Salt Lake City, USA - National gay rights activists on Tuesday delivered a petition letter carrying 150,000 signatures to the Mormon church, urging one of its leader to withdraw statements that same-sex relationships are unnatural and can be overcome.
Boyd K. Packer, 86, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made the statements Oct. 3. He is the second-highest ranking Mormon church leader and the next in line for the presidency of the 13.5 million-member faith.
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay civil rights organization, collected the signatures after an e-mail alert to members and supporters - 20 percent of whom are not lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
The response to the alert is the largest in HRC history, said Fred Sainz, the group's vice president of communications.
The petition letter and signatures were delivered in an 800-page stack to the church's downtown Salt Lake City office building by HRC President Joe Solmonese and leaders from Utah's gay community and a gay Mormon support group.
Church spokesman Scott Trotter accepted the bundle and thanked Solmonese, but offered no statement.
Packer's remarks came during the fall installment of the church's twice-yearly general conference. The event is held in the church's 21,000-seat conference center and broadcast worldwide to millions more.
During his speech, Packer also reiterated the faith's opposition to same-sex marriage. Since the 1990s, the church has worked to defeat marriage equality laws nationwide.
In response to criticism of his remarks, church officials have called for civil dialogue and said the faith's "doctrine on the importance of marriage and family and its implications for same-gender marriage are very clear and are based on principles of truth, respect, and love for all of God's children."