Today, the LDS (aka Mormon) church continued its socially destructive, harmful and hateful persecution of LGBT's with a new policy aimed at discriminating against their children.

The Mormon church has adopted a new policy of refusing membership to CHILDREN of LGBT parents.  In order for the children of same-sex parents to be admitted to the organization, they must be 18 and willing to disavow their parent's lifestyle.  In effect, this church is hiding behind the veil of religious protection to divide families and cause social contention in our communities.  They hide behind religious freedom laws to hand out propaganda to children and adults designed to convince them that the Mormon church is the only way to a "saved" eternity, then tell the children of LGBT parents they must effectively divorce their parents in order to join.

This is a direct attack on the LGBT community in the US, as well as psychological abuse directed solely at children.

This is the kind of behavior that we might expect from the Taliban, but which should not be tolerated by a legitimately recognized religion in the US.

The Mormon church has systematically preached its hatred for LGBT's from the pulpit, funding the defeated Prop 8 in California and encouraging, through tax-exempt religious status, its member to vote for hateful, discriminatory policies.

While the Mormon church considers itself a religious organization, so does the KKK.  The KKK is NOT a religious organization, and neither is the Mormon church.  If the Mormon church were taking these steps to prevent racial minorities or their children from entering the organization, the government wouldn't hesitate to step in, label them a hate group, and strip them of their tax-exempt status.

The LGBT community is just as deserving of basic civil liberties under the law as racial minority groups, and the Federal government should not be allowing hate groups to hide behind the disguise of religious freedom.  This new Mormon church policy crosses the line, it is targeted at children and it's intended to divide families.

Do the right thing, stop letting hate groups disguise themselves as religions with impunity on U.S. soil.

[Photo Courtesy: George Frey/Getty Images]