SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – In the past two years, Nathan Kitchen has revealed to his five children that he’s gay, gone through a divorce with his wife and grappled with how to stay in a religion that doesn’t condone his lifestyle.
Now comes the toughest task: Telling his children he could be kicked out of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints if he someday marries a man, and warning his two youngest, 11 and 15, that they might be barred from serving a mission under new church rules.
“It’s almost like they now have to choose between a gay father and a church that they love,” said Kitchen, a 47-year-old dentist from Gilbert, Arizona. “This is almost too much to bear.”
The changes to the Mormon handbook – disseminated this week to local church leaders around the world – say being in a same-sex marriage warrants ousting from the religion and that children of gay parents must wait until they’re 18 and disavow homosexual relationships to be baptized.
The revisions triggered a wave of anger, confusion and sadness for a growing faction of LGBT-supportive Mormons who were buoyed in recent years by church leaders’ calls for more love and understanding for LGBT members.