LGBT Mormon and ex-Mormon articles

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Board of Directors

Carol Lynn Pearson
Carol Lynn Pearson
 Carol Lynn Pearson’s first contribution to the LDS gay community came in 1986 with the publication of her book Goodbye, I Love You, which tells the story of her marriage to Gerald Pearson, a homosexual man, their divorce, ongoing friendship, and her caring for him as he died of AIDS. The book is credited by many as opening the conversation in many homes about the subject of AIDS and about homosexuality in general.
 Since then Carol Lynn has spoken to and encouraged thousands of LDS gays and lesbians and their families, as well as educating church leaders about the damage being done through inaccurate and unloving teachings about this important subject. In 2006,...
 More about Carol Lynn    
Jorge Valencia
Jorge Valencia
 Jorge Valencia has served since 2007 as the Executive Director of Point Foundation. The organization empowers promising LGBTQ students to achieve their full academic and leadership potential ­ despite the obstacles often put before them ­ to make a significant impact on society. He brings to this job a wealth of experience in managing and growing nonprofit organizations, a proven ability to design and manage the infrastructure of expanding organizations and extensive experience with, and sensitivity to, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) youth issues.
Before coming to Point Foundation, from 2001 - 2006 Jorge was the President and Executive Director of ...
 More about Jorge    
Judy Finch
Judy Finch
 A convert to the church, Judy Finch is retired from a long career in elementary education. For nearly twenty years Judy has had a private psychotherapy practice, currently from her home office in the Oakland hills. Judy and her husband Richard have blended their family of six children in three states, soon-to-be 12 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren.
“My interest and commitment in Affirmation results from a gay son and two gay grandsons who have all left the church,” says Judy. “Having negotiated the rocky path of parenting gays, I feel excited about positive changes in our society and our Church. I feel part of a beautiful process guided by our Heavenly Father to promote understanding and unity.” 
Greg Prince
Greg Prince
 Dr. Gregory A. Prince was born and reared in Los Angeles, California. He attended Dixie College from 1965-67, graduating as valedictorian. He attended the UCLA School of Dentistry from 1969-73, again graduating as valedictorian. He received a Ph.D. in Pathology from UCLA in 1975, studying respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the primary cause of infant pneumonia worldwide. Over a period of fifteen years at the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins University, he and his co-workers developed the thesis that RSV disease could be prevented by administering antiviral antibodies to high-risk infants. He co-founded...
 More about Greg
Yvette Zobel
Yvette Zobel
 Yvette Zobel is originally an Idaho girl who spent her growing up years in Idaho Falls, Idaho . She journeyed next door to the state of Utah to attend Utah State University and has a degree in music with an emphasis in piano. After great adventures living in Washington, Oregon, and California, she and her family now reside in Highland, Utah. She has taught piano in her private piano studio for many years. She considers teaching music one of the most joyful professions possible! She is a wife and the mother of 4 children including a wonderful gay son. Yvette is an active and devout Latter-day Saint.
 Yvette has deep love and respect for LDS LGBT individuals. She serves on the board of LDS Family Fellowship, a support group for friends and family of LGBT’s. Her passion and love for...
 More about Yvette      Contact Yvette 
Doug Balls
Doug Balls
 Doug Balls is a man who loves the lessons of history and the world of travel. He grew up in the Cottonwood area of Salt Lake City. As a youth he spent his summers working on a ranch in the mountains of Northern Utah for his father. It was here that he acquired a deep appreciation and love for horses and the beauty and creation of nature. He served a mission for the LDS church in Scotland, attended the University of Utah, and later went onto embark on several entrepreneurial ventures mostly in the hospitality, travel and entertainment industry. Realizing his talents in event production and venue management, he has spent almost thirty years managing some of the finest venues in the world.
 Doug knows that understanding is less important than...
 More about Doug     Contact Doug
Wendy Montgomery
Wendy Montgomery
  Wendy Montgomery was born and raised in Southern California. She has always been a member of the LDS Church. She and her husband were married in the Los Angeles Temple in 1995. They had 5 children in 7 years – not recommended. They found out in January of 2012 that their oldest son (13 years old at the time) was gay. It has at times been unbearably painful. But it has also been an enlightening, spiritual and joyful journey. Wendy has many new LGBT-supportive heroes in the LDS community. The Montgomery family lives in Central California. Wendy is a voracious reader, loves history, and is doing everything she knows how to make the LDS Church more welcoming and inclusive of its gay members.
 Contact Wendy 
Ron Schow
Ron Schow
 Ron Schow splits his time between residences in both Pocatello, Idaho and Salt Lake City. He is Professor Emeritus at Idaho State University (ISU) where he has taught since 1975. Although semi-retired he continues to teach some in the School of Rehabilitation and Communication Sciences in the Division of Health Sciences.
 A fifth generation Latter-day Saint with ancestors from Denmark and England, Ron grew up in Preston, Idaho. He served a mission for the LDS Church in the Central Atlantic States Mission (Virginia/N. Carolina, 1961-63). Later he graduated in Biology at Utah State University and then earned a Ph.D. in Audiology from Northwestern University in 1974. Before coming to ISU, he taught at Illinois State University (1972-75).
 More about Ron     Contact Ron 
Fred Bowers
Fred Bowers
 Frederick “Fred” Bowers has been a part of Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons for over 20 years. Fred has served in leadership roles at the chapter and national levels for many years including: Washington DC Chapter Director; Chapter-at-Large Director; Assistant Vice President for Strategy and Development; Affirmation National Board of Directors; Conference Director; and founder and current Director of the Affirmation People of Color and Allies Group.
A former career U.S. Air Force Financial Management Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, Fred is currently employed as a management and technology consultant for a leading international consulting firm and is involved with...
 More about Fred 
Sam Wolfe
Sam Wolfe
 Sam Wolfe is a civil rights lawyer with the Southern Poverty Law Center where he helped launch the LGBT Rights Project and continues to help lead the nation-wide project. Sam’s work, often set in the deep south, focuses on achieving greater respect and equality for gay and transgender people. The project’s cutting edge legal action has been reported on the front page of The New York Times, CNN Presents, Rolling Stone Magazine, and in an hour long program for Anderson Cooper 360.
Previously, Sam was a litigation associate at a leading international law firm in New York City where his pro bono practice focused on representing LGBT clients. He is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and is a member of...
 More about Sam    
Tom Christofferson
Tom Christofferson Tom Christofferson lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, with his partner of sixteen years, Clarke Latimer. Tom’s career in asset management and banking has given him opportunities to live and work in Europe and the US. He has twice served on the global diversity council for his firm, and continues to be a senior sponsor there of its Pride business resource group. He is currently a member of the advisory board of his firm’s political action committee.
 Tom was born in Utah and grew up in New Jersey, Illinois and Utah. He served as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Canada Montreal Mission. Before and after his missionary service, Tom ...
 More about Tom 














 
WHO WE ARE
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
WHO
WE ARE






 ESPECIALLY
FOR YOU






  EVENTS
& NEWS




 RESOURCES
& LINKS


 BECOME
INVOLVED






 
  DONATE  
 



  


Who We Are
Who We Are
2013 Leadership Team
Board of Directors
Our History
 Find a Chapter
 Become a Member

   
Board of Directors

Carol Lynn Pearson
Carol Lynn Pearson
 Carol Lynn Pearson’s first contribution to the LDS gay community came in 1986 with the publication of her book Goodbye, I Love You, which tells the story of her marriage to Gerald Pearson, a homosexual man, their divorce, ongoing friendship, and her caring for him as he died of AIDS. The book is credited by many as opening the conversation in many homes about the subject of AIDS and about homosexuality in general.
 Since then Carol Lynn has spoken to and encouraged thousands of LDS gays and lesbians and their families, as well as educating church leaders about the damage being done through inaccurate and unloving teachings about this important subject. In 2006,...
 More about Carol Lynn    
Jorge Valencia
Jorge Valencia
 Jorge Valencia has served since 2007 as the Executive Director of Point Foundation. The organization empowers promising LGBTQ students to achieve their full academic and leadership potential ­ despite the obstacles often put before them ­ to make a significant impact on society. He brings to this job a wealth of experience in managing and growing nonprofit organizations, a proven ability to design and manage the infrastructure of expanding organizations and extensive experience with, and sensitivity to, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) youth issues.
Before coming to Point Foundation, from 2001 - 2006 Jorge was the President and Executive Director of ...
 More about Jorge    
Judy Finch
Judy Finch
 A convert to the church, Judy Finch is retired from a long career in elementary education. For nearly twenty years Judy has had a private psychotherapy practice, currently from her home office in the Oakland hills. Judy and her husband Richard have blended their family of six children in three states, soon-to-be 12 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren.
“My interest and commitment in Affirmation results from a gay son and two gay grandsons who have all left the church,” says Judy. “Having negotiated the rocky path of parenting gays, I feel excited about positive changes in our society and our Church. I feel part of a beautiful process guided by our Heavenly Father to promote understanding and unity.” 
Greg Prince
Greg Prince
 Dr. Gregory A. Prince was born and reared in Los Angeles, California. He attended Dixie College from 1965-67, graduating as valedictorian. He attended the UCLA School of Dentistry from 1969-73, again graduating as valedictorian. He received a Ph.D. in Pathology from UCLA in 1975, studying respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the primary cause of infant pneumonia worldwide. Over a period of fifteen years at the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins University, he and his co-workers developed the thesis that RSV disease could be prevented by administering antiviral antibodies to high-risk infants. He co-founded...
 More about Greg
Yvette Zobel
Yvette Zobel
 Yvette Zobel is originally an Idaho girl who spent her growing up years in Idaho Falls, Idaho . She journeyed next door to the state of Utah to attend Utah State University and has a degree in music with an emphasis in piano. After great adventures living in Washington, Oregon, and California, she and her family now reside in Highland, Utah. She has taught piano in her private piano studio for many years. She considers teaching music one of the most joyful professions possible! She is a wife and the mother of 4 children including a wonderful gay son. Yvette is an active and devout Latter-day Saint.
 Yvette has deep love and respect for LDS LGBT individuals. She serves on the board of LDS Family Fellowship, a support group for friends and family of LGBT’s. Her passion and love for...
 More about Yvette      Contact Yvette 
Doug Balls
Doug Balls
 Doug Balls is a man who loves the lessons of history and the world of travel. He grew up in the Cottonwood area of Salt Lake City. As a youth he spent his summers working on a ranch in the mountains of Northern Utah for his father. It was here that he acquired a deep appreciation and love for horses and the beauty and creation of nature. He served a mission for the LDS church in Scotland, attended the University of Utah, and later went onto embark on several entrepreneurial ventures mostly in the hospitality, travel and entertainment industry. Realizing his talents in event production and venue management, he has spent almost thirty years managing some of the finest venues in the world.
 Doug knows that understanding is less important than...
 More about Doug     Contact Doug
Wendy Montgomery
Wendy Montgomery
  Wendy Montgomery was born and raised in Southern California. She has always been a member of the LDS Church. She and her husband were married in the Los Angeles Temple in 1995. They had 5 children in 7 years – not recommended. They found out in January of 2012 that their oldest son (13 years old at the time) was gay. It has at times been unbearably painful. But it has also been an enlightening, spiritual and joyful journey. Wendy has many new LGBT-supportive heroes in the LDS community. The Montgomery family lives in Central California. Wendy is a voracious reader, loves history, and is doing everything she knows how to make the LDS Church more welcoming and inclusive of its gay members.
 Contact Wendy 
Ron Schow
Ron Schow
 Ron Schow splits his time between residences in both Pocatello, Idaho and Salt Lake City. He is Professor Emeritus at Idaho State University (ISU) where he has taught since 1975. Although semi-retired he continues to teach some in the School of Rehabilitation and Communication Sciences in the Division of Health Sciences.
 A fifth generation Latter-day Saint with ancestors from Denmark and England, Ron grew up in Preston, Idaho. He served a mission for the LDS Church in the Central Atlantic States Mission (Virginia/N. Carolina, 1961-63). Later he graduated in Biology at Utah State University and then earned a Ph.D. in Audiology from Northwestern University in 1974. Before coming to ISU, he taught at Illinois State University (1972-75).
 More about Ron     Contact Ron 
Fred Bowers
Fred Bowers
 Frederick “Fred” Bowers has been a part of Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons for over 20 years. Fred has served in leadership roles at the chapter and national levels for many years including: Washington DC Chapter Director; Chapter-at-Large Director; Assistant Vice President for Strategy and Development; Affirmation National Board of Directors; Conference Director; and founder and current Director of the Affirmation People of Color and Allies Group.
A former career U.S. Air Force Financial Management Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, Fred is currently employed as a management and technology consultant for a leading international consulting firm and is involved with...
 More about Fred 
Sam Wolfe
Sam Wolfe
 Sam Wolfe is a civil rights lawyer with the Southern Poverty Law Center where he helped launch the LGBT Rights Project and continues to help lead the nation-wide project. Sam’s work, often set in the deep south, focuses on achieving greater respect and equality for gay and transgender people. The project’s cutting edge legal action has been reported on the front page of The New York Times, CNN Presents, Rolling Stone Magazine, and in an hour long program for Anderson Cooper 360.
Previously, Sam was a litigation associate at a leading international law firm in New York City where his pro bono practice focused on representing LGBT clients. He is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and is a member of...
 More about Sam    
Tom Christofferson
Tom Christofferson Tom Christofferson lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, with his partner of sixteen years, Clarke Latimer. Tom’s career in asset management and banking has given him opportunities to live and work in Europe and the US. He has twice served on the global diversity council for his firm, and continues to be a senior sponsor there of its Pride business resource group. He is currently a member of the advisory board of his firm’s political action committee.
 Tom was born in Utah and grew up in New Jersey, Illinois and Utah. He served as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Canada Montreal Mission. Before and after his missionary service, Tom ...
 More about Tom 














 
WHO WE ARE
Who We Are
Faces of Affirmation
2013 Leadership Team
Board of Directors
Our History
Where We Are ESPECIALLY FOR YOU
Youth
Parents & Friends
Women
Missionaries
Transgender
International  EVENTS
Calendar
Conference
Newsletter
The Messenger
Newsroom RESOURCES & LINKS
 Resources
Links  BECOME INVOLVED
Renew Your Membership
Become a Member
Find Local Chapter/Group
Attend Conference
Affirmation Store
 DONATE

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

      International Pages        Visit Us on Facebook     Visit Us on Twitter     Check Out Our Videos     Visit Our Blog     
    
    
 

Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
WHO
WE ARE






 ESPECIALLY
FOR YOU






  EVENTS
& NEWS




 RESOURCES
& LINKS


 BECOME
INVOLVED






 
  DONATE  
 



  


Who We Are
Who We Are
2013 Leadership Team
Board of Directors
Our History
 Find a Chapter
 Become a Member

   
2013 Leadership Team
Randall Thacker
Randall Thacker
 President
 Randall Thacker grew up in Taylorsville, Utah, the youngest of three children. He recognized his attraction to the same sex when he was about 8 years old. He grew up focusing prayers, fasts, and birthday candle wishes on removing this attraction.
 Not long after returning from a Spanish-Speaking mission to North Carolina, he reached out for help to his BYU bishop who referred him to counseling. The counseling focused on changing Randall’s orientation because he longed to create an ideal Mormon family with many children.
 After graduating from BYU with a B. A. in History,...
 More about Randall     Contact Randall

John Gustav-Wrathall
John Gustav-Wrathall
 Senior Vice President
 John Gustav-Wrathall is an adjunct professor of American Religious History at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. He is the author of Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-Sex Dynamics and the Young Men's Christian Association (University of Chicago Press, 1998). He has also published articles in Sunstone and Dialogue on being gay and Mormon, and is the author of the Young Stranger blog. Though excommunicated from the LDS Church, John has a testimony, and has been active in his south Minneapolis ward since 2005.
John became an activist for greater understanding of LGBT people at the University of Minnesota in the late 1980s, and was instrumental in the establishment of one of the first university-based LGBT programs offices in the U.S. He pioneered the establishment of an inter-faith LGBT ministry at the University of Minnesota. John became an activist...
 More about John      Contact John 
Tina Richerson
Tina Richerson
Vice President
 Tina Richerson, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, grew up off the grid (without electricity or running water) in a part-member LDS home in rural Washington state, where her mother taught her faithfulness, charity, and to follow Jesus Christ. At age 13, while praying, Tina received a spiritual confirmation that, just like her uncle Michael, she too was gay.
Tina is classically trained in saxophone performance. Two years after receiving a Masters degree in Music from the University of Washington, she joined The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet and Drums. The group is named after jazz musician Billy Tipton, who lived and worked as a man. Upon his death in 1988, paramedics discovered, to the shock of his 3 adopted sons, that Tipton was female. When Tina is not touring with the Tiptons, she can be found playing with her own jazz quartet in New York City.
 More about Tina      Contact Tina 
Karin Hendricks
Karin Hendricks
 Spiritual Director
  Karin Hendricks grew up in Logan, UT in a loving and devout LDS family, and currently lives in Indiana with her spouse Tawnya. Karin has delighted in being a “mother” and “grandmother” to thousands of children and youth through her work as a music teacher and university professor. She and Tawnya also work locally, nationally, and internationally as researchers and advocates for music education, women, LGBTQ individuals, and youth.
 Karin knew from an early age that she was “different,” and in her teens she began to privately meet with church leaders to find a way to change her sexual orientation. For the next 22 years...
 More about Karin      Contact Karin 
Tawnya Smith
Tawnya Smith
Teleconferences on Healing
  Tawnya Smith serves Affirmation as the moderator of the Teleconference Series on Healing. Tawnya became affiliated with Affirmation through her partner Karin Hendricks, the Spiritual Director of Affirmation. Tawnya is an arts educator with training in expressive arts therapy, and is currently conducting interdisciplinary research concerning spirituality and states of conscious awareness in arts learning environments.
 Tawnya currently identifies herself as inter-spiritual, however, she grew up in and was a member of the Church of the Brethren in her youth. In her early twenties, at the time she came out to herself, she stopped attending church and began to study other religious traditions. During her late twenties and early thirties, she continued this intellectual study of the world’s religions and attended the Unitarian Universalist Church. Later she began to attend a Mennonite Church (a similar denomination to the Church of the Brethren) where she began to...
 More about Tawnya     
David Baker
David Baker
 PR/Media Director
 David Baker grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah and Amarillo, Texas with dreams of becoming an Air Force pilot probably inspired by the movie Top Gun. It was watching that beach volleyball scene that he should have realized his sexuality, but instead he went on to keep his attractions repressed until his freshman year at BYU when, after conferring with his bishop it was determined it was best if he didn’t continue his education at BYU.
 David spent the better part of 3 years struggling to accept his sexuality as a part of his life instead of continually repressing it. The repression took the form of Evergreen-supported counseling to try to change my orientation, deep depression, and a suicide attempt. David rose out of his despair...
 More about David
Todd Richardson
Todd Richardson
 Outreach & Membership
 Todd Richardson grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado. He comes from a large family, the eldest of 6 kids and 2 loving parents. Growing up, Todd realized he was attracted to the same sex but was convinced that when he found “the right girl,” the “problem” would go away.
 After serving a mission and graduating from BYU, Todd moved to New York City to teach at a middle school. He busied himself with as much church service and work as possible, so as not to have to worry about his sexuality. Having no intention of ever coming out of the closet, focusing on other aspects of life seemed like the best use of his mental energy. However, randomly watching a YouTube video of a gay Mormon touched him deeply. It prompted him, for the first time in his life, to truly seek divine guidance with an open heart and mind. Self-acceptance came as he felt the...
 More about Todd       Contact Todd
Kathy Carlston
Kathy Carlston
 Podcast
  Kathy grew up in the Denver area. After graduating with a degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development from BYU, she went back to school to study Animation & Visual Effects in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since then, she's been making things look like they blow up in feature films.
 Kathy is a very out lesbian who also finds talking in the third person to be oddly fun. She's also currently an active member of the LDS church. She cohosts the Affirmation Podcast with Peter van der Walt, and is helping in the filming process of a new video campaign, walkwithyouproject.org along with helping out with other various film projects.
 Contact Kathy
Trevor Cook
Trevor Cook
 Outreach & Membership - Asia; Writer
  Trevor grew up in Mesa, Arizona, served a mission in Calgary, Canada, and graduated from BYU in International Relations and Linguistics. He used the time he saved not going on dates or having much of a social life to learn Chinese and continues to be fascinated by things China. He spent a year between Nanjing and Hong Kong after graduation and now is living a dream working at the US consulate in scenic Shenyang, Liaoning.
 Although he enjoys the Middle Kingdom, Trevor misses hanging out with his five younger siblings and their growing families. He is grateful for...
 More about Trevor      Contact Trevor
Fred Bowers
Fred Bowers
 Strategy & Organization Development
  Frederick “Fred” Bowers has been a part of Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons for over 20 years. Fred has served in leadership roles at the chapter and national levels for many years including: Washington DC Chapter Director; Chapter-at-Large Director; Assistant Vice President for Strategy and Development; Affirmation National Board of Directors; Conference Director; and founder and current Director of the Affirmation People of Color and Allies Group.
 A former career U.S. Air Force Financial Management Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, Fred is currently employed as a management and technology consultant for a leading international consulting firm and is involved with its LGBT business resource group. He also is involved with Out and Equal Workplace Advocates as part of their People of Color Advisory Committee. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Management from John Brown University, and a dual master's degree in Public Administration and Management from Webster University. Fred is a native of Fort Worth, Texas, and currently resides in Arlington, Virginia.
Lismarie and Michael Nyland Lismarie & Michael Nyland
 Family, Friends, and Allies   Mike and I met in 1995 while attending BYU in Provo, UT. We were married in 1997 and graduated together in 1998, Mike with a BA in Geography and Lismarie with a BFA in Design and Photography. We currently live in Bremerton, WA (a ferry ride away from Seattle) and stay busy raising two girls and two boys.
 2012 was an eventful and busy year for our family as we became involved with Mormons for Marriage Equality, marched in the Seattle Pride Parade, and attended the Affirmation Conference in Seattle. We continue to support the cause of full acceptance and equality for all of our LGBT brothers and sisters.
 Contact Lismarie 
Colby Goddard
Colby Goddard
 Events Planning; Outreach & Membership
  Colby Goddard, (26) from Utah. Currently a senior at Southern Virginia University studying family and child development. Colby served a mission in Rome Italy from 2006-2008. Colby came out to himself, friends and family 3 years ago. “I realized that this was something I couldn't change about myself” he says “although coming out at the time was extremely nerve wreaking and scary, my life has improved so much. I have come to know that God still loves me and has a place for me in his kingdom.” Colby hopes to be a helping hand and support for future LGBT Mormons as they come out to themselves and others.
 Contact Colby
Suzi Fei
Suzi Fei
Family, Friends, and Allies  Suzi Fei lives in Portland, Oregon, and is a wife, a mother of one young daughter, and an active and devout Latter-day Saint. She has a Ph.D. in computational biology and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon Health & Science University studying cancer genomics. Over the years, she has served in many callings in the church including Relief Society presidencies and Oregon State University Latter-day Saint Student Association president.
 Suzi has a deep love for LGBTQ Mormons and serves in several capacities that aim to increase love and acceptance within the church. She's on the steering committee for Mormons Building Bridges and the ally committee for Affirmation. She also formed a local group for gay Mormons in Oregon and SW Washington. Her husband, Yiyang, is on their stake’s high council and works with their stake president to train leaders and members in how to be more loving to gay members.
Duane Andersen
Duane Andersen
Family, Friends, and Allies   Duane Andersen is a film producer, writer, and director. His films have been released theatrically throughout the world and have played at major festivals such as Sundance and South by Southwest. Films he has produced include White on Rice, Surrogate Valentine, Last Kind Words, Congratulations, Daylight Savings, Crazy Beats Strong Every Time, and others. He is also CEO of the start-up company Brainwave Accounting Systems which is developing accounting software for independent media projects. He received an MFA in painting from State University of New York at Buffalo and taught as an adjunct art professor at Brigham Young University for nine years.
 While Duane works professionally out of Los Angeles, he lives in...
 More about Duane
Peter van der Walt
Peter van der Walt
Communications; Writer; Podast Peter van der Walt lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. He grew up in various small towns in a relatively staunch Calvinist family. He realized he was different at age four… and at age fourteen, in a conservative, Afrikaans high school, came out. After reading the Book of Mormon, pondering about its relevance to him as an out gay South African man and praying (for the first time in years), he had to come out again… but this time as a Mormon.
 He began his career as clown at a local steakhouse… no, seriously. Since then he’s been a waiter, a ...
 More about Peter      Contact Peter

Mark Schneider
Mark Schneider
Blog Strategy and Coordination Mark Schneider grew up in western Pennsylvania as a 2nd generation Mormon, the third of four siblings. An idealist at heart, Mark took his faith seriously and sought to please all the right people by doing all the right things, sometimes at the expense of being true to himself. At nineteen, he went on an LDS mission to Florida where he learned valuable lessons from the Haitian community there: levity in the face of hardship, faith in God’s ability to communicate with His children according to individual need, and how to eat enormous amounts of rice in one sitting.
 Upon returning from his mission, Mark envisioned a typical LDS life for himself, one with a wife, kids, and a church calling. Instead, God put him on the eye-opening path of the gay Latter-day Saint. He learned what it meant...
 More about Mark     Contact Mark
justin Keyes
Justin Keyes
Communications and Events Planning   I grew up in the Pacific Northwest in a relatively traditional Mormon family. I served a mission in Hiroshima, Japan and graduated from BYU with a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering, as well as a minor in World Dance. While at BYU I went on several international and domestic tours with the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble. I now work for a major engineering and design firm in Seattle, Washington. I became actively involved in Affirmation after having an incredibly positive and uplifting experience attending the annual conference held in Seattle in October of 2012.
 Contact Justin
Olin Thomas
Olin Thomas
Special Assistant - Charter & Bylaws   Olin Thomas, from the Washington DC Chapter of Affirmation, has broad experience in the leadership of Affirmation, having served for many years in his local chapter, one year as associate director (2003), and five years as executive director (2004-2008). During 2012, he served as Affirmation's executive secretary.
 In 2002 Olin received the Mortensen Award for outstanding service and leadership in Affirmation.
Sam Noble
Sam Noble
Outreach, Spirituality, and Strategy/Organization Development  Sam Noble grew up in Muncie, Indiana, served a mission in Taiwan, studied business strategy at BYU, and has recently worked in Minneapolis for two years. Mark Twain said “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Sam has found that to ring true in his life as he’s successfully sought out opportunities to travel the globe since his mission, including working at the Beijing and London Olympics.
 Although aware from a very young age of his attraction to other boys, Sam repressed his sexuality until after his mission. He then spent...
 More about Sam      Contact Sam
Justin Justin
 Outreach/Membership - UK & Ireland   Justin hails from Fairfax, Virginia, and before that, Texas. He served an LDS mission from 2006-2008 in Seoul, Korea. In 2011, he received his BA from BYU and began the program he's currently in--graduate studies at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada. One of his favorite experiences there was working as a peer support volunteer on campus both in and out of the gay community, offering a listening ear, support, and resources to those seeking it. He currently resides in Dublin, Ireland.
 He came out to his family on Christmas in 2004, when he was a freshman at BYU. It was his Christmas present to himself. Since then,...
 More about Justin
Prince Prince Winbush
 Outreach/Membership  Prince Winbush III, 19, was born in Plano, Texas and grew up in suburban Chicago. He’s currently in his first year at Harold Washington College in Chicago, Illinois, studying Business Administration and Economics. Prince joined the LDS Church in 2008 with the full support of his Catholic family.
 Prince came out to himself in late 2008 and struggled to tell his family for 4 years, but finally made the announcement in December of 2012. “I knew who I was and I knew my family still loved me, so I took the plunge,” Prince says.
 Prince is still considering the next step--whether to...
 More about Prince
MelanieMelanie Carbine
 Outreach/Membership Melanie Carbine moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan from Salt Lake City when she was 10. Fortunate to have grown up in a self-selected Mormon community of liberals and intellectuals, she has always been able to appreciate her religion for its spiritual benefits and community. Ironically, even though the first two people she saw kiss in public were women, she didn't realize her bisexuality was notable or different. She assumed all people's sexuality was as fluid as hers and would regularly conform to social expectations.
 This understanding changed when she studied English Literature and Asian American Studies at the University of Michigan, studying also with...
 More about Melanie
RobertRobert Moore
HIV/AIDS Awareness & Support  Robert grew up in Oregon and is 7th generation Mormon. When his family found out that he was gay, he was kicked out and disowned. He took what little money and clothing he had and bought a Greyhound bus ticket to Portland, Oregon.
“My first night sleeping on the street was very cold and rainy. On my second night in an effort to try to sleep indoors out of the cold put me in a situation that ended with me being raped." A few days later he was able to find a shelter for homeless youth. In the following months he found a paid internship and permanent housing.
 Robert moved to San Francisco in 2007. Since the passage of Proposition 8 in California he has traveled the country fighting for Full Federal Equality for the LGBTQ community. Robert is an activist at heart and has stood up for...
 More about Robert      Contact Robert 
PeterPeter Howland
 Development/Grants Writing Lead  I currently work as a data entry specialist for a non-profit organization in Salem, Oregon, while residing in McMinnville, Oregon. I have attended Affirmation conferences since 2009, which is shortly after I became honest with myself and acknowledged that I am gay.
 My spiritual journey continues to evolve. I am currently inactive in the LDS Church, but still (as far as I know) on the Church membership rolls. My path has led back to the Episcopal Church, which was the church my parents attended while I was growing up. Currently, I serve my local parish as a member of the vestry (the governing board of the parish).
 I have no desire to completely sever my ties with the LDS church, and I fully support the members of Affirmation in whatever relationship they choose to have with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joining the LDS Church after missionary service age, I have not served a mission. However, I did host missionaries in my home for three years, which was an interesting experience. 
MelanieRapha Fernandes
 Outreach/Membership Rapha Fernandes, 22, lives in Guarujá, on the coastline of Brazil near São Paulo. He knew he was gay since he was a young boy. At age 17, Rapha fell in love with a returned missionary. They dated and lived together for a long time.
 The relationship eventually fizzled out, and Rapha returned to his parents’ home. “I had my first interview with the bishop in the Church [and] my parents together, and the stake presidency and the bishop began ‘the therapy’ without much result,” says Rapha. “Today I live a normal life, I am happy, I love making friends and meeting new people. I love doing different things, traveling going to the movies, theater, and the beach.”
Trying to reconcile his orientation with the gospel was...
 More about Rapha
Kufre Ekpenyong
Alasdair Ekpenyong
 Outreach & Membership;
Writer
  Alasdair Ekpenyong is an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University. He is the first to admit that he does not have all the answers, and it is this sense of awareness that leads him to so value the work of creating safe spaces for spiritual growth and exploration.
 He believes that everyone can stand to benefit in some way from such practices as prayer, study, conversation, and introspection--everyone can stand to benefit from reflecting on past and present truths and discovering new truths.
 Though well-versed in Mormon history and theology, Alasdair also studies many other forms of theism and nontheism as a participant in the interfaith academic community. He enjoys using the methods of postmodern critical theory to better understand the place of...
 More about Alasdair        Contact Alasdair





















 
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 Anoka, MN 55303
    
 

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Who We Are
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Our History
 Find a Chapter
 Become a Member

   
2013 Leadership Team
Randall Thacker
Randall Thacker
 President
 Randall Thacker grew up in Taylorsville, Utah, the youngest of three children. He recognized his attraction to the same sex when he was about 8 years old. He grew up focusing prayers, fasts, and birthday candle wishes on removing this attraction.
 Not long after returning from a Spanish-Speaking mission to North Carolina, he reached out for help to his BYU bishop who referred him to counseling. The counseling focused on changing Randall’s orientation because he longed to create an ideal Mormon family with many children.
 After graduating from BYU with a B. A. in History,...
 More about Randall     Contact Randall

John Gustav-Wrathall
John Gustav-Wrathall
 Senior Vice President
 John Gustav-Wrathall is an adjunct professor of American Religious History at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. He is the author of Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-Sex Dynamics and the Young Men's Christian Association (University of Chicago Press, 1998). He has also published articles in Sunstone and Dialogue on being gay and Mormon, and is the author of the Young Stranger blog. Though excommunicated from the LDS Church, John has a testimony, and has been active in his south Minneapolis ward since 2005.
John became an activist for greater understanding of LGBT people at the University of Minnesota in the late 1980s, and was instrumental in the establishment of one of the first university-based LGBT programs offices in the U.S. He pioneered the establishment of an inter-faith LGBT ministry at the University of Minnesota. John became an activist...
 More about John      Contact John 
Tina Richerson
Tina Richerson
Vice President
 Tina Richerson, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, grew up off the grid (without electricity or running water) in a part-member LDS home in rural Washington state, where her mother taught her faithfulness, charity, and to follow Jesus Christ. At age 13, while praying, Tina received a spiritual confirmation that, just like her uncle Michael, she too was gay.
Tina is classically trained in saxophone performance. Two years after receiving a Masters degree in Music from the University of Washington, she joined The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet and Drums. The group is named after jazz musician Billy Tipton, who lived and worked as a man. Upon his death in 1988, paramedics discovered, to the shock of his 3 adopted sons, that Tipton was female. When Tina is not touring with the Tiptons, she can be found playing with her own jazz quartet in New York City.
 More about Tina      Contact Tina 
Karin Hendricks
Karin Hendricks
 Spiritual Director
  Karin Hendricks grew up in Logan, UT in a loving and devout LDS family, and currently lives in Indiana with her spouse Tawnya. Karin has delighted in being a “mother” and “grandmother” to thousands of children and youth through her work as a music teacher and university professor. She and Tawnya also work locally, nationally, and internationally as researchers and advocates for music education, women, LGBTQ individuals, and youth.
 Karin knew from an early age that she was “different,” and in her teens she began to privately meet with church leaders to find a way to change her sexual orientation. For the next 22 years...
 More about Karin      Contact Karin 
Tawnya Smith
Tawnya Smith
Teleconferences on Healing
  Tawnya Smith serves Affirmation as the moderator of the Teleconference Series on Healing. Tawnya became affiliated with Affirmation through her partner Karin Hendricks, the Spiritual Director of Affirmation. Tawnya is an arts educator with training in expressive arts therapy, and is currently conducting interdisciplinary research concerning spirituality and states of conscious awareness in arts learning environments.
 Tawnya currently identifies herself as inter-spiritual, however, she grew up in and was a member of the Church of the Brethren in her youth. In her early twenties, at the time she came out to herself, she stopped attending church and began to study other religious traditions. During her late twenties and early thirties, she continued this intellectual study of the world’s religions and attended the Unitarian Universalist Church. Later she began to attend a Mennonite Church (a similar denomination to the Church of the Brethren) where she began to...
 More about Tawnya     
David Baker
David Baker
 PR/Media Director
 David Baker grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah and Amarillo, Texas with dreams of becoming an Air Force pilot probably inspired by the movie Top Gun. It was watching that beach volleyball scene that he should have realized his sexuality, but instead he went on to keep his attractions repressed until his freshman year at BYU when, after conferring with his bishop it was determined it was best if he didn’t continue his education at BYU.
 David spent the better part of 3 years struggling to accept his sexuality as a part of his life instead of continually repressing it. The repression took the form of Evergreen-supported counseling to try to change my orientation, deep depression, and a suicide attempt. David rose out of his despair...
 More about David
Todd Richardson
Todd Richardson
 Outreach & Membership
 Todd Richardson grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado. He comes from a large family, the eldest of 6 kids and 2 loving parents. Growing up, Todd realized he was attracted to the same sex but was convinced that when he found “the right girl,” the “problem” would go away.
 After serving a mission and graduating from BYU, Todd moved to New York City to teach at a middle school. He busied himself with as much church service and work as possible, so as not to have to worry about his sexuality. Having no intention of ever coming out of the closet, focusing on other aspects of life seemed like the best use of his mental energy. However, randomly watching a YouTube video of a gay Mormon touched him deeply. It prompted him, for the first time in his life, to truly seek divine guidance with an open heart and mind. Self-acceptance came as he felt the...
 More about Todd       Contact Todd
Kathy Carlston
Kathy Carlston
 Podcast
  Kathy grew up in the Denver area. After graduating with a degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development from BYU, she went back to school to study Animation & Visual Effects in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since then, she's been making things look like they blow up in feature films.
 Kathy is a very out lesbian who also finds talking in the third person to be oddly fun. She's also currently an active member of the LDS church. She cohosts the Affirmation Podcast with Peter van der Walt, and is helping in the filming process of a new video campaign, walkwithyouproject.org along with helping out with other various film projects.
 Contact Kathy
Trevor Cook
Trevor Cook
 Outreach & Membership - Asia; Writer
  Trevor grew up in Mesa, Arizona, served a mission in Calgary, Canada, and graduated from BYU in International Relations and Linguistics. He used the time he saved not going on dates or having much of a social life to learn Chinese and continues to be fascinated by things China. He spent a year between Nanjing and Hong Kong after graduation and now is living a dream working at the US consulate in scenic Shenyang, Liaoning.
 Although he enjoys the Middle Kingdom, Trevor misses hanging out with his five younger siblings and their growing families. He is grateful for...
 More about Trevor      Contact Trevor
Fred Bowers
Fred Bowers
 Strategy & Organization Development
  Frederick “Fred” Bowers has been a part of Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons for over 20 years. Fred has served in leadership roles at the chapter and national levels for many years including: Washington DC Chapter Director; Chapter-at-Large Director; Assistant Vice President for Strategy and Development; Affirmation National Board of Directors; Conference Director; and founder and current Director of the Affirmation People of Color and Allies Group.
 A former career U.S. Air Force Financial Management Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, Fred is currently employed as a management and technology consultant for a leading international consulting firm and is involved with its LGBT business resource group. He also is involved with Out and Equal Workplace Advocates as part of their People of Color Advisory Committee. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Management from John Brown University, and a dual master's degree in Public Administration and Management from Webster University. Fred is a native of Fort Worth, Texas, and currently resides in Arlington, Virginia.
Lismarie and Michael Nyland Lismarie & Michael Nyland
 Family, Friends, and Allies   Mike and I met in 1995 while attending BYU in Provo, UT. We were married in 1997 and graduated together in 1998, Mike with a BA in Geography and Lismarie with a BFA in Design and Photography. We currently live in Bremerton, WA (a ferry ride away from Seattle) and stay busy raising two girls and two boys.
 2012 was an eventful and busy year for our family as we became involved with Mormons for Marriage Equality, marched in the Seattle Pride Parade, and attended the Affirmation Conference in Seattle. We continue to support the cause of full acceptance and equality for all of our LGBT brothers and sisters.
 Contact Lismarie 
Colby Goddard
Colby Goddard
 Events Planning; Outreach & Membership
  Colby Goddard, (26) from Utah. Currently a senior at Southern Virginia University studying family and child development. Colby served a mission in Rome Italy from 2006-2008. Colby came out to himself, friends and family 3 years ago. “I realized that this was something I couldn't change about myself” he says “although coming out at the time was extremely nerve wreaking and scary, my life has improved so much. I have come to know that God still loves me and has a place for me in his kingdom.” Colby hopes to be a helping hand and support for future LGBT Mormons as they come out to themselves and others.
 Contact Colby
Suzi Fei
Suzi Fei
Family, Friends, and Allies  Suzi Fei lives in Portland, Oregon, and is a wife, a mother of one young daughter, and an active and devout Latter-day Saint. She has a Ph.D. in computational biology and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon Health & Science University studying cancer genomics. Over the years, she has served in many callings in the church including Relief Society presidencies and Oregon State University Latter-day Saint Student Association president.
 Suzi has a deep love for LGBTQ Mormons and serves in several capacities that aim to increase love and acceptance within the church. She's on the steering committee for Mormons Building Bridges and the ally committee for Affirmation. She also formed a local group for gay Mormons in Oregon and SW Washington. Her husband, Yiyang, is on their stake’s high council and works with their stake president to train leaders and members in how to be more loving to gay members.
Duane Andersen
Duane Andersen
Family, Friends, and Allies   Duane Andersen is a film producer, writer, and director. His films have been released theatrically throughout the world and have played at major festivals such as Sundance and South by Southwest. Films he has produced include White on Rice, Surrogate Valentine, Last Kind Words, Congratulations, Daylight Savings, Crazy Beats Strong Every Time, and others. He is also CEO of the start-up company Brainwave Accounting Systems which is developing accounting software for independent media projects. He received an MFA in painting from State University of New York at Buffalo and taught as an adjunct art professor at Brigham Young University for nine years.
 While Duane works professionally out of Los Angeles, he lives in...
 More about Duane
Peter van der Walt
Peter van der Walt
Communications; Writer; Podast Peter van der Walt lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. He grew up in various small towns in a relatively staunch Calvinist family. He realized he was different at age four… and at age fourteen, in a conservative, Afrikaans high school, came out. After reading the Book of Mormon, pondering about its relevance to him as an out gay South African man and praying (for the first time in years), he had to come out again… but this time as a Mormon.
 He began his career as clown at a local steakhouse… no, seriously. Since then he’s been a waiter, a ...
 More about Peter      Contact Peter

Mark Schneider
Mark Schneider
Blog Strategy and Coordination Mark Schneider grew up in western Pennsylvania as a 2nd generation Mormon, the third of four siblings. An idealist at heart, Mark took his faith seriously and sought to please all the right people by doing all the right things, sometimes at the expense of being true to himself. At nineteen, he went on an LDS mission to Florida where he learned valuable lessons from the Haitian community there: levity in the face of hardship, faith in God’s ability to communicate with His children according to individual need, and how to eat enormous amounts of rice in one sitting.
 Upon returning from his mission, Mark envisioned a typical LDS life for himself, one with a wife, kids, and a church calling. Instead, God put him on the eye-opening path of the gay Latter-day Saint. He learned what it meant...
 More about Mark     Contact Mark
justin Keyes
Justin Keyes
Communications and Events Planning   I grew up in the Pacific Northwest in a relatively traditional Mormon family. I served a mission in Hiroshima, Japan and graduated from BYU with a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering, as well as a minor in World Dance. While at BYU I went on several international and domestic tours with the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble. I now work for a major engineering and design firm in Seattle, Washington. I became actively involved in Affirmation after having an incredibly positive and uplifting experience attending the annual conference held in Seattle in October of 2012.
 Contact Justin
Olin Thomas
Olin Thomas
Special Assistant - Charter & Bylaws   Olin Thomas, from the Washington DC Chapter of Affirmation, has broad experience in the leadership of Affirmation, having served for many years in his local chapter, one year as associate director (2003), and five years as executive director (2004-2008). During 2012, he served as Affirmation's executive secretary.
 In 2002 Olin received the Mortensen Award for outstanding service and leadership in Affirmation.
Sam Noble
Sam Noble
Outreach, Spirituality, and Strategy/Organization Development  Sam Noble grew up in Muncie, Indiana, served a mission in Taiwan, studied business strategy at BYU, and has recently worked in Minneapolis for two years. Mark Twain said “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Sam has found that to ring true in his life as he’s successfully sought out opportunities to travel the globe since his mission, including working at the Beijing and London Olympics.
 Although aware from a very young age of his attraction to other boys, Sam repressed his sexuality until after his mission. He then spent...
 More about Sam      Contact Sam
Justin Justin
 Outreach/Membership - UK & Ireland   Justin hails from Fairfax, Virginia, and before that, Texas. He served an LDS mission from 2006-2008 in Seoul, Korea. In 2011, he received his BA from BYU and began the program he's currently in--graduate studies at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada. One of his favorite experiences there was working as a peer support volunteer on campus both in and out of the gay community, offering a listening ear, support, and resources to those seeking it. He currently resides in Dublin, Ireland.
 He came out to his family on Christmas in 2004, when he was a freshman at BYU. It was his Christmas present to himself. Since then,...
 More about Justin
Prince Prince Winbush
 Outreach/Membership  Prince Winbush III, 19, was born in Plano, Texas and grew up in suburban Chicago. He’s currently in his first year at Harold Washington College in Chicago, Illinois, studying Business Administration and Economics. Prince joined the LDS Church in 2008 with the full support of his Catholic family.
 Prince came out to himself in late 2008 and struggled to tell his family for 4 years, but finally made the announcement in December of 2012. “I knew who I was and I knew my family still loved me, so I took the plunge,” Prince says.
 Prince is still considering the next step--whether to...
 More about Prince
MelanieMelanie Carbine
 Outreach/Membership Melanie Carbine moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan from Salt Lake City when she was 10. Fortunate to have grown up in a self-selected Mormon community of liberals and intellectuals, she has always been able to appreciate her religion for its spiritual benefits and community. Ironically, even though the first two people she saw kiss in public were women, she didn't realize her bisexuality was notable or different. She assumed all people's sexuality was as fluid as hers and would regularly conform to social expectations.
 This understanding changed when she studied English Literature and Asian American Studies at the University of Michigan, studying also with...
 More about Melanie
RobertRobert Moore
HIV/AIDS Awareness & Support  Robert grew up in Oregon and is 7th generation Mormon. When his family found out that he was gay, he was kicked out and disowned. He took what little money and clothing he had and bought a Greyhound bus ticket to Portland, Oregon.
“My first night sleeping on the street was very cold and rainy. On my second night in an effort to try to sleep indoors out of the cold put me in a situation that ended with me being raped." A few days later he was able to find a shelter for homeless youth. In the following months he found a paid internship and permanent housing.
 Robert moved to San Francisco in 2007. Since the passage of Proposition 8 in California he has traveled the country fighting for Full Federal Equality for the LGBTQ community. Robert is an activist at heart and has stood up for...
 More about Robert      Contact Robert 
PeterPeter Howland
 Development/Grants Writing Lead  I currently work as a data entry specialist for a non-profit organization in Salem, Oregon, while residing in McMinnville, Oregon. I have attended Affirmation conferences since 2009, which is shortly after I became honest with myself and acknowledged that I am gay.
 My spiritual journey continues to evolve. I am currently inactive in the LDS Church, but still (as far as I know) on the Church membership rolls. My path has led back to the Episcopal Church, which was the church my parents attended while I was growing up. Currently, I serve my local parish as a member of the vestry (the governing board of the parish).
 I have no desire to completely sever my ties with the LDS church, and I fully support the members of Affirmation in whatever relationship they choose to have with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joining the LDS Church after missionary service age, I have not served a mission. However, I did host missionaries in my home for three years, which was an interesting experience. 
MelanieRapha Fernandes
 Outreach/Membership Rapha Fernandes, 22, lives in Guarujá, on the coastline of Brazil near São Paulo. He knew he was gay since he was a young boy. At age 17, Rapha fell in love with a returned missionary. They dated and lived together for a long time.
 The relationship eventually fizzled out, and Rapha returned to his parents’ home. “I had my first interview with the bishop in the Church [and] my parents together, and the stake presidency and the bishop began ‘the therapy’ without much result,” says Rapha. “Today I live a normal life, I am happy, I love making friends and meeting new people. I love doing different things, traveling going to the movies, theater, and the beach.”
Trying to reconcile his orientation with the gospel was...
 More about Rapha
Kufre Ekpenyong
Alasdair Ekpenyong
 Outreach & Membership;
Writer
  Alasdair Ekpenyong is an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University. He is the first to admit that he does not have all the answers, and it is this sense of awareness that leads him to so value the work of creating safe spaces for spiritual growth and exploration.
 He believes that everyone can stand to benefit in some way from such practices as prayer, study, conversation, and introspection--everyone can stand to benefit from reflecting on past and present truths and discovering new truths.
 Though well-versed in Mormon history and theology, Alasdair also studies many other forms of theism and nontheism as a participant in the interfaith academic community. He enjoys using the methods of postmodern critical theory to better understand the place of...
 More about Alasdair        Contact Alasdair





















 
WHO WE ARE
Who We Are
Faces of Affirmation
2013 Leadership Team
Board of Directors
Our History
Where We Are ESPECIALLY FOR YOU
Youth
Parents & Friends
Women
Missionaries
Transgender
International  EVENTS
Calendar
Conference
Newsletter
The Messenger
Newsroom RESOURCES & LINKS
 Resources
Links  BECOME INVOLVED
Renew Your Membership
Become a Member
Find Local Chapter/Group
Attend Conference
Affirmation Store
 DONATE

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

      International Pages        Visit Us on Facebook     Visit Us on Twitter     Check Out Our Videos     Visit Our Blog     
    
    
 

Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
WHO
WE ARE






 ESPECIALLY
FOR YOU






  EVENTS
& NEWS




 RESOURCES
& LINKS


 BECOME
INVOLVED






 
  DONATE  
 



  


Who We Are
Who We Are
2013 Leadership Team
Board of Directors
Our History
 Find a Chapter
 Become a Member

   
2013 Leadership Team
Randall Thacker
Randall Thacker
 President
 Randall Thacker grew up in Taylorsville, Utah, the youngest of three children. He recognized his attraction to the same sex when he was about 8 years old. He grew up focusing prayers, fasts, and birthday candle wishes on removing this attraction.
 Not long after returning from a Spanish-Speaking mission to North Carolina, he reached out for help to his BYU bishop who referred him to counseling. The counseling focused on changing Randall’s orientation because he longed to create an ideal Mormon family with many children.
 After graduating from BYU with a B. A. in History,...
 More about Randall     Contact Randall

John Gustav-Wrathall
John Gustav-Wrathall
 Senior Vice President
 John Gustav-Wrathall is an adjunct professor of American Religious History at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. He is the author of Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-Sex Dynamics and the Young Men's Christian Association (University of Chicago Press, 1998). He has also published articles in Sunstone and Dialogue on being gay and Mormon, and is the author of the Young Stranger blog. Though excommunicated from the LDS Church, John has a testimony, and has been active in his south Minneapolis ward since 2005.
John became an activist for greater understanding of LGBT people at the University of Minnesota in the late 1980s, and was instrumental in the establishment of one of the first university-based LGBT programs offices in the U.S. He pioneered the establishment of an inter-faith LGBT ministry at the University of Minnesota. John became an activist...
 More about John      Contact John 
Tina Richerson
Tina Richerson
Vice President
 Tina Richerson, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, grew up off the grid (without electricity or running water) in a part-member LDS home in rural Washington state, where her mother taught her faithfulness, charity, and to follow Jesus Christ. At age 13, while praying, Tina received a spiritual confirmation that, just like her uncle Michael, she too was gay.
Tina is classically trained in saxophone performance. Two years after receiving a Masters degree in Music from the University of Washington, she joined The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet and Drums. The group is named after jazz musician Billy Tipton, who lived and worked as a man. Upon his death in 1988, paramedics discovered, to the shock of his 3 adopted sons, that Tipton was female. When Tina is not touring with the Tiptons, she can be found playing with her own jazz quartet in New York City.
 More about Tina      Contact Tina 
Karin Hendricks
Karin Hendricks
 Spiritual Director
  Karin Hendricks grew up in Logan, UT in a loving and devout LDS family, and currently lives in Indiana with her spouse Tawnya. Karin has delighted in being a “mother” and “grandmother” to thousands of children and youth through her work as a music teacher and university professor. She and Tawnya also work locally, nationally, and internationally as researchers and advocates for music education, women, LGBTQ individuals, and youth.
 Karin knew from an early age that she was “different,” and in her teens she began to privately meet with church leaders to find a way to change her sexual orientation. For the next 22 years...
 More about Karin      Contact Karin 
Tawnya Smith
Tawnya Smith
Teleconferences on Healing
  Tawnya Smith serves Affirmation as the moderator of the Teleconference Series on Healing. Tawnya became affiliated with Affirmation through her partner Karin Hendricks, the Spiritual Director of Affirmation. Tawnya is an arts educator with training in expressive arts therapy, and is currently conducting interdisciplinary research concerning spirituality and states of conscious awareness in arts learning environments.
 Tawnya currently identifies herself as inter-spiritual, however, she grew up in and was a member of the Church of the Brethren in her youth. In her early twenties, at the time she came out to herself, she stopped attending church and began to study other religious traditions. During her late twenties and early thirties, she continued this intellectual study of the world’s religions and attended the Unitarian Universalist Church. Later she began to attend a Mennonite Church (a similar denomination to the Church of the Brethren) where she began to...
 More about Tawnya     
David Baker
David Baker
 PR/Media Director
 David Baker grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah and Amarillo, Texas with dreams of becoming an Air Force pilot probably inspired by the movie Top Gun. It was watching that beach volleyball scene that he should have realized his sexuality, but instead he went on to keep his attractions repressed until his freshman year at BYU when, after conferring with his bishop it was determined it was best if he didn’t continue his education at BYU.
 David spent the better part of 3 years struggling to accept his sexuality as a part of his life instead of continually repressing it. The repression took the form of Evergreen-supported counseling to try to change my orientation, deep depression, and a suicide attempt. David rose out of his despair...
 More about David
Todd Richardson
Todd Richardson
 Outreach & Membership
 Todd Richardson grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado. He comes from a large family, the eldest of 6 kids and 2 loving parents. Growing up, Todd realized he was attracted to the same sex but was convinced that when he found “the right girl,” the “problem” would go away.
 After serving a mission and graduating from BYU, Todd moved to New York City to teach at a middle school. He busied himself with as much church service and work as possible, so as not to have to worry about his sexuality. Having no intention of ever coming out of the closet, focusing on other aspects of life seemed like the best use of his mental energy. However, randomly watching a YouTube video of a gay Mormon touched him deeply. It prompted him, for the first time in his life, to truly seek divine guidance with an open heart and mind. Self-acceptance came as he felt the...
 More about Todd       Contact Todd
Kathy Carlston
Kathy Carlston
 Podcast
  Kathy grew up in the Denver area. After graduating with a degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development from BYU, she went back to school to study Animation & Visual Effects in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since then, she's been making things look like they blow up in feature films.
 Kathy is a very out lesbian who also finds talking in the third person to be oddly fun. She's also currently an active member of the LDS church. She cohosts the Affirmation Podcast with Peter van der Walt, and is helping in the filming process of a new video campaign, walkwithyouproject.org along with helping out with other various film projects.
 Contact Kathy
Trevor Cook
Trevor Cook
 Outreach & Membership - Asia; Writer
  Trevor grew up in Mesa, Arizona, served a mission in Calgary, Canada, and graduated from BYU in International Relations and Linguistics. He used the time he saved not going on dates or having much of a social life to learn Chinese and continues to be fascinated by things China. He spent a year between Nanjing and Hong Kong after graduation and now is living a dream working at the US consulate in scenic Shenyang, Liaoning.
 Although he enjoys the Middle Kingdom, Trevor misses hanging out with his five younger siblings and their growing families. He is grateful for...
 More about Trevor      Contact Trevor
Fred Bowers
Fred Bowers
 Strategy & Organization Development
  Frederick “Fred” Bowers has been a part of Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons for over 20 years. Fred has served in leadership roles at the chapter and national levels for many years including: Washington DC Chapter Director; Chapter-at-Large Director; Assistant Vice President for Strategy and Development; Affirmation National Board of Directors; Conference Director; and founder and current Director of the Affirmation People of Color and Allies Group.
 A former career U.S. Air Force Financial Management Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, Fred is currently employed as a management and technology consultant for a leading international consulting firm and is involved with its LGBT business resource group. He also is involved with Out and Equal Workplace Advocates as part of their People of Color Advisory Committee. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Management from John Brown University, and a dual master's degree in Public Administration and Management from Webster University. Fred is a native of Fort Worth, Texas, and currently resides in Arlington, Virginia.
Lismarie and Michael Nyland Lismarie & Michael Nyland
 Family, Friends, and Allies   Mike and I met in 1995 while attending BYU in Provo, UT. We were married in 1997 and graduated together in 1998, Mike with a BA in Geography and Lismarie with a BFA in Design and Photography. We currently live in Bremerton, WA (a ferry ride away from Seattle) and stay busy raising two girls and two boys.
 2012 was an eventful and busy year for our family as we became involved with Mormons for Marriage Equality, marched in the Seattle Pride Parade, and attended the Affirmation Conference in Seattle. We continue to support the cause of full acceptance and equality for all of our LGBT brothers and sisters.
 Contact Lismarie 
Colby Goddard
Colby Goddard
 Events Planning; Outreach & Membership
  Colby Goddard, (26) from Utah. Currently a senior at Southern Virginia University studying family and child development. Colby served a mission in Rome Italy from 2006-2008. Colby came out to himself, friends and family 3 years ago. “I realized that this was something I couldn't change about myself” he says “although coming out at the time was extremely nerve wreaking and scary, my life has improved so much. I have come to know that God still loves me and has a place for me in his kingdom.” Colby hopes to be a helping hand and support for future LGBT Mormons as they come out to themselves and others.
 Contact Colby
Suzi Fei
Suzi Fei
Family, Friends, and Allies  Suzi Fei lives in Portland, Oregon, and is a wife, a mother of one young daughter, and an active and devout Latter-day Saint. She has a Ph.D. in computational biology and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon Health & Science University studying cancer genomics. Over the years, she has served in many callings in the church including Relief Society presidencies and Oregon State University Latter-day Saint Student Association president.
 Suzi has a deep love for LGBTQ Mormons and serves in several capacities that aim to increase love and acceptance within the church. She's on the steering committee for Mormons Building Bridges and the ally committee for Affirmation. She also formed a local group for gay Mormons in Oregon and SW Washington. Her husband, Yiyang, is on their stake’s high council and works with their stake president to train leaders and members in how to be more loving to gay members.
Duane Andersen
Duane Andersen
Family, Friends, and Allies   Duane Andersen is a film producer, writer, and director. His films have been released theatrically throughout the world and have played at major festivals such as Sundance and South by Southwest. Films he has produced include White on Rice, Surrogate Valentine, Last Kind Words, Congratulations, Daylight Savings, Crazy Beats Strong Every Time, and others. He is also CEO of the start-up company Brainwave Accounting Systems which is developing accounting software for independent media projects. He received an MFA in painting from State University of New York at Buffalo and taught as an adjunct art professor at Brigham Young University for nine years.
 While Duane works professionally out of Los Angeles, he lives in...
 More about Duane
Peter van der Walt
Peter van der Walt
Communications; Writer; Podast Peter van der Walt lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. He grew up in various small towns in a relatively staunch Calvinist family. He realized he was different at age four… and at age fourteen, in a conservative, Afrikaans high school, came out. After reading the Book of Mormon, pondering about its relevance to him as an out gay South African man and praying (for the first time in years), he had to come out again… but this time as a Mormon.
 He began his career as clown at a local steakhouse… no, seriously. Since then he’s been a waiter, a ...
 More about Peter      Contact Peter

Mark Schneider
Mark Schneider
Blog Strategy and Coordination Mark Schneider grew up in western Pennsylvania as a 2nd generation Mormon, the third of four siblings. An idealist at heart, Mark took his faith seriously and sought to please all the right people by doing all the right things, sometimes at the expense of being true to himself. At nineteen, he went on an LDS mission to Florida where he learned valuable lessons from the Haitian community there: levity in the face of hardship, faith in God’s ability to communicate with His children according to individual need, and how to eat enormous amounts of rice in one sitting.
 Upon returning from his mission, Mark envisioned a typical LDS life for himself, one with a wife, kids, and a church calling. Instead, God put him on the eye-opening path of the gay Latter-day Saint. He learned what it meant...
 More about Mark     Contact Mark
justin Keyes
Justin Keyes
Communications and Events Planning   I grew up in the Pacific Northwest in a relatively traditional Mormon family. I served a mission in Hiroshima, Japan and graduated from BYU with a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering, as well as a minor in World Dance. While at BYU I went on several international and domestic tours with the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble. I now work for a major engineering and design firm in Seattle, Washington. I became actively involved in Affirmation after having an incredibly positive and uplifting experience attending the annual conference held in Seattle in October of 2012.
 Contact Justin
Olin Thomas
Olin Thomas
Special Assistant - Charter & Bylaws   Olin Thomas, from the Washington DC Chapter of Affirmation, has broad experience in the leadership of Affirmation, having served for many years in his local chapter, one year as associate director (2003), and five years as executive director (2004-2008). During 2012, he served as Affirmation's executive secretary.
 In 2002 Olin received the Mortensen Award for outstanding service and leadership in Affirmation.
Sam Noble
Sam Noble
Outreach, Spirituality, and Strategy/Organization Development  Sam Noble grew up in Muncie, Indiana, served a mission in Taiwan, studied business strategy at BYU, and has recently worked in Minneapolis for two years. Mark Twain said “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Sam has found that to ring true in his life as he’s successfully sought out opportunities to travel the globe since his mission, including working at the Beijing and London Olympics.
 Although aware from a very young age of his attraction to other boys, Sam repressed his sexuality until after his mission. He then spent...
 More about Sam      Contact Sam
Justin Justin
 Outreach/Membership - UK & Ireland   Justin hails from Fairfax, Virginia, and before that, Texas. He served an LDS mission from 2006-2008 in Seoul, Korea. In 2011, he received his BA from BYU and began the program he's currently in--graduate studies at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada. One of his favorite experiences there was working as a peer support volunteer on campus both in and out of the gay community, offering a listening ear, support, and resources to those seeking it. He currently resides in Dublin, Ireland.
 He came out to his family on Christmas in 2004, when he was a freshman at BYU. It was his Christmas present to himself. Since then,...
 More about Justin
Prince Prince Winbush
 Outreach/Membership  Prince Winbush III, 19, was born in Plano, Texas and grew up in suburban Chicago. He’s currently in his first year at Harold Washington College in Chicago, Illinois, studying Business Administration and Economics. Prince joined the LDS Church in 2008 with the full support of his Catholic family.
 Prince came out to himself in late 2008 and struggled to tell his family for 4 years, but finally made the announcement in December of 2012. “I knew who I was and I knew my family still loved me, so I took the plunge,” Prince says.
 Prince is still considering the next step--whether to...
 More about Prince
MelanieMelanie Carbine
 Outreach/Membership Melanie Carbine moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan from Salt Lake City when she was 10. Fortunate to have grown up in a self-selected Mormon community of liberals and intellectuals, she has always been able to appreciate her religion for its spiritual benefits and community. Ironically, even though the first two people she saw kiss in public were women, she didn't realize her bisexuality was notable or different. She assumed all people's sexuality was as fluid as hers and would regularly conform to social expectations.
 This understanding changed when she studied English Literature and Asian American Studies at the University of Michigan, studying also with...
 More about Melanie
RobertRobert Moore
HIV/AIDS Awareness & Support  Robert grew up in Oregon and is 7th generation Mormon. When his family found out that he was gay, he was kicked out and disowned. He took what little money and clothing he had and bought a Greyhound bus ticket to Portland, Oregon.
“My first night sleeping on the street was very cold and rainy. On my second night in an effort to try to sleep indoors out of the cold put me in a situation that ended with me being raped." A few days later he was able to find a shelter for homeless youth. In the following months he found a paid internship and permanent housing.
 Robert moved to San Francisco in 2007. Since the passage of Proposition 8 in California he has traveled the country fighting for Full Federal Equality for the LGBTQ community. Robert is an activist at heart and has stood up for...
 More about Robert      Contact Robert 
PeterPeter Howland
 Development/Grants Writing Lead  I currently work as a data entry specialist for a non-profit organization in Salem, Oregon, while residing in McMinnville, Oregon. I have attended Affirmation conferences since 2009, which is shortly after I became honest with myself and acknowledged that I am gay.
 My spiritual journey continues to evolve. I am currently inactive in the LDS Church, but still (as far as I know) on the Church membership rolls. My path has led back to the Episcopal Church, which was the church my parents attended while I was growing up. Currently, I serve my local parish as a member of the vestry (the governing board of the parish).
 I have no desire to completely sever my ties with the LDS church, and I fully support the members of Affirmation in whatever relationship they choose to have with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joining the LDS Church after missionary service age, I have not served a mission. However, I did host missionaries in my home for three years, which was an interesting experience. 
MelanieRapha Fernandes
 Outreach/Membership Rapha Fernandes, 22, lives in Guarujá, on the coastline of Brazil near São Paulo. He knew he was gay since he was a young boy. At age 17, Rapha fell in love with a returned missionary. They dated and lived together for a long time.
 The relationship eventually fizzled out, and Rapha returned to his parents’ home. “I had my first interview with the bishop in the Church [and] my parents together, and the stake presidency and the bishop began ‘the therapy’ without much result,” says Rapha. “Today I live a normal life, I am happy, I love making friends and meeting new people. I love doing different things, traveling going to the movies, theater, and the beach.”
Trying to reconcile his orientation with the gospel was...
 More about Rapha
Kufre Ekpenyong
Alasdair Ekpenyong
 Outreach & Membership;
Writer
  Alasdair Ekpenyong is an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University. He is the first to admit that he does not have all the answers, and it is this sense of awareness that leads him to so value the work of creating safe spaces for spiritual growth and exploration.
 He believes that everyone can stand to benefit in some way from such practices as prayer, study, conversation, and introspection--everyone can stand to benefit from reflecting on past and present truths and discovering new truths.
 Though well-versed in Mormon history and theology, Alasdair also studies many other forms of theism and nontheism as a participant in the interfaith academic community. He enjoys using the methods of postmodern critical theory to better understand the place of...
 More about Alasdair        Contact Alasdair





















 
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2013 Leadership Team
Randall Thacker
Randall Thacker
 President
 Randall Thacker grew up in Taylorsville, Utah, the youngest of three children. He recognized his attraction to the same sex when he was about 8 years old. He grew up focusing prayers, fasts, and birthday candle wishes on removing this attraction.
 Not long after returning from a Spanish-Speaking mission to North Carolina, he reached out for help to his BYU bishop who referred him to counseling. The counseling focused on changing Randall’s orientation because he longed to create an ideal Mormon family with many children.
 After graduating from BYU with a B. A. in History,...
 More about Randall     Contact Randall

John Gustav-Wrathall
John Gustav-Wrathall
 Senior Vice President
 John Gustav-Wrathall is an adjunct professor of American Religious History at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. He is the author of Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-Sex Dynamics and the Young Men's Christian Association (University of Chicago Press, 1998). He has also published articles in Sunstone and Dialogue on being gay and Mormon, and is the author of the Young Stranger blog. Though excommunicated from the LDS Church, John has a testimony, and has been active in his south Minneapolis ward since 2005.
John became an activist for greater understanding of LGBT people at the University of Minnesota in the late 1980s, and was instrumental in the establishment of one of the first university-based LGBT programs offices in the U.S. He pioneered the establishment of an inter-faith LGBT ministry at the University of Minnesota. John became an activist...
 More about John      Contact John 
Tina Richerson
Tina Richerson
Vice President
 Tina Richerson, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, grew up off the grid (without electricity or running water) in a part-member LDS home in rural Washington state, where her mother taught her faithfulness, charity, and to follow Jesus Christ. At age 13, while praying, Tina received a spiritual confirmation that, just like her uncle Michael, she too was gay.
Tina is classically trained in saxophone performance. Two years after receiving a Masters degree in Music from the University of Washington, she joined The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet and Drums. The group is named after jazz musician Billy Tipton, who lived and worked as a man. Upon his death in 1988, paramedics discovered, to the shock of his 3 adopted sons, that Tipton was female. When Tina is not touring with the Tiptons, she can be found playing with her own jazz quartet in New York City.
 More about Tina      Contact Tina 
Karin Hendricks
Karin Hendricks
 Spiritual Director
  Karin Hendricks grew up in Logan, UT in a loving and devout LDS family, and currently lives in Indiana with her spouse Tawnya. Karin has delighted in being a “mother” and “grandmother” to thousands of children and youth through her work as a music teacher and university professor. She and Tawnya also work locally, nationally, and internationally as researchers and advocates for music education, women, LGBTQ individuals, and youth.
 Karin knew from an early age that she was “different,” and in her teens she began to privately meet with church leaders to find a way to change her sexual orientation. For the next 22 years...
 More about Karin      Contact Karin 
Tawnya Smith
Tawnya Smith
Teleconferences on Healing
  Tawnya Smith serves Affirmation as the moderator of the Teleconference Series on Healing. Tawnya became affiliated with Affirmation through her partner Karin Hendricks, the Spiritual Director of Affirmation. Tawnya is an arts educator with training in expressive arts therapy, and is currently conducting interdisciplinary research concerning spirituality and states of conscious awareness in arts learning environments.
 Tawnya currently identifies herself as inter-spiritual, however, she grew up in and was a member of the Church of the Brethren in her youth. In her early twenties, at the time she came out to herself, she stopped attending church and began to study other religious traditions. During her late twenties and early thirties, she continued this intellectual study of the world’s religions and attended the Unitarian Universalist Church. Later she began to attend a Mennonite Church (a similar denomination to the Church of the Brethren) where she began to...
 More about Tawnya     
David Baker
David Baker
 PR/Media Director
 David Baker grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah and Amarillo, Texas with dreams of becoming an Air Force pilot probably inspired by the movie Top Gun. It was watching that beach volleyball scene that he should have realized his sexuality, but instead he went on to keep his attractions repressed until his freshman year at BYU when, after conferring with his bishop it was determined it was best if he didn’t continue his education at BYU.
 David spent the better part of 3 years struggling to accept his sexuality as a part of his life instead of continually repressing it. The repression took the form of Evergreen-supported counseling to try to change my orientation, deep depression, and a suicide attempt. David rose out of his despair...
 More about David
Todd Richardson
Todd Richardson
 Outreach & Membership
 Todd Richardson grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado. He comes from a large family, the eldest of 6 kids and 2 loving parents. Growing up, Todd realized he was attracted to the same sex but was convinced that when he found “the right girl,” the “problem” would go away.
 After serving a mission and graduating from BYU, Todd moved to New York City to teach at a middle school. He busied himself with as much church service and work as possible, so as not to have to worry about his sexuality. Having no intention of ever coming out of the closet, focusing on other aspects of life seemed like the best use of his mental energy. However, randomly watching a YouTube video of a gay Mormon touched him deeply. It prompted him, for the first time in his life, to truly seek divine guidance with an open heart and mind. Self-acceptance came as he felt the...
 More about Todd       Contact Todd
Kathy Carlston
Kathy Carlston
 Podcast
  Kathy grew up in the Denver area. After graduating with a degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development from BYU, she went back to school to study Animation & Visual Effects in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since then, she's been making things look like they blow up in feature films.
 Kathy is a very out lesbian who also finds talking in the third person to be oddly fun. She's also currently an active member of the LDS church. She cohosts the Affirmation Podcast with Peter van der Walt, and is helping in the filming process of a new video campaign, walkwithyouproject.org along with helping out with other various film projects.
 Contact Kathy
Trevor Cook
Trevor Cook
 Outreach & Membership - Asia; Writer
  Trevor grew up in Mesa, Arizona, served a mission in Calgary, Canada, and graduated from BYU in International Relations and Linguistics. He used the time he saved not going on dates or having much of a social life to learn Chinese and continues to be fascinated by things China. He spent a year between Nanjing and Hong Kong after graduation and now is living a dream working at the US consulate in scenic Shenyang, Liaoning.
 Although he enjoys the Middle Kingdom, Trevor misses hanging out with his five younger siblings and their growing families. He is grateful for...
 More about Trevor      Contact Trevor
Fred Bowers
Fred Bowers
 Strategy & Organization Development
  Frederick “Fred” Bowers has been a part of Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons for over 20 years. Fred has served in leadership roles at the chapter and national levels for many years including: Washington DC Chapter Director; Chapter-at-Large Director; Assistant Vice President for Strategy and Development; Affirmation National Board of Directors; Conference Director; and founder and current Director of the Affirmation People of Color and Allies Group.
 A former career U.S. Air Force Financial Management Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, Fred is currently employed as a management and technology consultant for a leading international consulting firm and is involved with its LGBT business resource group. He also is involved with Out and Equal Workplace Advocates as part of their People of Color Advisory Committee. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Management from John Brown University, and a dual master's degree in Public Administration and Management from Webster University. Fred is a native of Fort Worth, Texas, and currently resides in Arlington, Virginia.
Lismarie and Michael Nyland Lismarie & Michael Nyland
 Family, Friends, and Allies   Mike and I met in 1995 while attending BYU in Provo, UT. We were married in 1997 and graduated together in 1998, Mike with a BA in Geography and Lismarie with a BFA in Design and Photography. We currently live in Bremerton, WA (a ferry ride away from Seattle) and stay busy raising two girls and two boys.
 2012 was an eventful and busy year for our family as we became involved with Mormons for Marriage Equality, marched in the Seattle Pride Parade, and attended the Affirmation Conference in Seattle. We continue to support the cause of full acceptance and equality for all of our LGBT brothers and sisters.
 Contact Lismarie 
Colby Goddard
Colby Goddard
 Events Planning; Outreach & Membership
  Colby Goddard, (26) from Utah. Currently a senior at Southern Virginia University studying family and child development. Colby served a mission in Rome Italy from 2006-2008. Colby came out to himself, friends and family 3 years ago. “I realized that this was something I couldn't change about myself” he says “although coming out at the time was extremely nerve wreaking and scary, my life has improved so much. I have come to know that God still loves me and has a place for me in his kingdom.” Colby hopes to be a helping hand and support for future LGBT Mormons as they come out to themselves and others.
 Contact Colby
Suzi Fei
Suzi Fei
Family, Friends, and Allies  Suzi Fei lives in Portland, Oregon, and is a wife, a mother of one young daughter, and an active and devout Latter-day Saint. She has a Ph.D. in computational biology and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon Health & Science University studying cancer genomics. Over the years, she has served in many callings in the church including Relief Society presidencies and Oregon State University Latter-day Saint Student Association president.
 Suzi has a deep love for LGBTQ Mormons and serves in several capacities that aim to increase love and acceptance within the church. She's on the steering committee for Mormons Building Bridges and the ally committee for Affirmation. She also formed a local group for gay Mormons in Oregon and SW Washington. Her husband, Yiyang, is on their stake’s high council and works with their stake president to train leaders and members in how to be more loving to gay members.
Duane Andersen
Duane Andersen
Family, Friends, and Allies   Duane Andersen is a film producer, writer, and director. His films have been released theatrically throughout the world and have played at major festivals such as Sundance and South by Southwest. Films he has produced include White on Rice, Surrogate Valentine, Last Kind Words, Congratulations, Daylight Savings, Crazy Beats Strong Every Time, and others. He is also CEO of the start-up company Brainwave Accounting Systems which is developing accounting software for independent media projects. He received an MFA in painting from State University of New York at Buffalo and taught as an adjunct art professor at Brigham Young University for nine years.
 While Duane works professionally out of Los Angeles, he lives in...
 More about Duane
Peter van der Walt
Peter van der Walt
Communications; Writer; Podast Peter van der Walt lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. He grew up in various small towns in a relatively staunch Calvinist family. He realized he was different at age four… and at age fourteen, in a conservative, Afrikaans high school, came out. After reading the Book of Mormon, pondering about its relevance to him as an out gay South African man and praying (for the first time in years), he had to come out again… but this time as a Mormon.
 He began his career as clown at a local steakhouse… no, seriously. Since then he’s been a waiter, a ...
 More about Peter      Contact Peter

Mark Schneider
Mark Schneider
Blog Strategy and Coordination Mark Schneider grew up in western Pennsylvania as a 2nd generation Mormon, the third of four siblings. An idealist at heart, Mark took his faith seriously and sought to please all the right people by doing all the right things, sometimes at the expense of being true to himself. At nineteen, he went on an LDS mission to Florida where he learned valuable lessons from the Haitian community there: levity in the face of hardship, faith in God’s ability to communicate with His children according to individual need, and how to eat enormous amounts of rice in one sitting.
 Upon returning from his mission, Mark envisioned a typical LDS life for himself, one with a wife, kids, and a church calling. Instead, God put him on the eye-opening path of the gay Latter-day Saint. He learned what it meant...
 More about Mark     Contact Mark
justin Keyes
Justin Keyes
Communications and Events Planning   I grew up in the Pacific Northwest in a relatively traditional Mormon family. I served a mission in Hiroshima, Japan and graduated from BYU with a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering, as well as a minor in World Dance. While at BYU I went on several international and domestic tours with the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble. I now work for a major engineering and design firm in Seattle, Washington. I became actively involved in Affirmation after having an incredibly positive and uplifting experience attending the annual conference held in Seattle in October of 2012.
 Contact Justin
Olin Thomas
Olin Thomas
Special Assistant - Charter & Bylaws   Olin Thomas, from the Washington DC Chapter of Affirmation, has broad experience in the leadership of Affirmation, having served for many years in his local chapter, one year as associate director (2003), and five years as executive director (2004-2008). During 2012, he served as Affirmation's executive secretary.
 In 2002 Olin received the Mortensen Award for outstanding service and leadership in Affirmation.
Sam Noble
Sam Noble
Outreach, Spirituality, and Strategy/Organization Development  Sam Noble grew up in Muncie, Indiana, served a mission in Taiwan, studied business strategy at BYU, and has recently worked in Minneapolis for two years. Mark Twain said “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Sam has found that to ring true in his life as he’s successfully sought out opportunities to travel the globe since his mission, including working at the Beijing and London Olympics.
 Although aware from a very young age of his attraction to other boys, Sam repressed his sexuality until after his mission. He then spent...
 More about Sam      Contact Sam
Justin Justin
 Outreach/Membership - UK & Ireland   Justin hails from Fairfax, Virginia, and before that, Texas. He served an LDS mission from 2006-2008 in Seoul, Korea. In 2011, he received his BA from BYU and began the program he's currently in--graduate studies at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada. One of his favorite experiences there was working as a peer support volunteer on campus both in and out of the gay community, offering a listening ear, support, and resources to those seeking it. He currently resides in Dublin, Ireland.
 He came out to his family on Christmas in 2004, when he was a freshman at BYU. It was his Christmas present to himself. Since then,...
 More about Justin
Prince Prince Winbush
 Outreach/Membership  Prince Winbush III, 19, was born in Plano, Texas and grew up in suburban Chicago. He’s currently in his first year at Harold Washington College in Chicago, Illinois, studying Business Administration and Economics. Prince joined the LDS Church in 2008 with the full support of his Catholic family.
 Prince came out to himself in late 2008 and struggled to tell his family for 4 years, but finally made the announcement in December of 2012. “I knew who I was and I knew my family still loved me, so I took the plunge,” Prince says.
 Prince is still considering the next step--whether to...
 More about Prince
MelanieMelanie Carbine
 Outreach/Membership Melanie Carbine moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan from Salt Lake City when she was 10. Fortunate to have grown up in a self-selected Mormon community of liberals and intellectuals, she has always been able to appreciate her religion for its spiritual benefits and community. Ironically, even though the first two people she saw kiss in public were women, she didn't realize her bisexuality was notable or different. She assumed all people's sexuality was as fluid as hers and would regularly conform to social expectations.
 This understanding changed when she studied English Literature and Asian American Studies at the University of Michigan, studying also with...
 More about Melanie
RobertRobert Moore
HIV/AIDS Awareness & Support  Robert grew up in Oregon and is 7th generation Mormon. When his family found out that he was gay, he was kicked out and disowned. He took what little money and clothing he had and bought a Greyhound bus ticket to Portland, Oregon.
“My first night sleeping on the street was very cold and rainy. On my second night in an effort to try to sleep indoors out of the cold put me in a situation that ended with me being raped." A few days later he was able to find a shelter for homeless youth. In the following months he found a paid internship and permanent housing.
 Robert moved to San Francisco in 2007. Since the passage of Proposition 8 in California he has traveled the country fighting for Full Federal Equality for the LGBTQ community. Robert is an activist at heart and has stood up for...
 More about Robert      Contact Robert 
PeterPeter Howland
 Development/Grants Writing Lead  I currently work as a data entry specialist for a non-profit organization in Salem, Oregon, while residing in McMinnville, Oregon. I have attended Affirmation conferences since 2009, which is shortly after I became honest with myself and acknowledged that I am gay.
 My spiritual journey continues to evolve. I am currently inactive in the LDS Church, but still (as far as I know) on the Church membership rolls. My path has led back to the Episcopal Church, which was the church my parents attended while I was growing up. Currently, I serve my local parish as a member of the vestry (the governing board of the parish).
 I have no desire to completely sever my ties with the LDS church, and I fully support the members of Affirmation in whatever relationship they choose to have with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joining the LDS Church after missionary service age, I have not served a mission. However, I did host missionaries in my home for three years, which was an interesting experience. 
MelanieRapha Fernandes
 Outreach/Membership Rapha Fernandes, 22, lives in Guarujá, on the coastline of Brazil near São Paulo. He knew he was gay since he was a young boy. At age 17, Rapha fell in love with a returned missionary. They dated and lived together for a long time.
 The relationship eventually fizzled out, and Rapha returned to his parents’ home. “I had my first interview with the bishop in the Church [and] my parents together, and the stake presidency and the bishop began ‘the therapy’ without much result,” says Rapha. “Today I live a normal life, I am happy, I love making friends and meeting new people. I love doing different things, traveling going to the movies, theater, and the beach.”
Trying to reconcile his orientation with the gospel was...
 More about Rapha
Kufre Ekpenyong
Alasdair Ekpenyong
 Outreach & Membership;
Writer
  Alasdair Ekpenyong is an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University. He is the first to admit that he does not have all the answers, and it is this sense of awareness that leads him to so value the work of creating safe spaces for spiritual growth and exploration.
 He believes that everyone can stand to benefit in some way from such practices as prayer, study, conversation, and introspection--everyone can stand to benefit from reflecting on past and present truths and discovering new truths.
 Though well-versed in Mormon history and theology, Alasdair also studies many other forms of theism and nontheism as a participant in the interfaith academic community. He enjoys using the methods of postmodern critical theory to better understand the place of...
 More about Alasdair        Contact Alasdair





















 
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 Anoka, MN 55303
    
 

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Evan and Brian
Trey and Guy
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Paul and Tony
 Send your story to Mark!

  
Mark Schneider
Mark Schneider


About This Project
Evan and Brian
Trey and Guy
Brett and Jeff
Paul & Tony
 Send your story to Mark! 


LGBT Mormons Represent Through the “Faces of Affirmation” Project
We are looking for people of all stripes to tell their stories as it relates to issues of LGBT identity and the Church
 by Mark Schneider
 March 2013
 Send your story to Mark!
 It seems that Mormons, LGBT or straight, can never escape the burden of representing. We like to put on black name tags and march around town in formal wear, so everyone around can raise their gaze and say, “Yep, there’s the Mormons.” It’s not everyone that gets so dressed up for Popeye’s Chicken. We like to inconspicuously place “pass along” cards in returned library books and think giddily of who they might reach, who might join the Church – maybe even the librarian (he would make a great member). Does that Book of Mormon that I tossed to you like it was something you’d wash your car with have an elaborately and punctiliously written testimony in the front cover with a picture of my gorgeous and happy family? I never knew!
 Yes, Mormons do their fair share of representing. Of course, discovering that you are LGBT and Mormon can put a damper on your zeal. Suddenly, the thought occurs to you that that male librarian might be gay and might be better off never hearing about the restored Gospel. You think this because, notwithstanding any positive impact on your life, you think you might have been better off without it. Some of us continue to believe, walking the tightrope, and some of us quietly walk away, hoping to never have to represent again, at least not Mormonism.
 But I contend that the burden to represent does not end for any of us, LGBT Mormons of belief or of background. Though our various representations might be different depending on where we situate ourselves, it is important to stand up and be counted. To be counted is to reflect the kind of culture we would like to see in the Church: a culture where LGBT people not only want to stay but would want to come and Church members could feel comfortable inviting them (indeed, sharing the Gospel). To be counted is also to clearly mark the paths available for LGBT Mormon youth, so they do not struggle to the same extent as people once did. Finally, to be counted is to make the world a more inclusive, friendlier place to be LGBT.
 So how can you be counted? How can you represent? For our purposes, to represent is to tell your story. We are looking for people of all stripes to tell their stories as it relates to issues of LGBT identity and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Paul has already told his as has Brett, so check these out to see what kind of stories are being told. We are very interested in diverse perspectives and, particularly, in voices that we don’t hear as often: lesbians, transgender people, LGBT Mormons from around the world, and allies in the Church. If you would like to submit a story, reach me out by email.
 This is what we are calling the “Faces of Affirmations” project. You better represent.














 
WHO WE ARE
Who We Are
Faces of Affirmation
2013 Leadership Team
Board of Directors
Our History
Where We Are ESPECIALLY FOR YOU
Youth
Parents & Friends
Women
Missionaries
Transgender
International  EVENTS
Calendar
Conference
Newsletter
The Messenger
Newsroom RESOURCES & LINKS
 Resources
Links  BECOME INVOLVED
Renew Your Membership
Become a Member
Find Local Chapter/Group
Attend Conference
Affirmation Store
 DONATE

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

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Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
WHO
WE ARE






 ESPECIALLY
FOR YOU






  EVENTS
& NEWS




 RESOURCES
& LINKS


 BECOME
INVOLVED






 
  DONATE  
 



  


Faces of Affirmation
About this Project
Evan and Brian
Trey and Guy
Brett and Jeff
Paul and Tony
 Send your story to Mark!

  
Mark Schneider
Mark Schneider


About This Project
Evan and Brian
Trey and Guy
Brett and Jeff
Paul & Tony
 Send your story to Mark! 


LGBT Mormons Represent Through the “Faces of Affirmation” Project
We are looking for people of all stripes to tell their stories as it relates to issues of LGBT identity and the Church
 by Mark Schneider
 March 2013
 Send your story to Mark!
 It seems that Mormons, LGBT or straight, can never escape the burden of representing. We like to put on black name tags and march around town in formal wear, so everyone around can raise their gaze and say, “Yep, there’s the Mormons.” It’s not everyone that gets so dressed up for Popeye’s Chicken. We like to inconspicuously place “pass along” cards in returned library books and think giddily of who they might reach, who might join the Church – maybe even the librarian (he would make a great member). Does that Book of Mormon that I tossed to you like it was something you’d wash your car with have an elaborately and punctiliously written testimony in the front cover with a picture of my gorgeous and happy family? I never knew!
 Yes, Mormons do their fair share of representing. Of course, discovering that you are LGBT and Mormon can put a damper on your zeal. Suddenly, the thought occurs to you that that male librarian might be gay and might be better off never hearing about the restored Gospel. You think this because, notwithstanding any positive impact on your life, you think you might have been better off without it. Some of us continue to believe, walking the tightrope, and some of us quietly walk away, hoping to never have to represent again, at least not Mormonism.
 But I contend that the burden to represent does not end for any of us, LGBT Mormons of belief or of background. Though our various representations might be different depending on where we situate ourselves, it is important to stand up and be counted. To be counted is to reflect the kind of culture we would like to see in the Church: a culture where LGBT people not only want to stay but would want to come and Church members could feel comfortable inviting them (indeed, sharing the Gospel). To be counted is also to clearly mark the paths available for LGBT Mormon youth, so they do not struggle to the same extent as people once did. Finally, to be counted is to make the world a more inclusive, friendlier place to be LGBT.
 So how can you be counted? How can you represent? For our purposes, to represent is to tell your story. We are looking for people of all stripes to tell their stories as it relates to issues of LGBT identity and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Paul has already told his as has Brett, so check these out to see what kind of stories are being told. We are very interested in diverse perspectives and, particularly, in voices that we don’t hear as often: lesbians, transgender people, LGBT Mormons from around the world, and allies in the Church. If you would like to submit a story, reach me out by email.
 This is what we are calling the “Faces of Affirmations” project. You better represent.














 
WHO WE ARE
Who We Are
Faces of Affirmation
2013 Leadership Team
Board of Directors
Our History
Where We Are ESPECIALLY FOR YOU
Youth
Parents & Friends
Women
Missionaries
Transgender
International  EVENTS
Calendar
Conference
Newsletter
The Messenger
Newsroom RESOURCES & LINKS
 Resources
Links  BECOME INVOLVED
Renew Your Membership
Become a Member
Find Local Chapter/Group
Attend Conference
Affirmation Store
 DONATE

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







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Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, LDSApology.org is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that exist within the Mormon Church – primarily sexual abuse. Sexual abuse in the LDS Church is more often than not covered up, with primary concern being about protecting the perpetrators and the Church’s image, resulting in the continued abuse of the victims and their families.

For years, members of our committee have watched the drama surrounding the cover ups of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and wondered when the Mormon Church would be held accountable for similar practices. When news hit of the covered up molestations in Penn State’s College Football Program, and President Obama issued the following statement, we decided that the time was now.

“Well, obviously the whole situation is heartbreaking. We think first and foremost of the victims of the alleged crimes. But I think it is a good time for us to do some soul-searching – every institution, not just Penn State – about what our priorities are and making sure we understand that our first priority is protecting our kids.  We all have a responsibility. We can’t leave it to a system. We can’t leave it to somebody else.”   (President Obama)

Our support committee and community of survivors at ldsapolgy.org have taken seriously President Obama’s call to action and have made the decision to no longer “stand quietly on the sidelines.” Instead we have expanded our mission to now include the offering of support to, and the documentation of the stories and experiences of, LDS church members, and others, who have experienced abuse – not only sexual, but abuse in all its forms, from members and leaders of the Mormon Church.

It is the goal of LDSApology.org to dedicate ourselves to shedding light, giving support, bringing love and healing, and to providing a safe place for all those that have experienced abuse as well as our continued efforts to serve the LGBT community. Ldsapolgy.org is one of the first organizations to not only officially and actively reach out and serve those that have suffered, or are currently suffering, from mental, emotional, verbal, ecclesiastical, physical and sexual and abuse from Mormon members and leaders; but to call for an end to the perpetration and cover ups of these abuses.
We are not anti-Mormon and are not affiliated with or sympathetic to any anti-Mormon groups or agendas.  We simply want to affirm our love and devotion to the Christian principles upon which the Mormon Church was founded.
We want to thank all who support this effort. Together, we can make a difference.
Sincerely,
Committee for Healing & Recovery
Cheryl L. Nunn, Executive Director
Emily Pearson, Communications Director


  

Recent Posts
John Dehlin, MormonStories.org and Faith Reconstruction
Supporting LGBT Family & Friends
Facing East, The Movie
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Victim Takes Down Legend, Becomes Hero to Many

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December 2012
November 2012
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Community Support
November 18, 2012

Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
It’s that time of year again. Pack up your patio furniture and pool toys and make room for turkeys and […]


Community Support
November 18, 2012

Abuse Defined
Abuse Defined
  For those of us raised in Mormon homes, many of us women maybe even some men believed that unless […]


News & Updates
November 15, 2012

LDSApology Broadening its Focus

Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that […]


Community Support
November 11, 2012

Reporting Child Abuse

 ”Every adult in this story failed the child because they didn’t go to police. Rather, they went to their church.”—Marci Hamilton “As […]

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Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, LDSApology.org is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that exist within the Mormon Church – primarily sexual abuse. Sexual abuse in the LDS Church is more often than not covered up, with primary concern being about protecting the perpetrators and the Church’s image, resulting in the continued abuse of the victims and their families.

For years, members of our committee have watched the drama surrounding the cover ups of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and wondered when the Mormon Church would be held accountable for similar practices. When news hit of the covered up molestations in Penn State’s College Football Program, and President Obama issued the following statement, we decided that the time was now.

“Well, obviously the whole situation is heartbreaking. We think first and foremost of the victims of the alleged crimes. But I think it is a good time for us to do some soul-searching – every institution, not just Penn State – about what our priorities are and making sure we understand that our first priority is protecting our kids.  We all have a responsibility. We can’t leave it to a system. We can’t leave it to somebody else.”   (President Obama)

Our support committee and community of survivors at ldsapolgy.org have taken seriously President Obama’s call to action and have made the decision to no longer “stand quietly on the sidelines.” Instead we have expanded our mission to now include the offering of support to, and the documentation of the stories and experiences of, LDS church members, and others, who have experienced abuse – not only sexual, but abuse in all its forms, from members and leaders of the Mormon Church.

It is the goal of LDSApology.org to dedicate ourselves to shedding light, giving support, bringing love and healing, and to providing a safe place for all those that have experienced abuse as well as our continued efforts to serve the LGBT community. Ldsapolgy.org is one of the first organizations to not only officially and actively reach out and serve those that have suffered, or are currently suffering, from mental, emotional, verbal, ecclesiastical, physical and sexual and abuse from Mormon members and leaders; but to call for an end to the perpetration and cover ups of these abuses.
We are not anti-Mormon and are not affiliated with or sympathetic to any anti-Mormon groups or agendas.  We simply want to affirm our love and devotion to the Christian principles upon which the Mormon Church was founded.
We want to thank all who support this effort. Together, we can make a difference.
Sincerely,
Committee for Healing & Recovery
Cheryl L. Nunn, Executive Director
Emily Pearson, Communications Director


  

Recent Posts
John Dehlin, MormonStories.org and Faith Reconstruction
Supporting LGBT Family & Friends
Facing East, The Movie
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Victim Takes Down Legend, Becomes Hero to Many

Archives
February 2013
December 2012
November 2012
 .

Community Support
November 18, 2012

Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
It’s that time of year again. Pack up your patio furniture and pool toys and make room for turkeys and […]


Community Support
November 18, 2012

Abuse Defined
Abuse Defined
  For those of us raised in Mormon homes, many of us women maybe even some men believed that unless […]


News & Updates
November 15, 2012

LDSApology Broadening its Focus

Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that […]


Community Support
November 11, 2012

Reporting Child Abuse

 ”Every adult in this story failed the child because they didn’t go to police. Rather, they went to their church.”—Marci Hamilton “As […]

.

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 November 13, 2012

LDS Apology Reconciliation Petition





This Petition was delivered to LDS Church Headquarters on
November 4th, 2009
   “It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize…  A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.” -Stephen R. Covey
“There is a saying that to understand is to forgive, but that is an error,. . . .You must forgive in order to understand. Until you forgive you defend yourself against the possibility of understanding.” -Marilynne Robinson, Home
We the undersigned, in the spirit of love and peace, earnestly seek to create a climate for reconciliation between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and gays and lesbians who have been affected by the policies, practices and politics of the Church.  We recognize that issues surrounding sexuality and gender orientation are complex; that understanding of these matters has evolved, especially over the past several decades, and are continuing to evolve as scientists, therapists, theologians and others continue to explore and ponder their meaning and significance; We believe that people of good will may have differing views about homosexuality, while maintaining amicable relationships.
True reconciliation requires that parties on both sides of this issue be willing to honestly examine their attitudes, behaviors (including past behaviors), policies and practices—and be open to understanding, forgiveness (both asking for and accepting), and apology.
For individuals who have suffered or been forced to watch a loved one suffer mistreatment, misunderstanding, or demonization as a consequence of the LDS church’s official policies, actions, and teachings regarding sexual orientation, we understand that true reconciliation will require rejecting redress through hostility, will take time, and be a difficult process.
For Church leaders, reconciliation requires examining ways in which official statements, rhetoric, policy and practice have been injurious to gays and lesbians and their families and friends; have caused unnecessary pain and suffering, rejection, psychological and spiritual damage and even death.  This means scrupulously acknowledging such practices as “reorientation”– reparative, revulsion, and shock-therapies; such teachings as homosexuality being an evil perversion, a condition that is chosen and changeable and one that can be overcome through fasting, prayer, sacrifice and heterosexual marriage; and using scriptures that are taken out of context, mistranslated or that are highly selective to condemn homosexuality.  It also means to repudiate publicly circulated articles, essays, books, speeches, and conference addresses that have stereotyped or demonized gays and lesbians.
We believe that the time is right for healing over this issue to begin, for those on both sides to manifest forgiveness, magnanimity, and especially, love.  We believe reconciliation requires us to strive for open hearts and minds so that we might live together in peace and mutual respect.  It is long past time for those on both sides to begin treating one another with greater dignity, respect and understanding.
                                      Signed by:
 A. Latham Staples
 A. Lynne Evans
 A. Scott Henderson
 A.J. Page
 A.J.C.
 Aaron Ardmore
 Aaron Clark
 Aaron Curtis
 Aaron Manley
 Aaron P.
 Abdallah Karam, MD
 Adair K. Nef
 Adam Adolfo
 Adam Beckworth
 Adam Blackwell
 Adam D. Greener
 Adam Forgie
 Adam Kray
 Adam Madsen Lund
 Adam McDonald
 Adam Nelson
 Adam R. Collings
 Adam Slack
 Adam Tripp
 Adrian Dutkiewicz
 Adrienne Bartholomae
 Adrienne Youngberg
 Afton January
 Aimee Darby
 Aimee Larsen Stoddard
 Aimee Loveless
 Akoni Gullano
 Alan D. Stillman
 Alan E. Barber, J.D
 Alan K Chan
 Alan Oakley
 Alan Scott Robinson
 Alan Thordsen
 Alan Walker
 Alan Westermark
 Alanna Farnsworth
 Alberto Perez
 Alec Davis
 Alec Van Orden
 Alex Allan
 Alex Blayden
 Alex Dean Gunter, formerly Lisa Diane Gunter.
 Alex Forsyth
 Alex Tucker – (formerly Milissa M. Johnson)
 Alexander Cheney
 Alexander Laska
 Alexzander Isaacson
 Alice Anderson
 Alicia Carney
 Alicia Gonzales
 Alina Moran
 Alisha Mace
 Alison Acker
 Alison Barker Bennett
 Alison Klossner
 Alison P. Walker
 Alison Patrice Marrelli
 Alissa Skinner
 Alix Lewis
 Allan Engleman
 Allan Hurst
 Allan Roberts
 Allan Roberts
 Allen Williams
 Allisa Mason
 Allison Ottley Herbert
 Allison Payne
 Allison Woodhouse
 Allyson Hubner
 Alma H. Smith
 Althea Ingram
 Alvin Greening Jr
 Amanda Bearden
 Amanda Bogart
 Amanda Duncan
 Amanda Duran
 Amanda Otterstrom
 Amanda Walker
 Amara Patterson
 Amber Dalton
 Amber Hanna
 Amber Stevens
 Amy Booth
 Amy Bruderer
 Amy Hoglund
 Amy Kumar
 Amy Okelberry
 Amy P. Bjorge
 AnaBella M. Cooper
 Anastasia Ailport
 Andrea Beringer-Lyon
 Andrea Berryman
 Andrea Sandoval (Metcalfe)
 Andrea Schultz
 Andrew Ashcroft
 Andrew Huffaker
 Andrew King
 Andrew Miner
 Andrew Patterson
 Andrew Price
 Andrew Purchin
 Andrew Putschoegl
 Andrew Smith
 Andrew Solomon
 Andrew Stelter
 Andrew Wilkinson
 Andy Davidson
 Andy Joseph
 Andy Monaco
 Angel Hayes
 Angela Nibley
 Angela Surginer
 Angela Thomas
 Angelena Duncombe
 Angelica Elster
 Angie F.
 Angie Paxton
 Anita Zike Adkins
 Ann Austin, Ph.D.
 Ann Cromey
 Anna L. Petersen
 Anne Adams
 Anne Cagle
 Anne White
 Annette Watson
 Annie Anderson
 Anthony Collins
 Anthony Evans
 Anthony J Friendnio
 Anthony Kron
 Anthony Sramek
 Antoinette Barker
 Anton Hribar
 Apu Jabba
 Ari Lokeni
 Ariadna Egbert
 Aric Johnstone
 Ariel Thomas-Urlik
 Arlene Armijo
 Arlene Heck
 Armand Decosta
 Armand Raoul
 Art Roan
 Arthur Hiram Bell
 Arthur Jay
 Ash Johnsdottir
 Ashlee Wanlass
 Ashley A. Warren
 Ashley K. Saenz
 Ashley Sanders
 Ashley-Anne Furner Brown
 Austin Hansen
 Austin Smith
 Autumn Lee Koomen
 Avonelle Tomlinson
 Avril Thorne
 B. Terry
 B.D.Suisse
 Barbara Hanks
 Barbara Lube
 Barbara VanLandingham
 Barry Weiser
 Bart Mortensen
 Beano Solomon
 Beau Daggetz
 Becky Jo McShane
 Ben Hartley
 Ben Pierson
 Ben Scott
 Benjamin Candelaria
 Benjamin Clark
 Benjamin Fitzgerald
 BenJamin O. Marks
 Benjamin Okun
 Benjamin S Young
 Bennett L. Russell
 Berl Garhme
 Bernie Brennan
 Bernie Mulvaney
 Bert Singleton
 Beth Davis
 Beth Rossow
 Bethany Jackson
 Betty Raines
 Bill Blackburn
 Bill Fortner
 Bill Newland
 Bill Orchow
 Bill Plonsky
 Bill Tomlin
 Bill Williams
 Billie Christiansen
 Blane van Pletzen-Rands
 Bob Erwin
 Bob Niemic
 Bob Wrigley
 Bobbie Thompson
 Bobby Fairbanks
 Bonnie Brown
 Bonnie Potter
 Bonnie Terry Warner
 Brad Coath
 Brad Crockett
 Brad E Whipple
 Brad Lamoreaux
 Brad Sites
 Brad Spencer
 Bradford Allen
 Brady Gamble
 Brady Williams
 Branden Jackson
 Brandi L. Bradshaw
 Brandon Curtis Tatton
 Brandon D. Brown
 Brandon Lindley
 Brandon M. Richardson
 Brandon Myers
 Brandon Rogers
 Brandy Cook
 Brannon Murphy
 Breanna Christlieb
 Breena Bartholomae
 Brenda L Harris
 Brenna Eaton Degano
 Brent Allsop
 Brent Blackburn
 Brent Corrigan
 Brent Eliason
 Brent Fisher
 Brent Hill
 Brent Ireland
 Brent Johnson
 Brent V. Marrott
 Bret Evans
 Brett Bair
 Brett Bair
 Brett Bair
 Brett Barrett
 Brett Bradshaw
 Brett Briggs
 Brian A. Hartvigsen
 Brian Carlsen
 Brian Churm
 Brian D. Beckstead
 Brian G. Benington
 Brian J. Barrett-Marugg
 Brian Jones
 Brian K Martin
 Brian M. Gardner
 Brian Patrick Young
 Brian Schupbach
 Brian Shimamoto
 Brian Thomson
 Brian W Lindsey
 Brian Walker
 Brian Weston
 Brianne Hodson
 Bridgett Hall
 Brody MacDonald
 Brooke Brian
 Bruce A Newman
 Bruce Walter
 Bryan Bekkemellom
 Bryan Huddleston
 Bryan J. Baker
 Bryan Wildman
 Bryce Alexander Turner
 Brynn Foerster
 Buckley Jeppson
 Caleb Patrick Barker
 Calleen Adams
 Callie Spencer
 Calvin Alserda
 Cameo Garrick
 Cameron K. Wilson
 Cameron Morgan
 Cami Perkes
 Cammy Fuller
 Candice Halverson
 Candy Czernicki
 Cara Lamb
 Cara Ross
 Carey Pickens
 Carl Hollamby
 Carl John Martin
 Carl McGrath
 Carla Cook
 Carlo Moreno-Thompson
 Carlyle Potter
 Carol Holmes
 Carol J. Patrie, PhD
 Carol Oldham
 Carol Thalman
 Carol Wilson
 Carole P. Miller
 Carole Scaquetti
 Caroline Steele
 Carolyn Ball
 Carolyn Bell
 Carolyn Bentley
 Carolyn Turkams
 Carrie Farmer
 Carrie Marshall
 Carrie Mills
 Carrie Peterson
 Cassandra Parker
 Cassandra Sampson
 Catherine Diana Metzenbaum
 Catherine J. Smith
 Cathleen Nelson
 Cathy Martinez
 Cathy Muster Richardson
 Catie Weaver
 Cecilia Pinheiro
 Chad A. Nielson
 Chad Briggs
 Chad C. Spjut
 Chad Hardy
 Chad Israelson
 Chad Petersen
 Chad R. Hyatt
 Chad Ross
 Charles Grisier
 Charles L. Yeaman
 Charles Milne
 Charles P ORourke
 Charles R. Singer
 Charles Wm Wells
 Charles Wrather
 Charlie Andrew Bearden
 Charlie Fitzgearld
 Charlotte Painter
 Chelsey DeLaMare
 Cherish Maw
 Cheryl Altman
 Cheryl Carpenter Bybee
 Cheryl Fuller
 Cheryl Hatch
 Cheryl Meckley
 Cheryl Nunn
 Cheryl Youngblood
 Chi-En Lee
 Chip Caughman
 Chloe A. Ruebeck
 Chris Berger
 Chris Cutting
 Chris Dabb
 Chris DiMaio
 Chris Gearheart
 Chris Hilliard
 Chris Hough
 Chris Mecham
 Chris Millsap
 Chris Sonderegger
 Chris Steed
 Chris Taylor
 Chris Webber
 Christian Anderson
 Christian B. Bowers
 Christian F. Horrocks
 Christian Fonnerbeck
 Christina Gayler
 Christina Parkinson Brown
 Christine Burke
 Christine Dabb
 Christine Leader
 Christine Russell
 Christine Talbot
 Christopher Brock
 Christopher Flournoy
 Christopher Hansen
 Christopher Wolters
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 November 13, 2012

LDS Apology Reconciliation Petition





This Petition was delivered to LDS Church Headquarters on
November 4th, 2009
   “It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize…  A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.” -Stephen R. Covey
“There is a saying that to understand is to forgive, but that is an error,. . . .You must forgive in order to understand. Until you forgive you defend yourself against the possibility of understanding.” -Marilynne Robinson, Home
We the undersigned, in the spirit of love and peace, earnestly seek to create a climate for reconciliation between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and gays and lesbians who have been affected by the policies, practices and politics of the Church.  We recognize that issues surrounding sexuality and gender orientation are complex; that understanding of these matters has evolved, especially over the past several decades, and are continuing to evolve as scientists, therapists, theologians and others continue to explore and ponder their meaning and significance; We believe that people of good will may have differing views about homosexuality, while maintaining amicable relationships.
True reconciliation requires that parties on both sides of this issue be willing to honestly examine their attitudes, behaviors (including past behaviors), policies and practices—and be open to understanding, forgiveness (both asking for and accepting), and apology.
For individuals who have suffered or been forced to watch a loved one suffer mistreatment, misunderstanding, or demonization as a consequence of the LDS church’s official policies, actions, and teachings regarding sexual orientation, we understand that true reconciliation will require rejecting redress through hostility, will take time, and be a difficult process.
For Church leaders, reconciliation requires examining ways in which official statements, rhetoric, policy and practice have been injurious to gays and lesbians and their families and friends; have caused unnecessary pain and suffering, rejection, psychological and spiritual damage and even death.  This means scrupulously acknowledging such practices as “reorientation”– reparative, revulsion, and shock-therapies; such teachings as homosexuality being an evil perversion, a condition that is chosen and changeable and one that can be overcome through fasting, prayer, sacrifice and heterosexual marriage; and using scriptures that are taken out of context, mistranslated or that are highly selective to condemn homosexuality.  It also means to repudiate publicly circulated articles, essays, books, speeches, and conference addresses that have stereotyped or demonized gays and lesbians.
We believe that the time is right for healing over this issue to begin, for those on both sides to manifest forgiveness, magnanimity, and especially, love.  We believe reconciliation requires us to strive for open hearts and minds so that we might live together in peace and mutual respect.  It is long past time for those on both sides to begin treating one another with greater dignity, respect and understanding.
                                      Signed by:
 A. Latham Staples
 A. Lynne Evans
 A. Scott Henderson
 A.J. Page
 A.J.C.
 Aaron Ardmore
 Aaron Clark
 Aaron Curtis
 Aaron Manley
 Aaron P.
 Abdallah Karam, MD
 Adair K. Nef
 Adam Adolfo
 Adam Beckworth
 Adam Blackwell
 Adam D. Greener
 Adam Forgie
 Adam Kray
 Adam Madsen Lund
 Adam McDonald
 Adam Nelson
 Adam R. Collings
 Adam Slack
 Adam Tripp
 Adrian Dutkiewicz
 Adrienne Bartholomae
 Adrienne Youngberg
 Afton January
 Aimee Darby
 Aimee Larsen Stoddard
 Aimee Loveless
 Akoni Gullano
 Alan D. Stillman
 Alan E. Barber, J.D
 Alan K Chan
 Alan Oakley
 Alan Scott Robinson
 Alan Thordsen
 Alan Walker
 Alan Westermark
 Alanna Farnsworth
 Alberto Perez
 Alec Davis
 Alec Van Orden
 Alex Allan
 Alex Blayden
 Alex Dean Gunter, formerly Lisa Diane Gunter.
 Alex Forsyth
 Alex Tucker – (formerly Milissa M. Johnson)
 Alexander Cheney
 Alexander Laska
 Alexzander Isaacson
 Alice Anderson
 Alicia Carney
 Alicia Gonzales
 Alina Moran
 Alisha Mace
 Alison Acker
 Alison Barker Bennett
 Alison Klossner
 Alison P. Walker
 Alison Patrice Marrelli
 Alissa Skinner
 Alix Lewis
 Allan Engleman
 Allan Hurst
 Allan Roberts
 Allan Roberts
 Allen Williams
 Allisa Mason
 Allison Ottley Herbert
 Allison Payne
 Allison Woodhouse
 Allyson Hubner
 Alma H. Smith
 Althea Ingram
 Alvin Greening Jr
 Amanda Bearden
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 Amanda Duncan
 Amanda Duran
 Amanda Otterstrom
 Amanda Walker
 Amara Patterson
 Amber Dalton
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Is Mormon Teaching About Gays Evolving?




We feel that it is a small step in the right direction for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS or Mormon Church) to post a website on this topic and to express agreement that bullying and public discrimination against gays in employment and housing is wrong. However, we believe the information on the site is slanted and lacks full disclosure.
It was legal for gays to marry in California before voters passed Proposition 8, heavily funded and backed by the LDS Church. Although Proposition 8 banned gay marriage, fortunately, this discriminatory law was found to be illegal. In his decision, appeals court Judge Stephen Reinhardt stated that “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.”
The LDS Church has the legal right not to recognize its members’ same-sex marriages. However, we object to their encouragement of pressure tactics – such as changing state laws – to coerce their members into discriminatory activities and the denial of basic human rights.
The LDS Church’s new website clearly indicates that the Church expects gays to be celibate throughout their entire lives without any hope of marriage. They state that there should be no sex before marriage, but also deny recognition of any same-sex marriage, thus putting gays in an impossible situation. This is no different than expecting gays to live their entire lives as monks or nuns, without children or companions over many long decades of complete celibacy. Few people can live healthy, happy lives under such extremely difficult and lonely circumstances.
The Church is setting a bar so high for gays that almost no one could reach it and stay there. But if someone fails to do so, according to LDS teachings they suffer losing their eternal family and salvation. Even though this new website has attractive people and lovely, warm music, I can’t understand or see any real kindness or compassion in such beliefs.
Church leaders previously taught and advised gays that they could change, become heterosexual and marry opposite sex partners — and that opposite-sex partners should marry gays. Gays were taught that if they prayed hard enough, suffered cruel shock, vomit or reparative therapies, they could become heterosexual and live happy family lives as heterosexuals.
Today a large body of scientific evidence proves these teachings are false and these experiments don’t work.
A large number of LDS members who followed LDS leader advice for mixed-orientation marriages or suffered cruel experiments are speaking out. Their lives were shattered and great emotional and even physical damage was caused by following this advice. It appears now the LDS Church is backing off from giving advice on mixed-orientation marriage and experimental reparative therapies. Instead, they are expressing a more subtle, almost kind-sounding approach in expressing their rejection of gay marriage and homosexual relationships (see  http://www.mormonsandgays.org/ .).
Unfortunately, while the new site may model LDS members being kinder to gays, their beliefs on gay marriage and lifelong celibacy leave little hope for gay LDS members. Thus they suffer high levels of loneliness that cause deep depression and even a high number of suicides. In fact, Utah is known as the state with the highest level of suicides among young men because of a high LDS population and these specific LDS beliefs.
SLATE MAGAZINE’S BROWBEAT CULTURE BLOG WRITER DAVID HAGLUND DISCUSSED THIS QUESTION ON DECEMBER 6TH 2012 WHEN THE LDS CHURCH CREATED A NEW WEBSITE RECENTLY AT HTTP://WWW.MORMONSANDGAYS.ORG/
“Back in June, Max Perry Mueller asked in Slate whether one could really be both gay and Mormon, concluding that the “answer depends, to some extent, on how you define both these identities.” Gay sex is expressly forbidden by the LDS Church. But if you’re comfortable with a definition of gay that does not include having sex with someone of the same gender, you can plausibly be a devout gay Mormon. That doctrinal wiggle-room is one of the reasons Mueller cited for signs of change in the attitude of the church—which played a famously crucial role in passing Prop 8 in California—toward homosexuality.
Today, the LDS Church launched a new website, mormonsandgays.org, which, according to a press release, aims “to encourage understanding and civil conversation about same-sex attraction.” The site presents itself as a “collection of conversations”—with LDS leaders, Mormons “who are attracted to people of the same sex,” and the loved ones of such Mormons (“who are dealing with the effects of same-sex attraction in their own lives”).
Among the videos on the site is one featuring the Mormon apostle Dallin H. Oaks, titled “What Needs to Change.” Oaks says that “what needs to change is to help our own members and families understand how to deal with same-gender attraction.” While that sentence doesn’t quite parse grammatically, the message seems to be: Don’t throw your children out of the house because they’re gay. Do teach them, though, not to have gay sex. The “doctrine of the church, that sexual activity should only occur between a man and a woman who are married,” Oaks says, “has not changed and is not changing.”

Those who pay attention to verb tenses may notice that Oaks does not say that Mormon doctrine will not change. On one level, this is simply good Mormonism: The LDS Church believes in continual revelation through a living prophet, so no apostle can declare with certainty that something will never change. And the new website, which is hardly a celebration of gay pride, is also a savvy bit of public relations: Brad Kramer, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan who studies contemporary Mormonism (and who is Mormon himself), called the site “an example of the curious space where PR and doctrinal shift intersect and subtly cooperate.”
But it’s hard not to see some real change in the comments as well. Consider that in 1995, Oaks wrote that “erotic feelings toward a person of the same sex are irregular”—or that in 2006, he made a highly defensive statement about the “unrelenting pressure from advocates of that lifestyle to accept as normal what is not normal.” In contrast, today’s statement emphasizes uncertainty and compassion. And even the url for the site, while probably reflecting the church’s knack for SEO, reflects a significant change in the terminology the church uses. As one blogger put it this morning: “Even the fact that in their official statement they have used the terms ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ to refer to members with same-sex attraction, I think, is huge.”
Over at BuzzFeed, McKay Coppins, who is a member of the church, refers to the site as an “evolution from its past teaching.” To which some might say: Evolve already. But at least there is some movement, and in a more compassionate direction.”


  

Recent Posts
John Dehlin, MormonStories.org and Faith Reconstruction
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Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
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Archives
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December 2012
November 2012
 .

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November 18, 2012

Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
It’s that time of year again. Pack up your patio furniture and pool toys and make room for turkeys and […]


Community Support
November 18, 2012

Abuse Defined
Abuse Defined
  For those of us raised in Mormon homes, many of us women maybe even some men believed that unless […]


News & Updates
November 15, 2012

LDSApology Broadening its Focus

Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that […]


Community Support
November 11, 2012

Reporting Child Abuse

 ”Every adult in this story failed the child because they didn’t go to police. Rather, they went to their church.”—Marci Hamilton “As […]

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Is Mormon Teaching About Gays Evolving?




We feel that it is a small step in the right direction for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS or Mormon Church) to post a website on this topic and to express agreement that bullying and public discrimination against gays in employment and housing is wrong. However, we believe the information on the site is slanted and lacks full disclosure.
It was legal for gays to marry in California before voters passed Proposition 8, heavily funded and backed by the LDS Church. Although Proposition 8 banned gay marriage, fortunately, this discriminatory law was found to be illegal. In his decision, appeals court Judge Stephen Reinhardt stated that “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.”
The LDS Church has the legal right not to recognize its members’ same-sex marriages. However, we object to their encouragement of pressure tactics – such as changing state laws – to coerce their members into discriminatory activities and the denial of basic human rights.
The LDS Church’s new website clearly indicates that the Church expects gays to be celibate throughout their entire lives without any hope of marriage. They state that there should be no sex before marriage, but also deny recognition of any same-sex marriage, thus putting gays in an impossible situation. This is no different than expecting gays to live their entire lives as monks or nuns, without children or companions over many long decades of complete celibacy. Few people can live healthy, happy lives under such extremely difficult and lonely circumstances.
The Church is setting a bar so high for gays that almost no one could reach it and stay there. But if someone fails to do so, according to LDS teachings they suffer losing their eternal family and salvation. Even though this new website has attractive people and lovely, warm music, I can’t understand or see any real kindness or compassion in such beliefs.
Church leaders previously taught and advised gays that they could change, become heterosexual and marry opposite sex partners — and that opposite-sex partners should marry gays. Gays were taught that if they prayed hard enough, suffered cruel shock, vomit or reparative therapies, they could become heterosexual and live happy family lives as heterosexuals.
Today a large body of scientific evidence proves these teachings are false and these experiments don’t work.
A large number of LDS members who followed LDS leader advice for mixed-orientation marriages or suffered cruel experiments are speaking out. Their lives were shattered and great emotional and even physical damage was caused by following this advice. It appears now the LDS Church is backing off from giving advice on mixed-orientation marriage and experimental reparative therapies. Instead, they are expressing a more subtle, almost kind-sounding approach in expressing their rejection of gay marriage and homosexual relationships (see  http://www.mormonsandgays.org/ .).
Unfortunately, while the new site may model LDS members being kinder to gays, their beliefs on gay marriage and lifelong celibacy leave little hope for gay LDS members. Thus they suffer high levels of loneliness that cause deep depression and even a high number of suicides. In fact, Utah is known as the state with the highest level of suicides among young men because of a high LDS population and these specific LDS beliefs.
SLATE MAGAZINE’S BROWBEAT CULTURE BLOG WRITER DAVID HAGLUND DISCUSSED THIS QUESTION ON DECEMBER 6TH 2012 WHEN THE LDS CHURCH CREATED A NEW WEBSITE RECENTLY AT HTTP://WWW.MORMONSANDGAYS.ORG/
“Back in June, Max Perry Mueller asked in Slate whether one could really be both gay and Mormon, concluding that the “answer depends, to some extent, on how you define both these identities.” Gay sex is expressly forbidden by the LDS Church. But if you’re comfortable with a definition of gay that does not include having sex with someone of the same gender, you can plausibly be a devout gay Mormon. That doctrinal wiggle-room is one of the reasons Mueller cited for signs of change in the attitude of the church—which played a famously crucial role in passing Prop 8 in California—toward homosexuality.
Today, the LDS Church launched a new website, mormonsandgays.org, which, according to a press release, aims “to encourage understanding and civil conversation about same-sex attraction.” The site presents itself as a “collection of conversations”—with LDS leaders, Mormons “who are attracted to people of the same sex,” and the loved ones of such Mormons (“who are dealing with the effects of same-sex attraction in their own lives”).
Among the videos on the site is one featuring the Mormon apostle Dallin H. Oaks, titled “What Needs to Change.” Oaks says that “what needs to change is to help our own members and families understand how to deal with same-gender attraction.” While that sentence doesn’t quite parse grammatically, the message seems to be: Don’t throw your children out of the house because they’re gay. Do teach them, though, not to have gay sex. The “doctrine of the church, that sexual activity should only occur between a man and a woman who are married,” Oaks says, “has not changed and is not changing.”

Those who pay attention to verb tenses may notice that Oaks does not say that Mormon doctrine will not change. On one level, this is simply good Mormonism: The LDS Church believes in continual revelation through a living prophet, so no apostle can declare with certainty that something will never change. And the new website, which is hardly a celebration of gay pride, is also a savvy bit of public relations: Brad Kramer, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan who studies contemporary Mormonism (and who is Mormon himself), called the site “an example of the curious space where PR and doctrinal shift intersect and subtly cooperate.”
But it’s hard not to see some real change in the comments as well. Consider that in 1995, Oaks wrote that “erotic feelings toward a person of the same sex are irregular”—or that in 2006, he made a highly defensive statement about the “unrelenting pressure from advocates of that lifestyle to accept as normal what is not normal.” In contrast, today’s statement emphasizes uncertainty and compassion. And even the url for the site, while probably reflecting the church’s knack for SEO, reflects a significant change in the terminology the church uses. As one blogger put it this morning: “Even the fact that in their official statement they have used the terms ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ to refer to members with same-sex attraction, I think, is huge.”
Over at BuzzFeed, McKay Coppins, who is a member of the church, refers to the site as an “evolution from its past teaching.” To which some might say: Evolve already. But at least there is some movement, and in a more compassionate direction.”


  

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Supporting LGBT Family & Friends
Facing East, The Movie
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
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November 18, 2012

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Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
It’s that time of year again. Pack up your patio furniture and pool toys and make room for turkeys and […]


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November 18, 2012

Abuse Defined
Abuse Defined
  For those of us raised in Mormon homes, many of us women maybe even some men believed that unless […]


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November 15, 2012

LDSApology Broadening its Focus

Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that […]


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November 11, 2012

Reporting Child Abuse

 ”Every adult in this story failed the child because they didn’t go to police. Rather, they went to their church.”—Marci Hamilton “As […]

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Is Mormon Teaching About Gays Evolving?




We feel that it is a small step in the right direction for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS or Mormon Church) to post a website on this topic and to express agreement that bullying and public discrimination against gays in employment and housing is wrong. However, we believe the information on the site is slanted and lacks full disclosure.
It was legal for gays to marry in California before voters passed Proposition 8, heavily funded and backed by the LDS Church. Although Proposition 8 banned gay marriage, fortunately, this discriminatory law was found to be illegal. In his decision, appeals court Judge Stephen Reinhardt stated that “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.”
The LDS Church has the legal right not to recognize its members’ same-sex marriages. However, we object to their encouragement of pressure tactics – such as changing state laws – to coerce their members into discriminatory activities and the denial of basic human rights.
The LDS Church’s new website clearly indicates that the Church expects gays to be celibate throughout their entire lives without any hope of marriage. They state that there should be no sex before marriage, but also deny recognition of any same-sex marriage, thus putting gays in an impossible situation. This is no different than expecting gays to live their entire lives as monks or nuns, without children or companions over many long decades of complete celibacy. Few people can live healthy, happy lives under such extremely difficult and lonely circumstances.
The Church is setting a bar so high for gays that almost no one could reach it and stay there. But if someone fails to do so, according to LDS teachings they suffer losing their eternal family and salvation. Even though this new website has attractive people and lovely, warm music, I can’t understand or see any real kindness or compassion in such beliefs.
Church leaders previously taught and advised gays that they could change, become heterosexual and marry opposite sex partners — and that opposite-sex partners should marry gays. Gays were taught that if they prayed hard enough, suffered cruel shock, vomit or reparative therapies, they could become heterosexual and live happy family lives as heterosexuals.
Today a large body of scientific evidence proves these teachings are false and these experiments don’t work.
A large number of LDS members who followed LDS leader advice for mixed-orientation marriages or suffered cruel experiments are speaking out. Their lives were shattered and great emotional and even physical damage was caused by following this advice. It appears now the LDS Church is backing off from giving advice on mixed-orientation marriage and experimental reparative therapies. Instead, they are expressing a more subtle, almost kind-sounding approach in expressing their rejection of gay marriage and homosexual relationships (see  http://www.mormonsandgays.org/ .).
Unfortunately, while the new site may model LDS members being kinder to gays, their beliefs on gay marriage and lifelong celibacy leave little hope for gay LDS members. Thus they suffer high levels of loneliness that cause deep depression and even a high number of suicides. In fact, Utah is known as the state with the highest level of suicides among young men because of a high LDS population and these specific LDS beliefs.
SLATE MAGAZINE’S BROWBEAT CULTURE BLOG WRITER DAVID HAGLUND DISCUSSED THIS QUESTION ON DECEMBER 6TH 2012 WHEN THE LDS CHURCH CREATED A NEW WEBSITE RECENTLY AT HTTP://WWW.MORMONSANDGAYS.ORG/
“Back in June, Max Perry Mueller asked in Slate whether one could really be both gay and Mormon, concluding that the “answer depends, to some extent, on how you define both these identities.” Gay sex is expressly forbidden by the LDS Church. But if you’re comfortable with a definition of gay that does not include having sex with someone of the same gender, you can plausibly be a devout gay Mormon. That doctrinal wiggle-room is one of the reasons Mueller cited for signs of change in the attitude of the church—which played a famously crucial role in passing Prop 8 in California—toward homosexuality.
Today, the LDS Church launched a new website, mormonsandgays.org, which, according to a press release, aims “to encourage understanding and civil conversation about same-sex attraction.” The site presents itself as a “collection of conversations”—with LDS leaders, Mormons “who are attracted to people of the same sex,” and the loved ones of such Mormons (“who are dealing with the effects of same-sex attraction in their own lives”).
Among the videos on the site is one featuring the Mormon apostle Dallin H. Oaks, titled “What Needs to Change.” Oaks says that “what needs to change is to help our own members and families understand how to deal with same-gender attraction.” While that sentence doesn’t quite parse grammatically, the message seems to be: Don’t throw your children out of the house because they’re gay. Do teach them, though, not to have gay sex. The “doctrine of the church, that sexual activity should only occur between a man and a woman who are married,” Oaks says, “has not changed and is not changing.”

Those who pay attention to verb tenses may notice that Oaks does not say that Mormon doctrine will not change. On one level, this is simply good Mormonism: The LDS Church believes in continual revelation through a living prophet, so no apostle can declare with certainty that something will never change. And the new website, which is hardly a celebration of gay pride, is also a savvy bit of public relations: Brad Kramer, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan who studies contemporary Mormonism (and who is Mormon himself), called the site “an example of the curious space where PR and doctrinal shift intersect and subtly cooperate.”
But it’s hard not to see some real change in the comments as well. Consider that in 1995, Oaks wrote that “erotic feelings toward a person of the same sex are irregular”—or that in 2006, he made a highly defensive statement about the “unrelenting pressure from advocates of that lifestyle to accept as normal what is not normal.” In contrast, today’s statement emphasizes uncertainty and compassion. And even the url for the site, while probably reflecting the church’s knack for SEO, reflects a significant change in the terminology the church uses. As one blogger put it this morning: “Even the fact that in their official statement they have used the terms ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ to refer to members with same-sex attraction, I think, is huge.”
Over at BuzzFeed, McKay Coppins, who is a member of the church, refers to the site as an “evolution from its past teaching.” To which some might say: Evolve already. But at least there is some movement, and in a more compassionate direction.”


  

Recent Posts
John Dehlin, MormonStories.org and Faith Reconstruction
Supporting LGBT Family & Friends
Facing East, The Movie
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Victim Takes Down Legend, Becomes Hero to Many

Archives
February 2013
December 2012
November 2012
 .

Community Support
November 18, 2012

Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
It’s that time of year again. Pack up your patio furniture and pool toys and make room for turkeys and […]


Community Support
November 18, 2012

Abuse Defined
Abuse Defined
  For those of us raised in Mormon homes, many of us women maybe even some men believed that unless […]


News & Updates
November 15, 2012

LDSApology Broadening its Focus

Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that […]


Community Support
November 11, 2012

Reporting Child Abuse

 ”Every adult in this story failed the child because they didn’t go to police. Rather, they went to their church.”—Marci Hamilton “As […]

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Is Mormon Teaching About Gays Evolving?




We feel that it is a small step in the right direction for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS or Mormon Church) to post a website on this topic and to express agreement that bullying and public discrimination against gays in employment and housing is wrong. However, we believe the information on the site is slanted and lacks full disclosure.
It was legal for gays to marry in California before voters passed Proposition 8, heavily funded and backed by the LDS Church. Although Proposition 8 banned gay marriage, fortunately, this discriminatory law was found to be illegal. In his decision, appeals court Judge Stephen Reinhardt stated that “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.”
The LDS Church has the legal right not to recognize its members’ same-sex marriages. However, we object to their encouragement of pressure tactics – such as changing state laws – to coerce their members into discriminatory activities and the denial of basic human rights.
The LDS Church’s new website clearly indicates that the Church expects gays to be celibate throughout their entire lives without any hope of marriage. They state that there should be no sex before marriage, but also deny recognition of any same-sex marriage, thus putting gays in an impossible situation. This is no different than expecting gays to live their entire lives as monks or nuns, without children or companions over many long decades of complete celibacy. Few people can live healthy, happy lives under such extremely difficult and lonely circumstances.
The Church is setting a bar so high for gays that almost no one could reach it and stay there. But if someone fails to do so, according to LDS teachings they suffer losing their eternal family and salvation. Even though this new website has attractive people and lovely, warm music, I can’t understand or see any real kindness or compassion in such beliefs.
Church leaders previously taught and advised gays that they could change, become heterosexual and marry opposite sex partners — and that opposite-sex partners should marry gays. Gays were taught that if they prayed hard enough, suffered cruel shock, vomit or reparative therapies, they could become heterosexual and live happy family lives as heterosexuals.
Today a large body of scientific evidence proves these teachings are false and these experiments don’t work.
A large number of LDS members who followed LDS leader advice for mixed-orientation marriages or suffered cruel experiments are speaking out. Their lives were shattered and great emotional and even physical damage was caused by following this advice. It appears now the LDS Church is backing off from giving advice on mixed-orientation marriage and experimental reparative therapies. Instead, they are expressing a more subtle, almost kind-sounding approach in expressing their rejection of gay marriage and homosexual relationships (see  http://www.mormonsandgays.org/ .).
Unfortunately, while the new site may model LDS members being kinder to gays, their beliefs on gay marriage and lifelong celibacy leave little hope for gay LDS members. Thus they suffer high levels of loneliness that cause deep depression and even a high number of suicides. In fact, Utah is known as the state with the highest level of suicides among young men because of a high LDS population and these specific LDS beliefs.
SLATE MAGAZINE’S BROWBEAT CULTURE BLOG WRITER DAVID HAGLUND DISCUSSED THIS QUESTION ON DECEMBER 6TH 2012 WHEN THE LDS CHURCH CREATED A NEW WEBSITE RECENTLY AT HTTP://WWW.MORMONSANDGAYS.ORG/
“Back in June, Max Perry Mueller asked in Slate whether one could really be both gay and Mormon, concluding that the “answer depends, to some extent, on how you define both these identities.” Gay sex is expressly forbidden by the LDS Church. But if you’re comfortable with a definition of gay that does not include having sex with someone of the same gender, you can plausibly be a devout gay Mormon. That doctrinal wiggle-room is one of the reasons Mueller cited for signs of change in the attitude of the church—which played a famously crucial role in passing Prop 8 in California—toward homosexuality.
Today, the LDS Church launched a new website, mormonsandgays.org, which, according to a press release, aims “to encourage understanding and civil conversation about same-sex attraction.” The site presents itself as a “collection of conversations”—with LDS leaders, Mormons “who are attracted to people of the same sex,” and the loved ones of such Mormons (“who are dealing with the effects of same-sex attraction in their own lives”).
Among the videos on the site is one featuring the Mormon apostle Dallin H. Oaks, titled “What Needs to Change.” Oaks says that “what needs to change is to help our own members and families understand how to deal with same-gender attraction.” While that sentence doesn’t quite parse grammatically, the message seems to be: Don’t throw your children out of the house because they’re gay. Do teach them, though, not to have gay sex. The “doctrine of the church, that sexual activity should only occur between a man and a woman who are married,” Oaks says, “has not changed and is not changing.”

Those who pay attention to verb tenses may notice that Oaks does not say that Mormon doctrine will not change. On one level, this is simply good Mormonism: The LDS Church believes in continual revelation through a living prophet, so no apostle can declare with certainty that something will never change. And the new website, which is hardly a celebration of gay pride, is also a savvy bit of public relations: Brad Kramer, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan who studies contemporary Mormonism (and who is Mormon himself), called the site “an example of the curious space where PR and doctrinal shift intersect and subtly cooperate.”
But it’s hard not to see some real change in the comments as well. Consider that in 1995, Oaks wrote that “erotic feelings toward a person of the same sex are irregular”—or that in 2006, he made a highly defensive statement about the “unrelenting pressure from advocates of that lifestyle to accept as normal what is not normal.” In contrast, today’s statement emphasizes uncertainty and compassion. And even the url for the site, while probably reflecting the church’s knack for SEO, reflects a significant change in the terminology the church uses. As one blogger put it this morning: “Even the fact that in their official statement they have used the terms ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ to refer to members with same-sex attraction, I think, is huge.”
Over at BuzzFeed, McKay Coppins, who is a member of the church, refers to the site as an “evolution from its past teaching.” To which some might say: Evolve already. But at least there is some movement, and in a more compassionate direction.”


  

Recent Posts
John Dehlin, MormonStories.org and Faith Reconstruction
Supporting LGBT Family & Friends
Facing East, The Movie
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Victim Takes Down Legend, Becomes Hero to Many

Archives
February 2013
December 2012
November 2012
 .

Community Support
November 18, 2012

Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
It’s that time of year again. Pack up your patio furniture and pool toys and make room for turkeys and […]


Community Support
November 18, 2012

Abuse Defined
Abuse Defined
  For those of us raised in Mormon homes, many of us women maybe even some men believed that unless […]


News & Updates
November 15, 2012

LDSApology Broadening its Focus

Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that […]


Community Support
November 11, 2012

Reporting Child Abuse

 ”Every adult in this story failed the child because they didn’t go to police. Rather, they went to their church.”—Marci Hamilton “As […]

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Is Mormon Teaching About Gays Evolving?




We feel that it is a small step in the right direction for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS or Mormon Church) to post a website on this topic and to express agreement that bullying and public discrimination against gays in employment and housing is wrong. However, we believe the information on the site is slanted and lacks full disclosure.
It was legal for gays to marry in California before voters passed Proposition 8, heavily funded and backed by the LDS Church. Although Proposition 8 banned gay marriage, fortunately, this discriminatory law was found to be illegal. In his decision, appeals court Judge Stephen Reinhardt stated that “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.”
The LDS Church has the legal right not to recognize its members’ same-sex marriages. However, we object to their encouragement of pressure tactics – such as changing state laws – to coerce their members into discriminatory activities and the denial of basic human rights.
The LDS Church’s new website clearly indicates that the Church expects gays to be celibate throughout their entire lives without any hope of marriage. They state that there should be no sex before marriage, but also deny recognition of any same-sex marriage, thus putting gays in an impossible situation. This is no different than expecting gays to live their entire lives as monks or nuns, without children or companions over many long decades of complete celibacy. Few people can live healthy, happy lives under such extremely difficult and lonely circumstances.
The Church is setting a bar so high for gays that almost no one could reach it and stay there. But if someone fails to do so, according to LDS teachings they suffer losing their eternal family and salvation. Even though this new website has attractive people and lovely, warm music, I can’t understand or see any real kindness or compassion in such beliefs.
Church leaders previously taught and advised gays that they could change, become heterosexual and marry opposite sex partners — and that opposite-sex partners should marry gays. Gays were taught that if they prayed hard enough, suffered cruel shock, vomit or reparative therapies, they could become heterosexual and live happy family lives as heterosexuals.
Today a large body of scientific evidence proves these teachings are false and these experiments don’t work.
A large number of LDS members who followed LDS leader advice for mixed-orientation marriages or suffered cruel experiments are speaking out. Their lives were shattered and great emotional and even physical damage was caused by following this advice. It appears now the LDS Church is backing off from giving advice on mixed-orientation marriage and experimental reparative therapies. Instead, they are expressing a more subtle, almost kind-sounding approach in expressing their rejection of gay marriage and homosexual relationships (see  http://www.mormonsandgays.org/ .).
Unfortunately, while the new site may model LDS members being kinder to gays, their beliefs on gay marriage and lifelong celibacy leave little hope for gay LDS members. Thus they suffer high levels of loneliness that cause deep depression and even a high number of suicides. In fact, Utah is known as the state with the highest level of suicides among young men because of a high LDS population and these specific LDS beliefs.
SLATE MAGAZINE’S BROWBEAT CULTURE BLOG WRITER DAVID HAGLUND DISCUSSED THIS QUESTION ON DECEMBER 6TH 2012 WHEN THE LDS CHURCH CREATED A NEW WEBSITE RECENTLY AT HTTP://WWW.MORMONSANDGAYS.ORG/
“Back in June, Max Perry Mueller asked in Slate whether one could really be both gay and Mormon, concluding that the “answer depends, to some extent, on how you define both these identities.” Gay sex is expressly forbidden by the LDS Church. But if you’re comfortable with a definition of gay that does not include having sex with someone of the same gender, you can plausibly be a devout gay Mormon. That doctrinal wiggle-room is one of the reasons Mueller cited for signs of change in the attitude of the church—which played a famously crucial role in passing Prop 8 in California—toward homosexuality.
Today, the LDS Church launched a new website, mormonsandgays.org, which, according to a press release, aims “to encourage understanding and civil conversation about same-sex attraction.” The site presents itself as a “collection of conversations”—with LDS leaders, Mormons “who are attracted to people of the same sex,” and the loved ones of such Mormons (“who are dealing with the effects of same-sex attraction in their own lives”).
Among the videos on the site is one featuring the Mormon apostle Dallin H. Oaks, titled “What Needs to Change.” Oaks says that “what needs to change is to help our own members and families understand how to deal with same-gender attraction.” While that sentence doesn’t quite parse grammatically, the message seems to be: Don’t throw your children out of the house because they’re gay. Do teach them, though, not to have gay sex. The “doctrine of the church, that sexual activity should only occur between a man and a woman who are married,” Oaks says, “has not changed and is not changing.”

Those who pay attention to verb tenses may notice that Oaks does not say that Mormon doctrine will not change. On one level, this is simply good Mormonism: The LDS Church believes in continual revelation through a living prophet, so no apostle can declare with certainty that something will never change. And the new website, which is hardly a celebration of gay pride, is also a savvy bit of public relations: Brad Kramer, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan who studies contemporary Mormonism (and who is Mormon himself), called the site “an example of the curious space where PR and doctrinal shift intersect and subtly cooperate.”
But it’s hard not to see some real change in the comments as well. Consider that in 1995, Oaks wrote that “erotic feelings toward a person of the same sex are irregular”—or that in 2006, he made a highly defensive statement about the “unrelenting pressure from advocates of that lifestyle to accept as normal what is not normal.” In contrast, today’s statement emphasizes uncertainty and compassion. And even the url for the site, while probably reflecting the church’s knack for SEO, reflects a significant change in the terminology the church uses. As one blogger put it this morning: “Even the fact that in their official statement they have used the terms ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ to refer to members with same-sex attraction, I think, is huge.”
Over at BuzzFeed, McKay Coppins, who is a member of the church, refers to the site as an “evolution from its past teaching.” To which some might say: Evolve already. But at least there is some movement, and in a more compassionate direction.”


  

Recent Posts
John Dehlin, MormonStories.org and Faith Reconstruction
Supporting LGBT Family & Friends
Facing East, The Movie
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Victim Takes Down Legend, Becomes Hero to Many

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February 2013
December 2012
November 2012
 .

Community Support
November 18, 2012

Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
It’s that time of year again. Pack up your patio furniture and pool toys and make room for turkeys and […]


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November 18, 2012

Abuse Defined
Abuse Defined
  For those of us raised in Mormon homes, many of us women maybe even some men believed that unless […]


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November 15, 2012

LDSApology Broadening its Focus

Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that […]


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November 11, 2012

Reporting Child Abuse

 ”Every adult in this story failed the child because they didn’t go to police. Rather, they went to their church.”—Marci Hamilton “As […]

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Sally Field received the 2012 Human Rights Campaign Ally For Equality Award, and delivered a very touching and emotional speech about her gay son Sam below.


This is no performance, and Sally is not reading a script. This is her real life and her true feelings and thoughts. She had not addressed her son’s sexuality before in public stating that she felt it was his business and not hers to do so.  Through this speech Sally provides an example and understanding in supporting members of the LGBT community that we wish every parent and friend had.
Sam said of his mom “Being gay was just one more thing she loved about me.”
We hope that these words will long be remembered and shared and that our society will grow to understand, love and accept all the differences that make up our great, diverse and wonderful world.
 ”There are so many children who struggle to understand and embrace their sexuality in families who do not welcome them, with parents that somehow find it acceptable to shut them out their hearts and their homes, and that I find unacceptable.”—Sally Field

Return to LDSApology.org Support

  

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November 2012
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November 18, 2012

Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
It’s that time of year again. Pack up your patio furniture and pool toys and make room for turkeys and […]


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November 18, 2012

Abuse Defined
Abuse Defined
  For those of us raised in Mormon homes, many of us women maybe even some men believed that unless […]


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November 15, 2012

LDSApology Broadening its Focus

Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that […]


Community Support
November 11, 2012

Reporting Child Abuse

 ”Every adult in this story failed the child because they didn’t go to police. Rather, they went to their church.”—Marci Hamilton “As […]

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Sally Field received the 2012 Human Rights Campaign Ally For Equality Award, and delivered a very touching and emotional speech about her gay son Sam below.


This is no performance, and Sally is not reading a script. This is her real life and her true feelings and thoughts. She had not addressed her son’s sexuality before in public stating that she felt it was his business and not hers to do so.  Through this speech Sally provides an example and understanding in supporting members of the LGBT community that we wish every parent and friend had.
Sam said of his mom “Being gay was just one more thing she loved about me.”
We hope that these words will long be remembered and shared and that our society will grow to understand, love and accept all the differences that make up our great, diverse and wonderful world.
 ”There are so many children who struggle to understand and embrace their sexuality in families who do not welcome them, with parents that somehow find it acceptable to shut them out their hearts and their homes, and that I find unacceptable.”—Sally Field

Return to LDSApology.org Support

  

Recent Posts
John Dehlin, MormonStories.org and Faith Reconstruction
Supporting LGBT Family & Friends
Facing East, The Movie
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Victim Takes Down Legend, Becomes Hero to Many

Archives
February 2013
December 2012
November 2012
 .

Community Support
November 18, 2012

Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
It’s that time of year again. Pack up your patio furniture and pool toys and make room for turkeys and […]


Community Support
November 18, 2012

Abuse Defined
Abuse Defined
  For those of us raised in Mormon homes, many of us women maybe even some men believed that unless […]


News & Updates
November 15, 2012

LDSApology Broadening its Focus

Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that […]


Community Support
November 11, 2012

Reporting Child Abuse

 ”Every adult in this story failed the child because they didn’t go to police. Rather, they went to their church.”—Marci Hamilton “As […]

.

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 November 20, 2012

Resources







From Despair to Hope Memorial Service
Supporting LGBT Family & Friends



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John Dehlin, MormonStories.org and Faith Reconstruction
Supporting LGBT Family & Friends
Facing East, The Movie
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Victim Takes Down Legend, Becomes Hero to Many

Archives
February 2013
December 2012
November 2012
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Community Support
November 18, 2012

Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
It’s that time of year again. Pack up your patio furniture and pool toys and make room for turkeys and […]


Community Support
November 18, 2012

Abuse Defined
Abuse Defined
  For those of us raised in Mormon homes, many of us women maybe even some men believed that unless […]


News & Updates
November 15, 2012

LDSApology Broadening its Focus

Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that […]


Community Support
November 11, 2012

Reporting Child Abuse

 ”Every adult in this story failed the child because they didn’t go to police. Rather, they went to their church.”—Marci Hamilton “As […]

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 November 20, 2012

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From Despair to Hope Memorial Service
Supporting LGBT Family & Friends



Recent Posts
John Dehlin, MormonStories.org and Faith Reconstruction
Supporting LGBT Family & Friends
Facing East, The Movie
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Victim Takes Down Legend, Becomes Hero to Many

Archives
February 2013
December 2012
November 2012
 .

Community Support
November 18, 2012

Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
It’s that time of year again. Pack up your patio furniture and pool toys and make room for turkeys and […]


Community Support
November 18, 2012

Abuse Defined
Abuse Defined
  For those of us raised in Mormon homes, many of us women maybe even some men believed that unless […]


News & Updates
November 15, 2012

LDSApology Broadening its Focus

Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that […]


Community Support
November 11, 2012

Reporting Child Abuse

 ”Every adult in this story failed the child because they didn’t go to police. Rather, they went to their church.”—Marci Hamilton “As […]

.

LDS Apology.org © 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by WordPress. Designed by Woo Themes
.   This site is protected by Comment SPAM Wiper.

      
















Subscribe to RSS

LDS Apology.org   

 
 .
Home

About Us

Our History
»






Community
»



Support
»




Resources
  .

 November 20, 2012

Resources







From Despair to Hope Memorial Service
Supporting LGBT Family & Friends



Recent Posts
John Dehlin, MormonStories.org and Faith Reconstruction
Supporting LGBT Family & Friends
Facing East, The Movie
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Victim Takes Down Legend, Becomes Hero to Many

Archives
February 2013
December 2012
November 2012
 .

Community Support
November 18, 2012

Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
Holiday Emotional First Aid Kit
It’s that time of year again. Pack up your patio furniture and pool toys and make room for turkeys and […]


Community Support
November 18, 2012

Abuse Defined
Abuse Defined
  For those of us raised in Mormon homes, many of us women maybe even some men believed that unless […]


News & Updates
November 15, 2012

LDSApology Broadening its Focus

Originally founded in 2009 to support the LGBT community, is broadening its focus to include other forms of abuse that […]


Community Support
November 11, 2012

Reporting Child Abuse

 ”Every adult in this story failed the child because they didn’t go to police. Rather, they went to their church.”—Marci Hamilton “As […]

.

LDS Apology.org © 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by WordPress. Designed by Woo Themes
.   This site is protected by Comment SPAM Wiper.