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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Mormons relent on resignation
San Francisco Examiner 20Jul00 N1
By Carol Ness: Examiner Staff
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA -- Two days after a San Francisco Examiner
article on a San Francisco man's effort to leave the LDS Church
without being excommunicated, his bishop has called-off a
disciplinary court scheduled for Sunday. Owen Edwards asked to have
his name removed from the Church's rolls in February, saying he was
gay and took offense at the Church's position on California's Knight
Initiative. He decided to make his case public after he received
notice of the disciplinary court on July 8th.
"It's a done deal. There will be no hearings or proceedings or
discipline of any sort," LDS Church spokesman Jay Pimentel told the
Examiner on Wednesday, two days after the Examiner's front page story
appeared. Owen Edwards was pleased at the decision, "I got what I
wanted. It's over, it's done, we won."
According to Pimentel, Edwards' bishop decided to cancel the court
before he was contacted by the Examiner last Thursday. Bishop Bryan
Earl made the decision after consulting with "higher authorities,"
according to Pimentel. Edwards says that he sent a certified letter
both to Earl and to LDS Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, which
was delivered on Thursday. In the letter, Edwards says he told both
Earl and the Church that he planned to seek publicity and legal help.
In any case, Earl's decision to drop the court has frustrated efforts
by ex-Mormon activists such as Salt Lake City-based activist Kathy
Worthington, to file a lawsuit against the Church's procedures when a
member asks to have his name removed.
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