Cross Dressing & The Priesthood
I saw a Member post something in another Thread that got me thinking... I can't remember, does the Church have an actually policy that says the Priesthood holders or the Members in general should not cross dress? I know they say "No" For activities, but what about where the person feels quite in the norm cross dressing as part of their daily life?
The question I wonder is IF they do feel in the norm should they have the priesthood? It seems like there is something wrong with it but I am not sure I have ever head anything official about it.
I think I would have more of a tendency to laugh about it. Me and my buddies dressed up like women one time because it was a funny dare and everyone wanted to see what real ugly women were. I never grew much hair on my face but I grow it everywhere else. One of my buddies was larger and more apish looking than me. We made ugly women and we were dressed by women. It was a fun time for all. It is good not to take yourself so serious sometimes. I wonder if it is even wrong to joke about it? It might be. I know that some men really enjoy it. One of my construction crewman said that he liked the way the silky material felt on him. He said it wasn't a sexual thing, but it was how the clothes made him feel? He was heterosexual?
I wouldn't want to get a priesthood blessing from a dude in high heels. Infact, I wouldn't want to get one from a dude that liked dressing up like women as a fetish. I would accept a blessing from such an individual that I felt was reformed or didn't practice his desires.
This will probably be the next argument in the church, because there is no specific law that says otherwise.
Good Job JB. Don't give anybody any Ideas!
Edited: Quasar on 12th Nov, 2008 - 4:26am
I'm sure there is something written on it somewhere in some talk. It is not an issue otherwise it would have been made the focus of a letter from the first presidency already. I think stares from members would be enough to stop anyone from trying to cross dress in church.
I would suppose that cross dressing would be in the category of a mental issue. It is something that he might want to get some help with.
If the priesthood should be denied to anyone with a mental issue, or a fetish of one kind or another is a more sensitive subject.
Name: Ronnie
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Comments: It seems to me that most of the people in this post are quite ignorant about the subject of crossdressing.
I actually spoke with several LDS affiliated counselors and they told me that crossdressing is actually an issue that "more people than you would think" deal with and that it is "not uncommon".
Why doesn't the church have official policies on the subject? Probably because it is not a clearly defined subject in the first place.
I have a problem with my testicles and I need to wear tight garment bottoms to support them and the church doesn't make men's garments that are fitted enough in that area for me so I have to wear women's garments. Is this crossdressing? Technically yes, but there are many cases where it is actually practical or necessary (by the way the sister at the beehive clothing center told me that a lot of men with this problem wear women's garment bottoms. It has her idea not mine, and it actually helps a lot). Many men with blood circulation problems wear supportive panyhose.
Anyway, people that deal with being transgendered don't have an easy live, and they often don't cross dress for sinful reasons like gratifying sinful desires, lusts and curiosities.
I don't believe the church has a specific policy on cross-dressing because church leaders generally handle it on a case by case basis. A policy on such a subject would hurt a lot of people that have good reasons for wearing clothing of the opposite gender. Especially since it is socially expectable for women to wear men's clothes (not trying to pass as men) in most situations.
The church does however have very specific policies on transsexuals as far as what ordinances they can and cannot receive. They can be baptized but cannot receive endowments because they are gender specific ordinances. Also if an endowed member undergoes s-xual reassignment surgery they have to be excommunicated.
Yes, they are against it. I guess I would say Frown upon it. I don't know if any action the church takes place because of it (Assuming its done at out of fun), but I know the church doesn't like it.