Gay rights activists have decided to fight fire with fire when it comes to the Mormon practice of posthumous baptism.
The spoof website, "All Dead Mormons Are Now Gay", has been launched in response to revelations that, despite numerous promises to the contrary, members of the Mormon Church have continued baptising Holocaust victims.
Earlier this week it was claimed that teenage diarist Anne Frank, who died in Bergen Belsen, was baptised by proxy at a Mormon Church in the Dominican Republic. A form, belived to be from a datab a se collating the names of people eligible for baptism, shows her status as "completed".
Also this month, it emerged that the father and maternal grandfather of Elie Wiesel and the parents of Simon Wiesenthal – both well known Holocaust survivors themselves – had also been posthumously baptised.
The website, which features a box to enter the name of a dead Mormon and a button to "convert", even offers the opportunity to "Choose-a-Mormon" if the user doesn't have a specific person in mind.
"Sadly, many Mormons throughout history have died without having known the joys of homosexuality," the creators joked. "With your help, these poor souls can be saved.
"Simply enter the name of your favorite dead Mormon…and click Convert! Presto, they're gay for eternity. There is no undo."
However, in a nod to the sensitivity of the matter, they added a disclaimer: "Holocaust victims are not eligible for conversion."
