Mormon girl "comes out" at church

[Silver]

A 12-year-old Mormon girl courageously stood up in front of members of her Utah church to tell them she was gay - only to have officials cut off her microphone and tell her to sit down.

Savannah revealed to churchgoers in Utah County, south of Salt Lake City, last month that she was a lesbian and told them she was proud God had made her that way.

Standing behind a lectern in front of her congregation, Savannah read her prepared speech, telling the crowd: 'I believe I was made the way I am, all parts of me, by my heavenly parents.'

'They did not mess up when they gave me brown eyes, or when I was born bald. They did not mess up when they gave me freckles or when they made me to be gay.

'God loves me just this way because I believe that he loves all his creations. I do believe he made me this way on purpose, no part of me is a mistake.'

She spoke freely and bravely until her microphone suddenly stopped working.

The confused 12-year-old could be seen quickly tapping the microphone, clearly assuming it had broken mid-speech.

But she was then told to sit down by two church officials sitting nearby.

Savannah could be seen collecting her speech and walking away as the two officials whispered together frantically.

One of the men then stood up and addressed the congregation. Miraculously, there was no issue with the microphone when he took to the lectern.

The church leader made no mention of Savannah's speech and continued to lead the congregation in prayer.

The ordeal left the 12-year-old in tears.

'She came off crying to me. We both walked out to the hall, and I held her face in my hands and told her over and over that she is perfect and good. That there is nothing wrong with who she is, that she is brave and beautiful,' her mother Heather told Dailymail.com.

'I was angry that they chose to hurt her for whatever reason they had.'

Savannah had been asking her parents for months to have the chance to speak in front of her church.

'My husband and I both were reluctant to let she share her testimony because of the potential rejection,' Heather said. 'She asked to do it in January, we finally agreed in May.

'She had worked so hard at perfecting it so that it would portray exactly how she felt. We decided to let her do it because we thought it would be more harmful to silence her or give her reason to feel she is wrong in any way.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...s-gay.html

At least her parents are accepting of her. I know how hard it can be with Mormons, especially since they are quite fond of sending gay kids to conversion camps.