(Gwissues) Gay Mormon Confessionals!

Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, Author Stephen Mansfield, and LGBT activist and Radio personality Troy Williams discuss the Mormon church's recent revelations of LGBT members.

(MY VIEW) Mormons and Mitt: The Myth About Separation of Church and State!

by Derrick Shore


Growing up in a devout Latter-Day Saint (Mormon) family in a suburb of Salt Lake City, I knew my religion as well as my name. My mom played the organ in a Mormon temple, I was a Boy Scout, and there was rarely a Sunday when we would miss church. Praying at least three times daily and studying the Book of Mormon were as essential as brushing our teeth or making dinner.

For the first time in American history a Mormon is the presidential nominee for a major political party. And while the Romney campaign has swiftly dismissed questions about his religion as inappropriate and irrelevant, it may seem that much of the media have tiptoed around this topic and have discussed the LDS church in glossy, broad terms. But here's why Mr. Romney's religion is relevant: For Mormons, there really is no such thing as separation of church and state.

NO JOKE: Utah Law Makes It Illegal to Act Sexy?

Be careful how you act in Utah: If you get too “sexy,” you could find yourself arrested under a new law. The law broadens the definition of solicitation—agreeing to trade sex for money—to include “lewd acts” that imply you want to trade sex for money, like exposing or touching yourself. It was intended to help undercover law enforcement officers, who are sometimes asked by prostitutes to expose themselves in order to prove they’re not cops. Such requests are now illegal, the AP reports.

But two escort services are suing to halt the law, claiming that it could lead to the arrest of licensed employees, like strippers or escorts, who are acting sexy as part of their job. "Most girls who touch their breasts are not telling you they're open for sex," says the attorney representing the escort services, noting that a similar law was struck down as unconstitutional in 1988. He worries that under this law, police could hassle legal businesses and potentially arrest exotic dancers for “suggestively thrusting.”