Oh boy, here I go...
I'm thinking of some of my Catholic friends and the Catholic culture. They've been around the block a lot longer. There are many "Catholics" that are Catholics in name only. They might show up to church a few times a year, they may never show up to church at all, but they still consider themselves Catholic and other Catholics don't challenge that due to their lack of participation. There are also many Catholics that openly disagree with papal decrees. The Pope says something they don't agree with, they shamelessly say, "not for me" and go about their lives. No birth control? lol Pope.
Compare that to the Mormon culture. If you aren't all-in (attending the full three hour block, holding a calling, have a current TR, etc.) or aren't at the very least trying to be you've usually got people riding you to "set goals" to be all-in, you are often viewed by the people that are all-in as being defective in some way, not as "worthy" as you should be (and I use the word should deliberately instead of could).
Can you imagine someone openly and unapologetically declaring that the prophet was full of $#!+ with the November policy? Sure you can do it, but you're going to lose a lot of status in the culture and almost certainly everyone will stop listening to you. You may even have privileges like TRs and callings revoked because revelation received by a person in authority always trumps personal revelation.
So which is the more mature faith? I'm not saying I've got it right but in one corner there's a culture has a very low tolerance for people being themselves and in the other corner there's a little more room for people with divergent beliefs and practices to be a part of the larger community.
Yeah, it isn't an apples to apples comparison, in the LDS church you've got the members themselves keeping the boat afloat and I'm sure that top leadership's laser focus on correlation makes them worry about sticking someone that would only find themselves on the boat in the event that big tent Mormonism was a thing in a position where they can teach and be a mentor for future generations, where the fear is that such a person would lead others astray. Can't have that, it's much easier to shrink the tent, ensure those people don't feel welcome so we never run the risk of them propagating things that are "false."
It's a top down culture, it's extremely difficult to do anything at the grassroots level. For instance, I have zero voice in the church. Zero. Someone could be the next Martin Luther of Mormonism but still get shut down by a banal, "...but in the October 2005 general conference Elder OldWhiteMan#8 said..." and that would be the end of it. The rank and file don't have a voice in this church, they are vestigial organs in the body of Christ.
I agree with Palerider, the pattern for change in the church (historically) has been external pressure that builds and generational shifts that cause a plurality of people inside the church to start feeling the same way as the people that are external to the church. The world does all the heavy lifting in furthering human morality and the church moves only when it's very survival is threatened.
A part of it is that I think the current leaders are afraid of making changes. They believe that Joseph was the prophet of the restoration so they are stuck in the difficult position of balancing continued revelation and going against established revelations. In short I believe top leadership has more faith in past church leaders than they have in themselves, so we're mostly stuck in a pattern where changes are only made when all other options have been exhausted. How much influence does RandomPeon#34578 in the 129th East Provo Ward have in that process?
And I've just emptied the bitter cup of my cynicism.
On the more positive side, do everything you can to help the marginalized feel welcomed and loved. Be the change you'd like to see. If you help one person feel loved then it's worth it, isn't it? We shouldn't have to sit back and wait for a general conference talk to give us permission to reach out to the people that find themselves on the outside of the community looking in because... stuff that was said during general conference.
I don't waste time with my bishop (he's a nice guy) because I'm a voiceless plebe and if you think about it the bishop is every bit of the voiceless plebe that I am. Sure, he gets to participate in more meetings that call some shots and has a few keys to the kingdom but he's mostly following marching orders like the rest of us.
I paint a grim picture above but if enough people operate out of love outside the channels... large ships turn on small rudders. The internal faction is still a requirement for change and has to be ready for the day when the external pressure builds enough to stir top leaders to consider change. You can be a part of that internal pressure.