Microphone cut off when girl comes out in church

My guess is that she was born into a Mormon family and this religion is this only one that she has known.

This is a troubling story in terms of what occurred. As a Mormon I attended 100s of Fast and Testimony meetings in the past, and as such I am confused about some of the details offered here. Savannah's Stake President was at the meeting yet it is said in the video that his 1st counselor was presiding. This would not be the case if the Stake President was present. Why was the Stake President present and not her bishop?

In all of those meetings I never once saw anyone speak from notes. It simply goes against the intent of these meetings, which is to speak from the heart. In a typical meeting there will be inappropriate "testimonies" offered, sometimes mostly travelogues about vacation trips, or something else off topic about personal experiences. A proper testimony tells of one's faith in Christ and His gospel. Savannah was basically giving a politicized address about theology. The phrase that probably prompted her being cut off was her basically advocating same gender marriage. All in all her speech wasn't appropriate for the intent and purpose of these meetings.

Having said that, I would have let her finish if I had been the one presiding over the meeting. Then I would have gotten up myself, and given something along the line of the words that did indeed follow from the one directed to speak. I probably would feel I was falling down in my duty to not include something about current LDS theology and policy. This church has something called "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" which is soundly in favor of marriage only being accepted by God between a man and a woman. Savannah outlined a future that would bring her at odds with her church and very likely lead to her excommunication. Although I do not agree with that happening it is the current reality. The presiding officer was placed in a difficult position. Savannah had already crossed the line in terms of what is officially accepted, where would she go if she continued? He decided to not find out. It is a tough call, I have seen my own bishop or his counselors struggle when somebody started out speaking "false doctrine" or advocating behavior not acceptable to the church.

Another observation. At the age of 12 I would not have been able to definitively state that I was straight. Maybe Savannah knows about her own sexuality to a great if extent than I did at her age.

I have an impression that her mother wrote most of her speech. It was given as some sort of agenda and actually included another controversial point, that of the Mother in Heaven. No Mormon at the age of 12 would have included that part about "heavenly parents"...my guess is that her mother is somewhat of a feminist and the real motivator.

I also have never seen anybody do a video capture of anyone giving a testimony, but I guess this might have changed with so many smart phones out there.

I am in favor of moderating some of the LDS attitudes and beliefs about LGBT people. Savannah actually did not really go against church beliefs per se, except the part about marriage, where she got into trouble was giving more of a lecture than a testimony. It was heavy-handed and not at all deft. Once again I think much of it is not her own work. If she had given more of a standard testimony and then included that Christ showed love to all people, including those born as she was, attracted to the same gender, followed about a need to give support to all the children of our Heavenly Father (not heavenly parents), she would have made her point and also made it to the end of her testimony without being interrupted. However, her ending that she never reached was not properly Mormon. She had a prepared text, so it was not inadvertent to make the mistake at the end. All Mormons are instructed at a far earlier age than 12 to say, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen" and not just "Amen" as she did. I think I detect a possible non-Mormon hand in the writing as well.