Big news today that the Pope thinks the Catholic Church is too "obsessed" with abortion, gay marriage and contraception. But locally, the opinion of an even bigger religiously minded superstar perhaps carries even more weight.
Last Saturday, former 49ers demi-god Steve Young gave a speech at the annual conference of the group Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons. Here's AP's account:
SALT LAKE CITY — Former NFL quarterback Steve Young says he's a Mormon who wants to build bridges to the gay community.
Young spoke Saturday night to about 400 people attending a conference of the group "Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons."
The former Brigham Young University quarterback said, "We need to see each other as Jesus sees us."
Young also reminisced about winning the Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers and spoke about relying on faith.
He introduced his wife, Barb, as an advocate for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Barb Young, a Mormon convert, has an older brother who is gay. She said, "One of the most beautiful things about this church is that it can evolve."
The Deseret News has more on the event. The Youngs have been longtime supporters of LGBT rights, but still made news when it was announced last month that they would be the keynote speakers at the conference.
Young spoke mostly about his faith and how it applied to his football career. He also talked about being relatively short for a quarterback, saying he's only 6 feet 3/4 inches tall, not 6 feet 2 as he once claimed for the purposes of a listing on the back of his football card. (His official NFL height is still listed as 6' 2".) You can see that at about 14 minutes into the video.)