LGBT policy: Prop 8 and the 2015 policy reversal

A policy an apostle called 'the mind of the Lord' was reversed in 3.5 years, and the Church moved from funding Proposition 8 to backing federal same-sex marriage protections.

What the Church claims

The Church's teachings and policies on marriage and sexuality reflect revelation, not shifting social pressure.

Once the evidence is in, this claim: Weak. Documented in the Church's own words on both sides; the only defense turns revelation into a label for whatever the current policy is.

The record

  • On 2015-11-05 a Handbook change barred children of same-sex couples from blessing and baptism until adulthood and classified same-sex marriage as apostasy; Elder D. Todd Christofferson explained it in a Newsroom video interview the next day.
  • On 2016-01-10 Russell M. Nelson, then President of the Twelve, told young adults that leaders 'met repeatedly in the temple', wrestled to understand the Lord's will, and that President Monson was inspired 'to declare the mind of the Lord and the will of the Lord', which each of them felt confirmed.
  • On 2019-04-04 the First Presidency reversed the policy: children of LGBT parents may be blessed and baptized 'effective immediately', and same-sex marriage, 'while we still consider such a marriage to be a serious transgression', is no longer treated as apostasy. Nelson framed the year as one of 'revelation upon revelation'.
  • In 2008 the Church mobilized California members for Proposition 8 (Newsroom: 'Church Readies Members on Proposition 8', 2008-10-08). On 2022-11-15 it announced support for the Respect for Marriage Act's balance of religious freedom and 'the rights of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters', while its marriage doctrine 'will remain unchanged'.
  • Boyd K. Packer's October 2010 talk was edited before publication (the spoken line questioning why God would make anyone that way was removed; the Proclamation became 'a guide'). Jeffrey R. Holland's 2021 BYU address called for 'musket fire' in defense of the Church's marriage doctrine and criticized a valedictorian who came out.
  • The current General Handbook restricts baptism for people who pursue 'surgical, medical, or social transition' away from their birth sex, with exceptions requiring First Presidency approval (38.6.23; policy expanded in August 2024).

The moving target

  • 2008: Members urged to give time and means to pass Proposition 8.
  • 2015-11: Children of same-sex couples excluded to protect them from conflict; same-sex marriage is apostasy.
  • 2016-01-10: The policy was revealed to the prophet as the Lord's will.
  • 2019-04-04: Policy reversed; described amid continuing revelation.
  • 2022-11-15: Supports the Respect for Marriage Act with religious-liberty protections.
  • 2024-08: Transgender members face restrictions on ordinances, callings and gendered spaces.

The exchange

Nelson 2016 and 2019; FAIR

Both the 2015 policy and its 2019 reversal came by revelation; God gives direction suited to circumstances, and the doctrine of marriage never changed. Critics conflate policy with doctrine.

The answer: Nelson did not call it a policy in 2016; he called it the declared 'mind of the Lord and the will of the Lord' received in the temple. If God reversed himself in 42 months about whether children of gay parents may be baptized, the concept of revelation does no work; if leaders misread the Spirit in 2015, the 'never lead astray' guarantee failed on a matter that kept children from a saving ordinance. Either way the 2019 statement conspicuously avoids saying the earlier policy was wrong.

What they get right: Policies for particular circumstances have always changed in the Church, and the 2019 reversal removed a real harm.

Church statement 2022; Public Square Magazine

Prop 8 and the RFMA stance are consistent: the Church has always sought to protect marriage doctrine and religious freedom; supporting a law that protects both is principled, not a reversal.

The answer: In 2008 the Church told members that same-sex civil marriage threatened the family and mobilized money and volunteers to stop it; in 2022 it endorsed federal codification of the same institution. That is a change in position, however framed.

What they get right: The RFMA included religious-liberty language the Church helped negotiate; its doctrinal stance is unchanged.

Both cases at full strength

The skeptics' case

The 2015-2019 sequence is the clearest modern instance of a claimed revelation being reversed. The Church's own Newsroom holds both the 2016 statement that the policy was 'the mind of the Lord and the will of the Lord' and the 2019 reversal. Combined with Prop 8 to RFMA, the editing of Packer's 2010 talk, and continued restrictions on transgender members, the pattern is of an institution moving with, and slightly behind, its society's norms while describing each move as revelation.

The apologetic case

Doctrine (marriage between a man and a woman) has not changed; policies for children and for legal engagement have, as they always do. Leaders sought and reported inspiration honestly in 2015 and 2019, and the Church's 2022 stance reflects a mature attempt to protect both religious liberty and LGBT people.

What would change this

A statement that the 2015 policy was a human error (would strengthen honesty but confirm fallibility), or evidence that the reversal preceded rather than followed member and public backlash.

Sources

An independent project. Not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or with any organization cited here. Summaries are written here; short quotations are attributed and linked. Every page names its sources so that it can be corrected, and every page can be challenged.