A fifth of Mormon college students in the US say they’re LGBQ, new study shows

OK, a couple of wisecracks might be good here:

"The lack of coffee and tea in the Mormon diet seems to be impacting their thinking ability."

"It seems extreme, but what else is a Mormon to do to avoid an early marriage after completing his mission?"

OK, seriously, what strikes me is that when I went to college, the alphabet community argued that it was 10% until it was pointed out a bazillion times that Kinsey's sample for his study was 25% prisoners and sailors in all-male situations. In short, it was a surprise that 25% of respondents weren't predominantly homosexual with that sample!

Then for the next two decades or so, we had a moment of sanity, more or less, as more responsible studies found that about 1-3% of the population was homosexual, and then over the past decade, we've seen the rate of "alphabetism" skyrocket as it's become fashionable to be "trans" and such--followed by a skyrocketing rate of "alphabetism regret". What it says to me is that the power of suggestion/popularity is strong enough to persuade not only a lot of young people, but also their therapists.

(of course, the jury is out as to whether the therapists are that keen on figuring out false alphabetism)

Scary reality. To close, another jibe:

"Looks pretty obvious that going to elite, liberal colleges seems to cause alphabetism." More broadly, it seems that going to elite colleges does seem to eliminate the ability to think.

This has been an issue in the Mormon ranks for a long time. Back when I worked in the DoD and had several Mormon friends in the Baltimore/DC area, one in particular bemoaned to me the "bad apples" that sometimes came to light in their mission work.

Andy, are you saying that your friends were referring to a significant portion of Mormon missionaries who were found to be homosexual and such while at their designated area? It strikes me that a significant rate of sexual sin among Mormon missionaries could end up being a huge legal liability for that church, if I'm reading you correctly.

Just talked to a pastor from Utah about the large LGBTQ presence in Salt Lake City. He said it’s known in the area that many of them are men who got into homosexuality when they were on their 2 year mandatory mission with another young man.

Bert -- exactly and it seems to be confirmed again by Jonathan's comment.

OK, 5000 miles from home and one's family, lonely, a bit scared, and with only one other friend one can depend on can be a bad situation for a young man. It is, really, many steps worse than joining the Army/Marines, or going far to college.

I am reminded of when my daughter said she was going to go to Minot State for college, and my immediate response was "600 miles from home, lonely, bored, a little scared, away from one's family and church, and in a predominantly male area with oil field workers and an air force base is not a good situation for a young lady." Thankfully she ended up choosing another school closer to home, one that actually had the major she wanted.

1. Yeah, sounds like Luther's experience in the monastery. You can't escape from sin.

2. I have a prediction: the LDS church will shift its stance soon and accept the alphabet crowd.