Affirmatn, the gay Mormon support group, has seen a ‘sea change’ s 40 years

Contents:

• AFFIRMATN, THE GAY MORMON SUPPORT GROUP, HAS SEEN A ‘SEA CHANGE’ S 40 YEARS
• GAY SUPPORT: WHERE TO FD LGBT HELP AND SUPPORT GROUPS

AFFIRMATN, THE GAY MORMON SUPPORT GROUP, HAS SEEN A ‘SEA CHANGE’ S 40 YEARS

It hosts annual meetgs several natns as well as a global gatherg Provo Fay FellowshipLnched 1993 by several sets of parents wh gay children, LDS Fay Fellowship staged nferenc and quarterly foms and sent a monthly newsletter, which clud “personal stori of LDS fai tryg to unrstand homosexualy as they nonted the disnnect between church teachgs and the realy of their liv. Ne Allgood of Mama Dragons giv out a ee hug at the Provo Pri Ftival 2013, a group of eight fairly tradnal Latter-day Sat moms created a private Facebook page to discs how bt to love and accept their lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr kids. Founr Allison Dayton grew up wh parents who bravely navigated lovg and supportg their openly gay son.

Affirmatn, a support group for gay Mormons, was born 1977, at a time when admissn of same-sex attractn among the LDS fahful was a matter of ner turmoil, ep shame and relig rejectn — even a e for the time, the LDS Church viewed their sexualy as perverse and sful, and their love as unholy. Any acceptance of gays had to be, 40 years later, hundreds the church’s LGBTQ muny, their fai and iends, are celebratg Affirmatn’s anniversary openly and wh gto at a three-day nference at the Utah Valley Conventn Center Provo — many embracg their gayns and their group has a full-time paid executive director, John Gtav-Wrathall, members more than a dozen untri and, by the end of 2017, will have hosted 19 events cludg regnal nferenc and this annual natnal this meetg, which began Friday, there were ssns for youths, mothers, fathers, alli, advot, people of lor, spo and LDS lay lears. ”The group has seen a “massive sea change, ” Gtav-Wrathall says, the relatnship between The Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats and s gay members.

”Affirmatn began as a simple effort by activists at Brigham Young Universy: Assure gay Mormons they were loved and not alone, while strivg to stop them om killg themselv. “You were eher ex-gay and Mormon or ex-Mormon and gay, ” says Gtav-Wrathall.

GAY SUPPORT: WHERE TO FD LGBT HELP AND SUPPORT GROUPS

”Even when parents were acceptg of their gay children, he says, “ was rare for them to bee public advot. ”Gtav-Wrathall’s own vout LDS mom and dad stggled wh how to balance parental love wh church standards, which, at the time, said even beg gay was a s. ”The executive director was exmunited om the church, but matas his Mormon belief and has been attendg his LDS ngregatn Mneapolis sce ’s LDS Church says beg gay is not a s, though actg on is.

It ntu to oppose gay marriage, though did support Salt Lake Cy’s and Utah’s anti-discrimatn measur. It also recently endorsed the LoveLoud ncert Orem, whose missn was to raise money to prevent gay suicis.

Ironilly, two of the church’s most visible actns — supportg California’s Proposn 8, which fed marriage as only between a man and a woman 2008 and, 2015, sayg that same-sex Mormon upl are “apostat” and generally barrg their offsprg om Mormon ruals until they turn 18 — propelled the nascent LDS gay rights movements greatly enlarged the number of Affirmatn participants, he says, but also stretched s rourc to meet the needs of an ever-growg populatn.