LDS Official Involved in Argentina Marriage Battle 

Despite claims from the Mormon Church that it was not involved with a group opposing same-sex marriage in Argentina, a Latter-day Saints official joined other religious leaders there at a July meeting for a strategy session.

Carlos Aguero, LDS public affairs director for Argentina and a former Area Authority Seventy, attended a July 7 meeting along with several leaders from conservative Christian churches, a Buenos Aires newspaper reports.

Officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Aguero's involvement doesn't mean the church directly took a stand.

"The church has made its support of traditional marriage clear, but it does not involve itself institutionally in every same-sex election contest," LDS spokesman Scott Trotter said. "The church took no official position on the marriage legislation in Argentina and did not organize its members to participate in opposing the legislation."

Prior to the Argentine senate vote, Mormon leaders read aloud a letter from the Utah-based church's governing first presidency, reiterating the church's support for "traditional marriage."