Affirmation news for October of 2013

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2013 • 2012
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   Washington DC LGBT/SSA Mormons to Enjoy Exhibit, Cupcakes
October 9 at 6:30 pm (Exhibit) and 8:00 pm (Dessert)
 October 2013
 Facebook Invite
 Join us Saturday, October 19, 2013 for Rose Datoc Dall’s moving exhibit, “Jesus once was a Little Child” at the DC Temple Visitors’ Center. We will begin in Theater #1 at 6:30 with a song and message, then enjoy 20 paintings from the New Testament. Visitors’ center not quite your cup of tea? Join up afterward at Georgetown Cupcake (Bethesda Row Shops location) from 8:00-9:00 for dessert!
 Visitors Center at 6:30 pm: 9900 Stoneybrook Dr, Kensington, MD
 Georgetown Cupcake (Bethesda) at 8:00: 4834 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda, MD.
 Questions? Call James (703) 303-6712


















 
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2013 • 2012
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   Affirmation Potluck and Get-together in New York City
Sunday, October 6 at 6:30 PM
 by Todd Richardson
 October 2013
 What: Potluck and get together!
 Who: Affirmation: LGBTQ Mormons, Families, and Friends
 When: Sunday, October 6th @6:30pm
 Where: Manhattan.
 Email me if you're interested

















 
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© 2012 Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
 www.affirmation.org
 PO Box 898
 Anoka, MN 55303
    
 

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2013 • 2012
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Pushing Our Handcart Forward

 Please post this picture as your Facebook profile picture to express your commitment to move forward as an LGBT Mormon pioneer!
Affirming Resources

New Affirmation Video
Conference Call on General Conference on October 9
LGBTQ-Affirmative Therapists in Utah
 Testimonies of Integrity
Flipping The Switch: Letting God Light The Path
Journey To Gay (And God Gives An Answer)
Why
Gay Mormon For Marriage Equality
Gifts From My Faith Tradition 
Clarify the Sin
Additional Resources
Bob Rees: Broadening and Deepening the Conversation
God's Affirmation
Clarify the Sin


  
Believe in Yourself and Believe in God's Love for You
A Statement by the Executive Committee of Affirmation: LGBT Mormons, Families and Friends
 6 October 2013
 At general conferences, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speak to the general membership, sharing counsel. The 183rd Semi-Annual General Conference included many words of comfort and hope from Church leaders. Many in the Affirmation community were encouraged by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk at the Saturday morning session, reminding Church members about the importance of authenticity in our faith, and of the strength we derive from our diversity. We were also encouraged by Bishop Causse’s words during the Priesthood session that the Church must have no outcasts. Two talks, one by Elder Dallin H. Oaks and another by Russell M. Nelson, addressed the issue of marriage for gay and lesbian couples, emphasizing that current Church teaching sees marriage between a man and a woman as the only appropriate context for sexual expression.
 Affirmation includes believing members of the Church who attend weekly, individuals who believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ but do not attend LDS Church services, and individuals who have left the church and no longer desire affiliation with it. Many LGBT Mormons, their family members and friends have listened and will continue to listen to talks by prophets and apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and, like all Church members, determine how best to apply what they hear from church leaders in their lives through a process of personal discernment that includes study and prayer.
 Many in the Affirmation community have responded to the statements on same-sex marriage with disappointment. Others were not surprised by these statements, because they reiterated positions laid out in previous general authority talks on the subject, in official church publications, and on “mormonsandgays.org.” Many were also encouraged by a continuing emphasis on inclusion and welcome.
 To those who feel disappointment and heartache, we say continue to trust in your own personal discernment process, believe in yourselves, believe in God's unconditional love for you, and believe in God's desire that you be happy in this life and in the next.
Please join a conference call this Wednesday at 9:00 Eastern/7:00 Mountain, to discuss and reflect upon the October 2013 General Conference. A panel will respond to your questions, thoughts, and feelings. The entire call will focus upon the issues brought forward by callers, so we invite you to add your voice.
 We are grateful that in recent years a growing number of members and leaders of the church are showing greater openness and willingness to hear our experience and to walk a journey with us that has been very painful for many. We hope that this journeying and wrestling together will continue, and we trust that as we stay in this path that we will continue to grow individually and as a church. We encourage all people on both sides of this very difficult issue to continue to reach out to and listen to one another in empathy, patience, and love.
 Signed,
 Randall Thacker, President
 John Gustav-Wrathall, Senior Vice President
 Tina Richerson, Vice President
 Affirmation: LGBT Mormons, Families and Friends
 P.S. If you are on Facebook, we invite you to use the attached image as your profile picture with a possible caption of “We will move forward as LGBT Mormon pioneers.”


















 
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© 2012 Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
 www.affirmation.org
 PO Box 898
 Anoka, MN 55303
    
 

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2013 • 2012
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
Tawnya Smith
 Tawnya Smith Robert A. Rees
 Robert A. Rees Tim Weymann
 Tim Weymann
Randall Thacker
 Randall Thacker Tina Richerson
 Tina Richerson  
Affirmation to Sponsor Conference Call about General Conference
October 9 at 9:00 PM EDT/ 7:00 MDT
 October 2013
 Please join a conference call this Wednesday at 9:00 Eastern/7:00 Mountain, to discuss and reflect upon the October 2013 General Conference. A panel including Tawnya Smith, Robert Rees, Tim Weymann, Tina Richerson, and Randall Thacker will respond to your questions, thoughts, and feelings. The entire call will focus upon the issues brought forward by callers, so we invite you to add your voice.
 To sign up and for instructions on how to join, please contact Tawnya Smith.















 
WHO WE ARE
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© 2012 Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
 www.affirmation.org
 PO Box 898
 Anoka, MN 55303
    
 

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Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
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2013 • 2012
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  

New Affirmation Video
Presented on September 14, 2013
 October 2013






















 
WHO WE ARE
Who We Are
Faces of Affirmation
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© 2012 Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
 www.affirmation.org
 PO Box 898
 Anoka, MN 55303
    
 

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2013 • 2012
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Suicide Prevention & Awareness  


BYU Students Speak Candidly about Suicide
USGA Releases “Just Be There” Video 
 October 2013
Understanding Same-Gender Attraction (USGA), a BYU group for LGBT students, has released “Just Be There,” a 6-minute video featuring LGBT BYU students who describe candidly their experiences dealing with depression and their attempts to take their own lives.
 The students describe some of the negative messages that made them feel lonely, sinful, and hopeless. For instance, one student says he heard the message that homosexuality “was a mortal experience [that] didn’t exist in the Spirit World, and we would be immediately freed from its bonds when we died.”
 “In a weird way, that did the opposite of comfort[ing] me,” the student explains. “In my mind the option was, ‘Well, if things really get that bad, if you just die, then suddenly it’s not an issue any more, and you’ll be right with God again.’”
Another student says he found comfort in reading the scriptures and realizing that “whatever I was going through, Christ had gone through, too.”
 “If you’re trying to reach out to somebody, the most important thing you can do is just be there for them,” a student explains.
 USGA at BYU meets each Thursday, with weekly attendance growing to 70 to 80 students, professors and church leaders. The individual interviews used in this video will be made available on the USGA YouTube channel in the coming months.
 Posted 18 months ago, BYU’s original “It Gets Better” video has been watched over half a million times.




















 
WHO WE ARE
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© 2012 Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
 www.affirmation.org
 PO Box 898
 Anoka, MN 55303