PROTECT LDSCHILDREN Dear Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, On Friday, March 30th, a significant event will occur on the streets of Salt Lake City. One thousand men, women and children will be marching to support YOU. We are answering Elder Oaks’ prayer uttered in the October 2012 General Conference. “I pray that we humble ourselves and reach out to protect our little ones.” We hear you. It may have taken us 6 years. But we hear you loud and clear now and are reaching out to protect our children. We also embrace Sister Joy D. Jones’ wonderful example, “As parents, we couldn’t sit there in silence any longer. We had to speak up, we had to protect our child.” We feel the same compulsion to speak up and protect our kids. We are hearing signals that major changes to protect our children are already in your consideration. The LDS Newsroom states, “We are continually looking for ways to strengthen our proactive programs.” Yes!!! That means change. The Newsroom goes on, “As we see or learn of ways to more effectively decrease the potential for abuse, we implement them.” It’s very encouraging to know that as a church we are willing to learn new ways. All institutional churches in America have already implemented a certain policy to curb abuse. We are lagging behind and it’s time to catch up. To quote SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests), “No other reputable institutional church, private or public school, sports group, or youth serving organization allows one-on-one meetings between adults and children. Why? It’s an invitation for sexual abuse.” We are marching in support of you, our dear apostles, to update our interview policies for children up through the age of 17. Currently, we are the only church in America that allows one-on-one, behind closed door meetings between a child and an adult male. This dangerous protocol is aggravated by the fact that, often, explicit sexual questions are being asked of our kids. We are calling for a change in policy. Not a change in doctrine. Not a change in theology. One Thousand of us will arrive at the Church Office Building around 2:00pm. We will present signatures from 53,000 people who support you in making the changes listed below. We will also present a book entitled, “Sacred Stories of Sacred Children—Childhoods Destroyed Behind Closed Doors.” It contains hundreds of firsthand accounts of harms done to our children that were facilitated by our current interview policies. Here are the 2 changes that tens of thousands of us support you in making.
1) Eliminate one-on-one interviews. 2) Forbid sexually explicit questions from being asked of our children.
These simple changes will protect our children, protect our leaders and protect the good name of our church. I sincerely hope that one of you will greet us when we arrive. Sincerely, Sam Young and 53,611 other concerned friends of our children
THESE LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST… IT IS TIME TO SAY
NO MORE. PLEASE JOIN US FOR A RALLY IN SALT LAKE CITY.
FRI, MAR
30, 2018
SALT LAKE CITY & COUNTY BUILDING
12:00pm - 3:00pm ProtectLDSChildren.org