[NAGDU] Churches and service dogs

Julie McGinnity kaybaycar at gmail.com
Sat Sep 30 07:46:58 UTC 2017


I have never had a problem taking my guide dog to church.  Every week
I've sung on stage with a church choir for years, and both of my dogs
just came up there with me, no big deal.  They were even going to
accommodate me when I wanted to bring my dog on stage for our
Christmas shows.  I chose not to do so, but that was my decision,
unmotivated by anyone else.  I simply prefer not to work a dog while
trying to do choreography.

My first dog had a bed in the choir room where she used to chill while
we rehearsed.  I'm at a different church now, and my current dog just
sleeps under the chair.  (To be fair, I couldn't put my first dog
under those chairs...)

I've sung weddings in churches, and I've never had a problem with any
church I've ever entered.  This spring I did visit an LDS church, and
I was not the only one attending with a service dog.  I was not aware
that people with disabilities could not bring their service animals
into the conference centers to the general areas or into the temples,
though I had wondered about the temples.  Is this policy on their
website?  It seems reasonable enough to me for the temples...  But the
conferences?  I will keep an open mind but admit it seems strange to
me.





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On 9/29/17, Charlene Ota via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> When I lived in Hawaii, when I got my dog, I was asked "You're not bringing
> that dog to church are you?"  I brought him with me and some people were
> disgusted, some were welcoming, some were mad because they couldn't treat
> him like a pet, but I just toughed it out and did my best to try to
> educate.
> Interestingly enough, there was a lady who brought her pet dog to church
> every Sunday long before I got Irish and that person was always welcome.
> She
> claimed she couldn't leave her dog at home because it had anxiety. She was
> a
> lawyer who worked with the pastor's wife, maybe that carried more clout
> than
> me as a blind person. That aspect of it really made me mad so I just
> determined my boy was coming to church with me no matter what they had to
> say about it.  Some people actually learned to respect him and value him. I
> finally decided to comment after seeing this last comment as that's about
> how I feel about it.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Nimer Jaber via
> NAGDU
> Sent: Friday, September 29, 2017 4:00 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Nimer Jaber <nimerjaber1 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Churches and service dogs
>
> I wonder about how God feels about all of this discrimination of his people
> and his animals that he put on this Earth. Anyway, crawling back into my
> hole since I have nothing else to say on this topic.
>
> On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 3:38 PM Tara Briggs via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
>
>> In the conference center, there are several events each year that I
>> recorded. Those events include Mormon Tabernacle choir concerts and the
>> twice yearly Mormon general conference. On those events, you were not
>> allowed to sit in the main area with your service dog. You will either
> have
>> to leave or sit in the room apart from everybody else. The Mormon Church
>> also has temples in which different ordinances such as baptisms for the
>> dead and temple marriages are performed. You're not allowed to bring your
>> service dog into the Mormon Temple. On a positive note, you are allowed
>> to
>> bring your service animal to church meetings in Mormon meeting houses.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> > On Sep 29, 2017, at 2:23 PM, David Bouchard via NAGDU
>> > <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > I know that the LDS church bans service dogs from the main viewing area
>> from choir concerts, but do they discriminate in other settings?
>> >
>> > Sent from my iPhone
>> >
>> >> On Sep 29, 2017, at 12:46 PM, lkeeler--- via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Only once, I had a weird experience. Passed a woman in church with
>> Holly and she was very scared. But, otherwise, no issues yet. But, this
>> is
>> Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic church and because that Saint loved
>> animals, I'm not really surprised that she is so welcome. Actually, we've
>> been in other churches and had no issues iether.
>> >>
>> >> -----Original Message----- From: Tara Briggs via NAGDU
>> >> Sent: Friday, September 29, 2017 12:56 PM
>> >> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> >> Cc: Tara Briggs
>> >> Subject: [NAGDU] Churches and service dogs
>> >>
>> >> Hi everyone! On a previous thread, we have been talking about the
>> experiences of people with service dogs and churches. In particular, I
> have
>> talked about my experience with the Mormon church, or Church of Jesus
>> Christ of latter-day Saints, and their policies towards service animals.
>> I
>> am curious what other people's experiences have been have you had
>> positive
>> experiences? What have they been like? Have you had negative experiences?
>> How have you dealt with them? I look forward to any replies to this
>> topic!
>> >> Tara
>> >>
>> >> Sent from my iPhone
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> --
> Cordially,
>
> Nimer Jaber
>
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-- 
Julie A. McGinnity
President, National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division,
Second Vice President, National Federation of the Blind of Missouri
"For we walk by faith, not by sight"
2 Cor. 7




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