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By Eduk Seattle Chapter Leader When I moved to Seattle from Los Angeles in October of 2004, I didn't know many people in my new hometown. When in Los Angeles, I had attended some Affirmation events and enjoyed meeting new friends, especially gay and lesbian ones who shared my background in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When I learned the Seattle Chapter had stopped meeting, I decided to re-organize it. I contacted the executive committee and also a local former Affirmation leader, who served as my guide in restarting the Seattle Chapter. I believe it is important to have sources of support for LDS gay and lesbian people, especially when they are struggling to come out and be the person they were created to be. One Sunday about four years ago the spirit moved me to bear my testimony at the local singles ward, including my testimony that I was a gay man. I wanted people to understand the strength I had gained from my Church membership, and how that very strength and emphasis on truth led me to be honest about who I was. Other people seemed to be inspired by my example, which is why I recently suggested making May 7 "coming out to your ward day". I organize events for Affirmation because I believe sharing good times with people of like backgrounds can help ease this process. Through these social activities they can see it is possible to be out and also happy and living well. While it seems that the emotional and spiritual turmoil of those coming out today is less intense than what I observed in years past, there are still those in the Mormon community who struggle with their sexual orientation and faith. I also wonder about the many people who have contacted Affirmation, yet not found the confidence to come in person to an event. Are they in need of supportive friends? It is good that Affirmation be there for these people as well as those who are comfortable with who they are. We all need friends, and Seattle Affirmation welcomes everyone and their friends and families too! In the next year we hope to have many more social events in Seattle. We are also looking forward to participating in the Affirmation conference taking place this October in nearby Portland, Oregon. Perhaps we can also include a service oriented project in the year's schedule. I am participating in a charitable project called "The Giving Tree" and will invite all my friends to help by painting miniature wooden toys which will be used as tree ornaments on a tree which will be auctioned for charity. The toy ornaments will also be made by a charity. I hope many Affirmation members will join me in helping others as we grow in our own friendships. This is the essence of what I learned during my time in the Church and want to take forward with me.
by Jason Giles, Portland Conference Chair In March 2004, Portland, Oregon made international news when marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples by Multnomah County. For the 2006 International Affirmation Conference, we are excited to announce that Serena Cruz Walsh has agreed to be our keynote speaker. As one of the Multnomah County Commissioners, Serena Cruz Walsh was instrumental in trying to establish equal marriage rights for all U.S. citizens, at least in one U.S. county. Why would this public servant with an LDS background take this stand, going against the traditional values of her church and government, and putting herself at risk of receiving a great deal of public backlash? Join us at the 2006 Affirmation Conference from October 20-22, and hear Serena Cruz Walsh recount this exciting moment in American history.
Defending Whose Marriage? Affirmation Responds to the Religious Coalition for Marriage Petition 25 April 2006 Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons believes that the United States Constitution should remain a testament to civil liberty and equality for all people, and that discrimination has no place in it. Encouraging committed relationships, not fighting against them, will bring about a stronger and more just society. Understanding and love have never been achieved by isolating one group of citizens for attack. It is regrettable to see the signature of LDS Apostle Russell M. Nelson on a recent petition that seeks to enshrine discrimination in the Constitution. The proposed amendment will foster potentially life-threatening anti-gay sentiments in our society, while weakening and preventing legal protections for devoted gay and lesbian couples. This amendment threatens efforts to make safe havens of all homes, and injects unnecessary pain and fear into the lives of children and extended families. The amendment will protect nothing, will preserve no one's marriage, and will neither maintain nor strengthen any family. No singular religious interpretation should ever be legislated as the law of the land. Affirmation asks those who believe in equal treatment for all citizens to contact their senators. Urge them to reject this attempt to write discrimination into the founding document of the United States and to stand firm against discrimination in any form. Olin Thomas, Alyson Bolles, and James Morris Executive Committee Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons Hundreds Protest BYU's Policies towards Gays Twenty-four Arrested during Historic Demonstrations
April 2006 Unauthorized speeches, a rally, a march, and a historic "die-in" forced Brigham Young University officials for the first time to confront pro-gay demonstrations held in their own backyard. On April 10 some 200 demonstrators heard Matt Kulisch, a 23-year-old BYU student and returned missionary, speak at a rally held in a park adjacent to BYU's Provo campus. Kulisch shared an experience he had when he survived a potentially deadly car accident. After the mishap, Kulisch's mother told him it would have been better if God had taken him from the earth rather than leave him to be gay. "The sad part," Kulisch added, "is I believed her." The events were sponsored by Soulforce as part of their national ride to protest the climates of homophobia and condemnation that GLBT people endure in religious and military colleges around the country. On April 11 Kulisch and other BYU students joined a march that ended on university property. The marchers were arrested, beginning with Kulisch. Before being arrested, the demonstrators staged a "die-in" in memory of 24 gay Mormons who have committed suicide since 1965. The "die-in" lasted more than an hour. Each participant waited while the biography of a gay Mormon who had committed suicide was read. The demonstrators then walked to a field carrying a lily and collapsed on the grass. "My church has always taught me the principle of standing for something true," said Kulisch. "My integrity demanded this message of God's love for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people be told in its entirety. Others have died because they did not receive this message. If I can't put my life on the line in their memory, then I'm not being who I should be." Lauren Jackson, who is straight, was one of the BYU students arrested during the "die-in" event. "I'm not advocating a gay lifestyle," said Jackson. "I've known people who have come out to me and who have struggled within the [LDS] Church. An anti-Christ-like attitude exists among many Church members." Jackson was joined by her boyfriend Alex Liberato, who recently returned from serving an LDS mission in Chile. BYU student Emil Pohling did not participate in the march but told the press he will leave BYU because he constantly worries he will be disciplined under BYU's so-called "Honor Code" system. "I'm constantly in fear of doing something that would have some repercussions," said Pohling. "The counselor I spoke to said any implicit or explicit act or show of homosexuality is subject to investigation or review by the Honor Code Office. I'm worried that anything I do, including this interview, may be considered implicit or explicit behavior." Pohling says he knows at least 50 gay or lesbian BYU students. Owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), BYU ranks among the most homophobic campuses in the US. Over the years gay and lesbian students have been routinely entrapped, spied on, forced to undergo electroshock aversion therapy, and summarily expelled from the university. To see more pictures of this historic event, visit www.affirmation.org/news/2006_34.shtml.
The Utah Pride Interfaith Council is pleased to announce the 2006 Pride Interfaith Service, to take place on Saturday June 3rd at 3 PM in the Library Plaza in downtown Salt Lake City. This year's service is themed "Praise You! Praise Me! Praise God!" and will feature contributions from many and diverse faith traditions. We will celebrate our lives and our spirituality as queer folk in an outdoor service with dancing, smudging, drumming, meditation, embodied prayer, responsorial prayer, and several uplifting and inspiring messages. Special performances will be given by the Dark Moon Drummers of SVUUS, as well as the UCC's Twist of Faith and several other dynamic speakers and musical groups. Faith groups that are participants in this year's Pride Interfaith Service include Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons, South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, Sacred Light of Christ Metropolitan Community Church, Family Fellowship, Gamofites, More Light Presbyterians Ministry, LDS Reconciliation, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ogden, Holladay United Church of Christ, The Restoration Church of Jesus Christ, The Kanzeon Zen Center, and several other faith groups of Christian, Jewish, Non-Denominational, Pagan, Native American, and Eastern Traditions. Other participants include Twist of Faith, the Dark Moon Drummers Guild, P-FLAG-SLC, individuals from the GLCCU, the Utah Pride Day Council, among others. Make your plans now to join us! For more information, visit www.utahprideinterfaith.org
What's So Queer about Mormons? Radio Show Explores the Question “Being Queer Is Just as Special and Peculiar as Being Mormon” By Paula Smith April 2006 "I believe that Utah may just be the most queer state ever," says returned missionary and gay activist Troy Williams. "And I'm not talking about queer in the sense that we have several gay bars… I'm talking about how people outside of Utah look on us with a strange gaze of puzzlement and confusion." Williams is the host of Now Queer This!, a radio show which airs on Wednesdays from Salt Lake City's KRCL. On April 12, the show explored Utah's queerness with the help of anthropologist David Knowlton and social historian D. Michael Quinn. "Utah and the Mormons have been queer to the nation for a long time," said Knowlton. "There's always been this suspicion of what Mormons do in their bedrooms." Knowlton discovered this as a teenager, when he went to a rodeo in Calgary, Canada, and was asked whether it's true that Mormons have orgies inside the temples. "These are the folklore things that abound in the West," said Knowlton. "To the nation, we're queer. It goes all the way back to polygamy, and yet we're still queer." Knowlton, who served an LDS mission in Bolivia, explained that in Latin America Mormon missionaries, always going two by two, stand out as peculiar. "And people speculate what they do with each other. From the Latin American perspective, it's not expected for people be celibate, so people assume the missionaries are doing each other." Mormon historian Michael Quinn agrees with Knowlton in noting that polygamy is one of the things that makes Mormons queer. "Once it became widely know that Mormons were practicing plural marriage, the reaction became very hostile," said Quinn. "People regarded the departure from traditional marriage as a threat to the society at large. There were people who said, 'This is a terrible thing because, if allowed to continue, it will destroy our civilization.'" According to Quinn, this is how Mormons came to be defined as Other. "But they were Other not only in religious belief—Mormons almost became a separate entity, a separate ethnic group. They were perceived as being aliens, even though they were overwhelmingly native-born Americans. They were perceived as alien in their behaviors and therefore aliens to the values of good Americans." "In a sense Mormonism really helped me along the way of being gay…" reflected Williams. "I want all Mormons to know being queer is just as special and peculiar as being Mormon." Said Williams: "I grew up, like all Mormons do, hearing about how in the last days the prophet will call his people to once again live plural marriage. When the day comes, we queers will put aside our differences and join with you in solidarity to repeal Amendment 3. Yes, we will stand in common cause with the Latter-day Saints, so that you can marry according to the dictates of your faith and we can marry according to the dictates of our hearts." "After all, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was just sealed to his second wife last week. He's now sealed to two women for time and all eternity. Which now makes Elder Nelson a polygamist." You can listen to KRCL at 90.9 FM or on the web at http://www.krcl.org  .
by Gary Watts May 2006 As the parent of gay children, I am saddened and disappointed by the LDS Church's endorsement of the proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as "the exclusive union of one man and one woman." Once again, the church has decided to cross the gulf separating church and state in an attempt to impose its belief on a minority for what is deemed a moral issue. I believe my gay children have the right to find a partner and live in a committed, monogamous relationship just as my straight children do. Marriage in this country is a civil right and should be available to all citizens who desire it. Religious institutions have the right to perform only those marriages that are in accord with their own belief and practice. They do not, and should not have the right to impose their religious belief on those who believe otherwise. It has been just more than 100 years since the church found itself on the other side of a marriage controversy and was adamant at that time that its constitutional rights were being trampled by the majority. In 100 years the church has made the journey from the "trampled" to the "trampler." Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons P.O. Box 46022 Los Angeles, CA 90046 National Phone Line: (661) 367-2421 To see a directory of current Affirmation chapters, visit www.affirmation.org/chapters Executive Director: Olin Thomas Senior Assistant Director: Alyson Bolles Assistant Director: James Morris Associate Director & Affinity Editor: (affirmationLDS  earthlink.net)
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