What if...(Savannah the sweet lesbian girl)

[TheRoadSouth]

I was recently just thinking about Savannah, the girl who's mic was shut off by the bishop after bearing her testimony that she was a lesbian.

NY Times article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/us/m ... peech.html

Note her saying, "I felt like they were scared of me and what I was saying.”

Can you imagine if it had been this scenario instead:

Instead of cutting the mic and asking her to sit down, what if the bishop stood up, put his arm around her, gave her a supportive nod and smile, and let her finish. Then, he said, "Savannah, we love you so much. Thank you for having the courage to come up her and talk about a very difficult subject, for you and for many others. I want you to know that we love you and support you and are here to help you in any way we can. God certainly did not make any mistakes with you, and you are a valuable member of our ward and young women's program."

OR ANYTHING EVEN REMOTELY RESEMBLING THAT. What if a message like that was recorded and shared instead? What actually happened would be exactly what I would expect from a church leader, but the alternate scenario would have been a wonderful help with church relations and an example of true Christlike love.

[slavereeno]

Instead of cutting the mic and asking her to sit down, what if the bishop stood up, put his arm around her, gave her a supportive nod and smile, and let her finish. Then, he said, "Savannah, we love you so much. Thank you for having the courage to come up her and talk about a very difficult subject, for you and for many others. I want you to know that we love you and support you and are here to help you in any way we can. God certainly did not make any mistakes with you, and you are a valuable member of our ward and young women's program."

Yep, it would have been a completely different story, or have just faded away as not that interesting. They just can't help but make things worse.

[Red Ryder]

On the same note, could you imagine if Kate Kelly and Ordain Women had met with the First P, and they listened to their request, then said "we will go and ask The Lord next Thursday in our staff meeting with Jesus in the temple."

Then come Thursday, the First Presidency could have gone on with their normal routine of playing naked tag in the celestial room, picking the hottest sister missionaries to serve at Temple Square, tying Elder Bednar up and giving him a pink belly, laughing at the gays, making paper airplanes with E. Uchtdorf, and watching reruns of Elder Gong's info sessions, plus everything else they want to do in their Thursday meetings.

Then on Friday they could meet again with Kate Kelley and Ordain Women and empathetically tell them, "we brought forward your thoughts and ideas towards ordaining women with The Lord and now is not the proper time. He is aware of your hearts desires but wishes you remain in your place in the home. Thanks for coming in, we appreciate your time, and please grab a free copy of Sherri Dew's most recent cook book on your way out. There's some fabulous funeral potato recipes!"

Then they could quickly shut the door, while President Monson quietly yells, "Ha ha, can you believe those bitches? They really want the priesthood? Pleeeeeeaaaaaase! Somebody tie up Elder Bednar, it's time to play tag!!"

Yep, it would have been a completely different story, or have just faded away as not that interesting. They just can't help but make things worse.

[moksha]

Can you imagine if it had been this scenario instead:

Instead of cutting the mic and asking her to sit down, what if the bishop stood up, put his arm around her, gave her a supportive nod and smile, and let her finish. Then, he said, "Savannah, we love you so much. Thank you for having the courage to come up her and talk about a very difficult subject, for you and for many others. I want you to know that we love you and support you and are here to help you in any way we can. God certainly did not make any mistakes with you, and you are a valuable member of our ward and young women's program."

That would have made for a viral Youtube video. However, it would be sad when the bishop would inevitably have been called into the Stake President's office and demoted.

[MoPag]

On the same note, could you imagine if Kate Kelly and Ordain Women had met with the First P, and they listened to their request, then said "we will go and ask The Lord next Thursday in our staff meeting with Jesus in the temple."

Then come Thursday, the First Presidency could have gone on with their normal routine of playing naked tag in the celestial room, picking the hottest sister missionaries to serve at Temple Square, tying Elder Bednar up and giving him a pink belly, laughing at the gays, making paper airplanes with E. Uchtdorf, and watching reruns of Elder Gong's info sessions, plus everything else they want to do in their Thursday meetings.

Then on Friday they could meet again with Kate Kelley and Ordain Women and empathetically tell them, "we brought forward your thoughts and ideas towards ordaining women with The Lord and now is not the proper time. He is aware of your hearts desires but wishes you remain in your place in the home. Thanks for coming in, we appreciate your time, and please grab a free copy of Sherri Dew's most recent cook book on your way out. There's some fabulous funeral potato recipes!"

Then they could quickly shut the door, while President Monson quietly yells, "Ha ha, can you believe those bitches? They really want the priesthood? Pleeeeeeaaaaaase! Somebody tie up Elder Bednar, it's time to play tag!!"

Yep, it would have been a completely different story, or have just faded away as not that interesting. They just can't help but make things worse.

[Wonderment]

On the same note, could you imagine if Kate Kelly and Ordain Women had met with the First P, and they listened to their request, then said "we will go and ask The Lord next Thursday in our staff meeting with Jesus in the temple."

Then come Thursday, the First Presidency could have gone on with their normal routine of playing naked tag in the celestial room, picking the hottest sister missionaries to serve at Temple Square, tying Elder Bednar up and giving him a pink belly, laughing at the gays, making paper airplanes with E. Uchtdorf, and watching reruns of Elder Gong's info sessions, plus everything else they want to do in their Thursday meetings.

Then on Friday they could meet again with Kate Kelley and Ordain Women and empathetically tell them, "we brought forward your thoughts and ideas towards ordaining women with The Lord and now is not the proper time. He is aware of your hearts desires but wishes you remain in your place in the home. Thanks for coming in, we appreciate your time, and please grab a free copy of Sherri Dew's most recent cook book on your way out. There's some fabulous funeral potato recipes!"

Then they could quickly shut the door, while President Monson quietly yells, "Ha ha, can you believe those bitches? They really want the priesthood? Pleeeeeeaaaaaase! Somebody tie up Elder Bednar, it's time to play tag!!"

Yep, it would have been a completely different story, or have just faded away as not that interesting. They just can't help but make things worse.

Hahahaha ! Your hilarious and talented writing ALWAYS brightens up my day. I think the Salt lake Tribune should hire you as a columnist, as you are funnier than Robert Kirby. Save these wonderful humorous posts and publish them in a book --- I think you'd have a New York Times bestseller.

[Kalikala]

Instead of cutting the mic and asking her to sit down, what if the bishop stood up, put his arm around her, gave her a supportive nod and smile, and let her finish. Then, he said, "Savannah, we love you so much. Thank you for having the courage to come up her and talk about a very difficult subject, for you and for many others. I want you to know that we love you and support you and are here to help you in any way we can. God certainly did not make any mistakes with you, and you are a valuable member of our ward and young women's program."

OR ANYTHING EVEN REMOTELY RESEMBLING THAT. What if a message like that was recorded and shared instead? What actually happened would be exactly what I would expect from a church leader, but the alternate scenario would have been a wonderful help with church relations and an example of true Christlike love.

That's what should have happened.

[Hagoth]

Note her saying, "I felt like they were scared of me and what I was saying.”

This is a very astute observation. All of those big, important-acting men scared of a little girl. And dead accurate. How do they explain Savannah? Only two options I can think of, both of which are truly scary to Mormon priesthood leaders:

1) Some kind of organized Satan-inspired, gay-agenda-wielding movement has infiltrated us and is taking control of the minds of our children.

2) Gay people are real.

[wtfluff]

Instead of cutting the mic and asking her to sit down, what if the bishop stood up, put his arm around her, gave her a supportive nod and smile, and let her finish. Then, he said, "Savannah, we love you so much. Thank you for having the courage to come up her and talk about a very difficult subject, for you and for many others. I want you to know that we love you and support you and are here to help you in any way we can. God certainly did not make any mistakes with you, and you are a valuable member of our ward and young women's program."

OR ANYTHING EVEN REMOTELY RESEMBLING THAT. What if a message like that was recorded and shared instead? What actually happened would be exactly what I would expect from a church leader, but the alternate scenario would have been a wonderful help with church relations and an example of true Christlike love.

Though the "story" may have been different if the "authority" had treated Savannah in a loving way, I'm afraid she'd still end up being shunned by her "ward".

Hopefully the younger generation would be able to accept her, but like Hagoth mentioned: Too many mormons are simply scared of anyone who is different from the "accepted" mormon clone.