To officials at Weber State University, naming a campus family center for Boyd K. Packer is an appropriate way to both honor an esteemed alumnus and bring attention and donations to a group of outreach programs that serve the local community. But to members of the Utah Democratic Party’s gay and lesbian caucus, the decision is an affront at a time of great change in societal notions about what constitutes a family.
Mr. Packer, who met his wife, Donna, at Weber State in 1947 after returning from service as a bomber pilot during World War II, is president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the church’s second-highest official. In April he stirred controversy by warning that the United States was changing its laws to “tolerate legalized acts of immorality,” an apparent reference to states that allow gay marriage. Less than a month later, Weber State announced the Boyd K. and Donna S. Packer Center for Family and Community Education, which will administer eight community-outreach programs that serve families in the Ogden, Utah, area.
Bob Henline, a board member of the Utah Stonewall Democrats, the state party’s gay and lesbian caucus, says his group sent a letter two weeks ago to Weber State’s Board of Regents asking that it rescind its naming decision. So far, he says, Weber State has not replied. As of Thursday, an online petition against the naming had attracted more than 2,000 signatories.
“It seems grossly inappropriate to name a public institution after someone ... who has such a narrow vision of what a family is,” says Mr. Henline. That vision “is certainly not representative of all Utah families, and certainly not representative of the diversity that Weber State espouses on its own mission statement.”
Threats to the Church
He says that Mr. Packer, who is 88, has demonstrated his intolerance countless times over his decades as a Mormon official, most notably in a 1993 address to the All-Church Coordinating Council in which he singled out gays and lesbians, feminists, and intellectuals as the greatest threats to the church.
John Kowalewski, a spokesman for Weber State, says that a colleague who adheres to the Mormon faith maintains that Mr. Packer’s remarks about scholars were taken out of context and that the church leader “was talking about what faith requires, and that faith cannot be proven in a scientific manner.”
As for the naming of the center for Mr. Packer, Mr. Kowalewski says that most of the adverse reaction stems from a simple misunderstanding: “There is no building,” he says. “There is a lot of chatter on social media by people who believe there is a taxpayer-funded building with this name on it.”
Instead, he says, the center is an umbrella within Weber State’s College of Education that will administer the eight programs and assist with fund raising to ensure their survival. He says Jack Rasmussen, dean of the College of Education, pursued the naming effort after consulting with faculty members.
“Individuals within that college believed that there would be a fair amount of community as well as financial support for this naming,” Mr. Kowalewski says. So far, donors have contributed about $750,000 toward the center’s goal of $1.25-million.
Mr. Henline says naming the center for Mr. Packer in hopes of appealing to Mormon donors is a cynical move. “The man’s a bigot,” says Mr. Henline, who doubts there would have been much outcry if not for the growing acceptance of gay marriage in America and abroad.
“More people are saying discrimination is wrong, bigotry is wrong,” he says. “That movement is growing slowly in Utah, more slowly than in other places, but it’s getting there.” Nonetheless, he doesn’t expect the university to change its stance.
On that point, at least, both he and Mr. Kowalewski agree.
Correction (5/31/2013, 5:54 p.m.): This article originally contained a mistranscription of a quote by Mr. Packer. He referred to “acts of immorality,” not “acts of immortality.” The article has been updated to reflect this correction.