A couple of things: Families may be damaged, but that’s really up to them. I have a gay sibling who regularly and openly attacks (I use that word with caution, but really it’s the only accurate description… “criticize” wouldn’t do it justice) it. I’m not saying he doesn’t have legitimate beefs, but he would be an ideal example of a person who the LDS has interest in isolating/shunning/whatever. No one in my family has ever been asked to disavow or shun or do anything negative to him. It’s just not an issue. That being said, I know members who act differently in the same situation. It’s just a call that the families make, perhaps with a cultural pressure to avoid discussion about it by disengaging with the “problem” individual.

I totally agree that Mormonism will probably always have to deal with the cult thing. It may not feel fair, but there’s a lot to deal with. It’s a highly hierarchical church and it’s strict about lots of things people find wacky (coffee, tea, pretty much anything having to do with sex, etc). It has non-public aspects. It has a ton of controversial events that it has to answer for anytime someone searches for “polygamy” or “Mountain Meadows” or any number of things.

This election, it will just come down to whether Americans decide they want an alleged closet muslim (who regularly attended a controversial church?) or a crazy cult leader (who desperately wants to be seen as “one of the guys”) as the president.