Dallin H. Oaks states homosexuality is a temptation, not a fundamental identity.

Date
Aug 14, 2006
Type
Interview
Source
Church Public Affairs
LDS
Hearsay
Scribed Verbatim
Reference

Dallin H. Oaks and Lance B. Wickman, Interview with Church Public Affairs, LDS Newsroom, August 14, 2006, accessed February 25, 2021

Scribe/Publisher
Church Public Affairs
People
Lance B. Wickman, Dallin H. Oaks, Church Public Affairs
Audience
Reading Public
Transcription

Oaks: Yes, homosexual feelings are controllable. Perhaps there is an inclination or susceptibility to such feelings that is a reality for some and not a reality for others. But out of such susceptibilities come feelings, and feelings are controllable. If we cater to the feelings, they increase the power of the temptation. If we yield to the temptation, we have committed sinful behavior. That pattern is the same for a person that covets someone else’s property and has a strong temptation to steal. It’s the same for a person that develops a taste for alcohol. It’s the same for a person that is born with a ‘short fuse,’ as we would say of a susceptibility to anger. If they let that susceptibility remain uncontrolled, it becomes a feeling of anger, and a feeling of anger can yield to behavior that is sinful and illegal.

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