Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons

LDS U.S. Senator Harry Reid

Stake President Sends Abusive Letter to Senator Reid
President Howard: “You have lost your moral compass”

by Matt Christensen
November 2006

A former Nevada stake president sent an abusive letter to LDS Senator Harry Reid and chastised him for opposing a constitutional amendment which would have banned same-sex marriage. The letter was reported in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“You chose your party's agenda over Nevadans', over your Prophet's wishes, and defied God in the process,” wrote James Howard, who has been recently released after serving for nine years as president of the Las Vegas East Stake. “You have sold out for power and position… You fear your party more than God.”

Even though LDS leaders claim that they do not meddle in politics, there is a long history of bishops and stakes presidents harassing and disciplining members who dare express political views. In 2000 Yvette and Alan Hansen from Tracy, California, were placed on "informal probation," a form of discipline, for opposing a California ban on same-sex marriage, and in 2005 Kim Lawson, Mayor of Kamas, Utah, sent a letter to the stake president of Matt Livingston complaining because the 17-year-old boy criticized Lawson for passing an anti-gay revolution.

“Having sold out your Church, your State and possibly your soul for political power, I will have a hard time supporting you or voting for you in the future, should you attempt to hold on to your seat,” Howard added in his blistering letter to Reid. “Your soul is vacant, and you have lost your moral compass.”

Reid believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, but he opposed the constitutional amendment because he saw it as a ploy by the Republicans during an election year.

After Reid’s office released the letter, Howard said that the letter was never intended to become public. “This was a personal letter,” Howard said. “I was not speaking for anybody else. I was not speaking for the Church. It was my opinion.”

“I have been shocked and offended at the malice and rancor with which many who disagree with me on this issue have personally attacked me,” Reid responded in a letter to Howard. “Frankly, I expect better of my fellow saints who share with me reverence for Jesus's example of forbearance, patience, and love.”