Mormon Stories #1091: The Mormon Church's Reversal of the November 2015 LGBTQ Policy Pt. 1

The Reversal of the November 2015 LGBTQ Policy: A Turning Point in Mormon History

On April 4, 2019, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a stunning reversal of one of its most controversial decisions in modern history. The leadership rescinded the November 2015 policy that had prohibited children of LGBTQ parents from being blessed or baptized until age 18, and had effectively classified same-sex relationships as grounds for ecclesiastical discipline. This reversal, delivered quietly through updated handbook guidance rather than public proclamation, raises fundamental questions about institutional change, prophetic authority, and the mechanisms of doctrinal policy within Mormonism.

Understanding this reversal matters because it illuminates how major American religious institutions respond to cultural pressures, internal dissent, and the gap between official doctrine and grassroots practice. For researchers studying contemporary Mormonism, members navigating faith identity, and those examining religious institutional responses to LGBTQ issues, this moment represents a pivotal inflection point.

Background: The 2015 Policy and Its Context

The November 2015 policy emerged approximately four months after the United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. According to the Mormon Stories podcast source material, the timing appeared to many observers as a reactive stance to cultural change rather than a proactive theological position. Church President Thomas S. Monson announced the policy during General Conference, though historians and insiders have since documented that other senior leaders, particularly Dallin H. Oaks and Russell M. Nelson, were instrumental in its formulation and implementation.

The policy itself created what many called a "blanket statement" restricting LGBTQ members and their families. Children living with same-sex parents could not be blessed as infants and could not be baptized at age eight without explicit disavowal of their parents' relationship. The restrictions applied not to LGBTQ members themselves, but to their family units.