A religion professor dove into Mormon doctrine Friday night and dissected its historical interpretations of gender and sexuality in a speech to kick off a forum on LGBTQ issues within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Taylor Petrey, chairman of Kalamazoo College’s religion department in Michigan, examined how the church’s views around gender and sexuality have changed over time, evolving from a patriarchal one to a heterosexual one and how that change could set a precedent for a future shift.
The speech, titled “Limits and Possibilities: Mormons, Gender and Sexuality," was the first event in a forum hosted by Mormons Building Bridges, a group founded to improve relations between the Latter-day Saint and LGBTQ communities.