if not, then the phrase "True Friend" is what I would swap it to. (It is important to note, I wrote this over 3 years ago, and things have radically gotten worse as far terms changing and what is being pushed.
Interesting article and some good points. However, the use of the word "ally" has been hijacked by LBGQT groups to imply condoning and promoting. Obviously, the author understands that, but readers, at first glance or who don't thoroughly read the article, might not. By simply saying we need to be an ally, would for many, seem to imply that we are condoning and promoting. In today's world, so many words have been co-opted for political narratives. Ally is one of them. Would we say we need to be an "ally" of an alcoholic, a porn addict or any other person who battles inclinations that go against gospel standards? Realizing that not all LGBQT act out their inclinations and that many try to stay within the Lord's commandments, the use of the word "ally" is politically charged and, I don't think, would be used in connection with people who battle other inclinations. The political/cultural implication of the word ally is there, whether we want it to be Let us love and be kind to all. But, if we use the word ally, we are saying something very different to the world.
Yup, they have tried to hijack the word. I refuse to let them. When we surrender our language we lose a vital aspect of the battle.
A better word than "ally" would be "friend". Ally implies endorsing someone else's behavior. A true friend is one who cares deeply for the other person and helps them through life's ups and downs. They may even disagree with their behavior. We should all be friends to those struggling through the issues of life.
We live in a time when social contagion has brought about an epidemic of LGBT orientation amongst recent generations. The Gallup Poll, published in the Washington Post, shows the massive shifts since WWII. The greatest increase has been in bisexual orientation, while a substantially lesser shift has occurred in gay and lesbian orientations.
Social contagion most significantly affects those in their younger years who have minor attractions to the same sex and who conclude that they must be gay because the world is telling them that. Youth in their early teenage years often experience same sex attraction for a period and then revert to normal heterosexual attraction if left without external reinforcement.
I address why I use the word ally in the post:
"My thesis is that real Christian allyship is being a true friend. Now, Satan is attempting to twist the meaning of words, he wants us to believe that to be a friend and an ally we must embrace their lifestyle choices, but in fact, the exact opposite is true. Robert D. Hales said that 'The measure of a true friend is one who will not have us choose between his way and the Lord’s way. A true friend makes it easier for us to live the commandments of the Lord. A true friend will not let us do anything we want. True friends will correct us when we do something wrong and bring us back on the straight and narrow path that leads to exaltation.'"