The Mormons responded to the HRC petition

Ever since the 180th Semiannual General Conference, where Boyd K. Packer gave his speech condemning homosexuality, there was a large outcry and even a petition from the Human Rights Campaign.

The Mormons responded today by saying that "Jesus Christ, whom we follow, was clear in His condemnation of sexual immorality, but never cruel. His interest was always to lift the individual, never to tear down." I would agree with that if it weren't for Packer's comments that gay marriage was one of "Satan’s many substitutes or counterfeits for marriage" and that gay marriage "must be wrong" implicitly calling it "wicked" and saying that voting for gay marriage would be to "legalize immorality, as if a vote would somehow alter the designs of God’s laws and nature," furthermore saying that "a law against nature would be impossible to enforce. For instance, what good would a vote against the law of gravity do?"*

All of those statements seem quite a bit like tearing someone down for acting on their feelings that don't harm anyone in any way. Saying someone "must be wrong" and saying their marriage is one of "Satan's... counterfeits" is just as bad as calling someone a "faggot". Actually, I'd say it's worse, since getting called a "faggot" probably doesn't have any justification and someone can chalk it up to ignorance. But knowing that someone actually disdains you enough to try to find justification for why you're "wicked" seems much worse.

*Hey, I'm going to write a whole new post on this statement alone!