Thursday, June 7, 2012

Mormons Building Bridges

Today I went to breakfast with a dear friend from high school.  Our conversation turned to the Utah Pride Festival because I had talked with a friend earlier in the week about it, and I wanted to know what it was really about.  I wanted to know what the point was.  If it was just to stress that everyone should have equal rights and the rights to love and be loved? If it was something that happened nationwide? Just what the point of it is.  I had no idea, but as it turned out, he interned with the Utah Pride Center during his Spring semester of school. He gave me such an awesome insite as to the goal of the parade this year.

He told me about the group I have a picture above.  This is a group called "Mormons Building Bridges."  They started on facebook, and the reason they got together was so that the LGBT community in Utah could take a different approach for Pride this year.  He said they wanted to find the common ground between the LGBT community and the LDS community.  Obviously since Prop 8 and such, there's been a lot of friction between the two communities, and this was an attempt to come together on common ground.  To prove that you don't have to agree with everything a person does to love them.

My friend told me that there were 100 people confirmed to be in this "Mormons Building Bridges" group on facebook.  When they counted the LDS people who showed up, it was actually around 400.

Seriously, I just wish I had known about it because I think this is a beautiful concept.  To be able to march with our brothers and sisters and to say "we love you and accept you."  Obviously everyone has their own opinions on the matter, but the fact that so many could come together to support eachother is very poignant in todays world.

May we all be able to come together in this way or some way like it.  If we really believe God loves all, shouldn't we all show our love for all?

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