On Sunday, in LDS wards across the country, Mormons received instruction about their church’s ongoing fight against same-sex marriage. Two days earlier, the First Presidency, the LDS Church’s highest ranking authority, distributed a letter to all congregational leaders to be read during church services. Acknowledging the recent events in Utah, the memo reminded Mormons that heterosexual marriage “was instituted by God” and that LDS officials would not perform same-sex marriages nor would any Mormon buildings be used for such purposes. The missive also directed congregational leaders to review with members, “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” a document the church produced in 1995 that has appeared at times of social crisis ever since.
Why has the LDS Church chosen this moment to redeploy a nearly 20-year-old document? And what does “The Family”—a document that never explicitly mentions homosexuality or same-sex marriage—reveal about Mormon officials’ sense of the real crisis facing the LDS Church today?