Thank you for bringing this to light! I had no idea that the LDS church was still doing disgustingly racist things like this. Shame on them, and shame on their very recent overtly racist history.

One minor addition to your story, by the way. The ban on Black men in the LDS priesthood was much more than a ban on Black men in leadership. Pretty much all Mormon men and boys over a certain age are priests. Not meeting the requirements to be a priest is equal to not meeting the requirements to be an active Mormon at all. Key elements of the religion are denied to men and boys who are not priests.

So that ban on Black men in the priesthood was really an effective ban on Black men having any significant role in the church, even in routine worship.

I'm shocked to read your story and see that some members and leaders of the LDS church are still such disgusting racist pigs.

But then I already know that many leaders of the LDS church are truly disgusting people. Because I often write about Mormon abuse of LGBTQ people, and the church's horrific policies toward LGBTQ people. I wrote a story a couple years about one of the most senior leaders of the LDS Church giving a horrifying speech at Brigham Young University in which he shamed a young gay Mormon man for coming out.

Then the leader used metaphors of guns and warfare and violence to talk about defeating LGBTQ people. As if we queer folks don't have enough violence in our lives already.

I don't know why the LDS Church urch won't get its act together, but if you're queer or if you're Black, it's a vicious, hateful institution, with senior leaders who exult hatred and violence.