I recently listened to a podcast on A Thoughtful Faith where the host Gina Colvin invited Peter Bleakley on to talk about his view of Mormonism. He pointed out what he thought were the "core" doctrines of Mormonism, and I thought it would be useful if I pointed out my own core doctrines. Some are doctrines that most Mormons I know would agree with. Others might be more controversial. All are taught in ways that sometimes make them less clear than I think they should be.
1."I teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves." One of the foundations of Mormonism is the idea that God does not need to command us in all things, that He trusts us and expects us to find things that we deem worthy to do with our time and energy.
2."If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." We do not claim to have all truth, but we do claim the right to accept any truth we find and add it to our religion. We believe in continuing revelation from God to our own prophets, but also to everyone on the earth.
3.Science is part of religion because it is part of truth. There is no reason to reject evolution or The Big Bang Theory or any other parts of science on the grounds that they do not allow God. You cannot hurt God by believing in science because God is truth.
4.God has a body, which means that our bodies are good and essential and eternal parts of us, not parts that are only for teaching us suffering, or only for mortality. There is no kind of body that is superior to another kind of body, male or female, black or white, abled or disabled. They are all ways to live in the world and to see the world differently.
5.Sexuality is divine. It is not only NOT the reason for the Fall of Adam, it is one of the things through which we experience the divine. It is not merely for the reproduction of children. In fact, it is not far more important in the way it draws a couple together in intimacy and love.
6.There is no separation between the spiritual and the physical. The spiritual is physical and the physical is spiritual. This is why healthy living matters, so what we put in our bodies is important. But it is also true that what we put in our minds affects our bodies.
7.Free will is the most important principle of godliness that exists. Christ offered to make the ultimate sacrifice of the Atonement so that Satan's plan to get everyone back to heaven by taking away our free will was not accepted. A third of God's children were lost because of the war in heaven that followed the vote for these two plans. God is a God of choice.
8.We are here on earth to become like God, which includes learning to think for ourselves, and that requires experimentation through making mistakes. Trying to live a life without making mistakes is tantamount to agreeing with Satan's plan, which would have kept us in a state of inferiority to God forever, which is never what He wanted.
9.God wants us to be happy, not merely to praise Him. Our happiness is His purpose in being. He exists for us, not the other way around. Therefore, experiencing pleasure and happiness is not to be shunned. It is to be celebrated.
10.There is both a masculine and a feminine divine. Heavenly Mother has become very much a part of my new spiritual life, as I feel that seeing a feminine divine in my mind has helped me to see the divine within myself. I love that Mormonism, though it may not fully develop this idea, has enough space within it to allow continuing revelation on this (and any other point).
I see no reason that LGBT Mormons cannot be part of this Mormonism and would not enjoy all of heh blessings of God's resplendent love for us as they come to truth as the rest of us do, by trial and error, by learning line upon line. I also see no reason that the whole of the human family would not be united in truth, whether it is under the name of Mormonism, Christ, or another name for the glory of God.