The Latter-day Saint president is approaching his 100th birthday with mixed results in terms of minority support

SALT LAKE CITY — As he approaches his 100th birthday, the oldest-ever president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has created a mixed legacy that some churchgoers say has led to a more inclusive global membership but left LGBTQ+ and other minority members does not feel supported.

Russell M. Nelson, a 99-year-old retired heart surgeon turned faith leader, had a conservative record in his previous position on the faith’s leadership panel, leading many to predict that he would not make significant changes as president . But religious scholars now say his six years in office have been anything but stagnant.

“He has shaken up the church in many ways — changing everything from what happens every Sunday during regular worship services to the long-term trajectory of what the church is focused on,” said Matthew Bowman, professor of religion at Claremont Graduate Universities.

Nelson is expected to speak Sunday at the biennial conference in Salt Lake City for the faith commonly known as the Mormon Church, which is observed by members around the world.

The president has embraced turning a centennial, but told congregants Thursday that he and other older church leaders may need accommodations at the conference. He was notably absent from the 2023 Fall Conference due to a back injury.

“We are called to serve for the rest of our lives, often well beyond retirement age,” Nelson said. “From my point of view, this is cause for celebration.”

Nelson, who notes that he has lived through more than half of the faith’s 194-year history, is known for leading the Church through the COVID-19 pandemic and urging people to celebrate the Latter-day Saints no longer to be called ‘Mormons’, a sharp statement. shift after previous church leaders spent millions promoting the name for decades.

He severed the faith’s centuries-long ties with the Boy Scouts of America and created the church’s own youth program, which could also serve more than half of its 17 million members who live outside the U.S. and Canada. He appointed non-American leaders to the highest governing body and pushed for the publication of regional hymnals celebrating local music and culture worldwide.

The president shortened Sunday services and launched construction of more than 150 temples, accelerating a long-running effort to seed the world with the faith’s lavish places of worship.

He also forged a formal partnership with the NAACP in an effort to cement the faith’s checkered history on race. Until 1978, the faith banned black men from the lay priesthood, a policy rooted in the belief that black skin was a curse. The church rejected the ban in a 2013 essay, saying it was issued during an era of deep racial division that influenced the church’s early teachings. But it has never issued a formal apology, leaving it one of the most sensitive topics for the Utah-based religion.

Nelson has largely avoided taking a position on current issues, leading to frustration among some members.

“He’s not a culture warrior,” said Patrick Mason, a professor of religion and history at Utah State University. “But in terms of Church presidents of the past century, I would put him in the top two or three who, by the time of their deaths, will have left their mark on the Church.”

Mason described Nelson’s administration as “gentler” than previous presidents, welcoming people and trying to retain members while still applying a strict interpretation of religious doctrine.

Under Nelson, the church emphasizes that LGBTQ+ members are welcome, but continues to maintain that same-sex marriage is a sin. It also limits the participation of transgender members who undergo gender-affirming medical procedures or change their name, pronouns or way of dressing.

Nelson’s early actions as church president gave some LGBTQ+ members hope that he would change that policy.

He made waves in 2019 when he repealed a pair of controversial rules banning baptism for children of gay parents and labeling same-sex couples as heretics who could face excommunication. His administration later supported a 2022 law protecting same-sex marriage at the federal level, saying it included what Nelson’s top adviser Dallin Oaks called “necessary protections for religious freedom.”

Oaks, 91, is Nelson’s likely successor and one of the most outspoken advocates of the church’s opposition to catering to same-sex attraction. He has reminded his followers at several previous conferences that the church believes children should be raised by a married man and woman.

That message is reflected in what is colloquially known as the “musket fire speech,” which recently became required reading for new students at Brigham Young University. A senior church leader’s speech calls on teachers and students to take up their intellectual ‘muskets’ to defend the faith’s position on marriage.

Fred Bowers, president of the LGBTQ+ Latter-day Saint support group Affirmation, called the speech one of many recent examples of how faith leaves LGBTQ+ members feeling isolated. Faith leaders tell LGBTQ+ members that God loves them and that they are accepted in the church, but that support is not reflected in their policies, he said.

“Our members continue to experience trauma and continue to hear mixed messages,” Bowers said.

Despite ongoing tensions between church leaders and LGBTQ+ members, Nelson has repeatedly instructed congregants to be kind to those whose experiences they may not understand.

“We must set an example of how to treat others, especially when we have disagreements,” Nelson said in his conference address last spring. “One of the easiest ways to identify a true follower of Jesus Christ is to see how compassionately that person treats other people.”