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LDS Actions Against Marriage Equality

Marriage Equality

Peter and Mary Danzig

Church Threatens Gay-Friendly Couple
"I feel this amendment is contrary to the constitution and to the gospel of Christ"

February 2008

Two former members of the Orchestra at Temple Square decided to resign their membership rather than face excommunication for their vocal support of marriage equality.

In 2006, after hearing that Jeffery Nielsen lost his job at BYU for writing an editorial in favor of marriage equality, Peter Danzig wrote a letter in support of Nielsen.

"I wish to express to Jeffery Nielsen that I admire his courage and that I stand with him,” Danzig wrote in a letter The Tribune published on June 14, 2006. "I was troubled that my church requested I violate my own conscience to write in support of an amendment I feel is contrary to the constitution and to the gospel of Christ.”

Within a week, LDS officials contacted Danzig with concerns about the letter. They suspended him from the orchestra and for the next year, he and, ultimately, his wife defended their loyalty, faith and actions. No amount of persuasion or pleading could convince these ecclesiastical leaders they meant well.

Initially, Peter's wife Mary Danzig thought it was all a big misunderstanding. But soon, her own devotion to the church came into question. She, too, felt unwelcome in the orchestra. Ultimately, the Danzigs resigned their membership in the LDS Church rather than face excommunication.

"Part of the reason for writing the letter was to find out if there was room for personal conscience in this church. I was very hopeful,” Peter Danzig said. "But now I know there is none. This has been a painful journey for me.”

This is the most recent in a series of official LDS threats and actions against members who wrote or acted in support of GLBT people. Some of these official LDS threats include:

In 2000 Alan and Yvette Hansen, of Tracy, California, were place on informal probation and released from their callings after Alan wrote an editorial in favor of marriage equality.

In 2002 church leaders threatened Cindy LeFevre for writing a paper in which she criticized the "Proclamation on the Family"—a document that provides the doctrinal backing for the aggressive political campaigns against same-sex marriage that the LDS Church has recently carried out in many parts of the country.

In 2006 BYU placed on probation 5 students who participated in a Soulforce demonstration to raise awareness of the suicide pandemic in the GLBT Mormon community.

Also in 2006, BYU instructor Jeffrey Nielsen was let go from his teaching position after writing an editorial in favor of marriage equality.