Letter to President Monson - "washing of feet"

Lester's Preface:
In the Mormon doctrine, when a Melchizedek Priesthood holder "dusts off his feet" with the invocation of his priesthood power, it carries enough weight to have an entire city destroyed if the wickedness in that city merits it.

This fact alone will tell you how this doctor sees the behavior of the Mormon Church leadership since they ordered that a letter be read from the pulpit in every California Mormon chapel on June 29th, 2008.

I received this before he mailed it to Salt Lake City because he is timing it to coincide with World AIDS day.

December 1st, 2008

Thomas S. Monson
President and Prophet
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
50 E. North Temple Drive
Salt Lake City, UT 84150

Dear President Monson:

As an Elder, and a father of two young sons, the youngest of whom is currently serving his mission in Stockholm, Sweden, I am writing to call you and the church to repentance. This may come as a surprise and a shock to be called to repent.

The [Mormon] church has sinned against those who are gay, lesbian or trans-gendered for too long. This sin against your gay and lesbian children has led to the destruction of faith; the destruction of families; to countless suicides. This has led to the loss of your mission to love your neighbor as yourself.

I am sending this on World AIDS day as well. My cousin died from AIDS in 1984 in Provo, Utah. She got AIDS from a blood transfusion during the delivery of her fifth child. She was the first person to die of AIDS in Utah. And, in honor of all of those we have lost along the way and the journey her death led me to in medicine to serving those most despised among us, I send this letter on this important day.

Also, with the power of my Melchizedek Priesthood still intact at this point, I ceremoniously shake the dust off of my feet. I call upon the heavens to rain down the power of heaven to bring you and your people to their knees in sincere repentance for the pain you have caused and continue to cause against the outcast and unwanted and their families dealing with this reality.

I have read the scriptures all of my life. I love my Savior. I try every day to live His example. Not once would He have entered a political fight against an unwanted minority and ignored what was the real trouble He was called to fight: ignorance, hatred, and poverty.

The traditional family is hurting, but it is not because there happen to be lesbians and gays in the world. No, the family is hurting because of divorce, abuse, addiction, poverty, gambling, etc. These are the true enemies of the family today. Yet, you have gambled the church's growth and mission on institutionalizing discrimination against your gay and lesbian children and those like them in your community and in this world.

To sin is to deny [the] Lord. His mission was to call the world to repent. It was not to cause pain to the lowly and already hurting.

Shame on you, and shame on my people, the Mormons. And, I say this out of a complicated love that I feel for you and the church.

During my years at BYU and my medical training at the University of Utah I would count the number of unexplained deaths in the Salt Lake newspapers of young men and women who died. Weekly the numbers piled higher and higher. The suicide rates of these many youth became one of the pains of my life.

The reality of growing up gay in a faith that denies and ignores this pain has led me to the realization that my people do not love Christ, nor do they serve Him. They serve a bureaucracy and organization. [T]hey have lost the work of the Lord somewhere along the way.

I am sorry for the pain that my actions today will cause my sons and my mother, but I choose [to] love them [as I] continue to work in a world to heal pain rather than cause it.

I beg you to get on your knees and speak your forgiveness to your lesbian, gay and transgendered children and their families.

Sincerely,

Robert Killian, MD/MPH
Seattle, WA