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by Olin Thomas, Executive Director Affirmation has members all over the world, but in some areas there are more than in other areas. Whenever three or more dues paying members join together, then there is a chapter of Affirmation. One of the great difficulties for the executive committee over the years has been how to keep in touch with these chapters and to encourage those attending them to participate with and contribute to the overall organization. The solution was to hold the executive committee meetings, which occur two or four times a year, in different cities and to invite the local chapter to participate. Former Executive Director Scott MacKay named these events "Cornerstones", because they would form the cornerstones of the Affirmation annual calendar. I have named 2006 the "Year of the Chapter" because it is our chapters that are the real backbone of Affirmation. In February a Cornerstone was held in Phoenix and in May we held another in Portland, Oregon. I deeply enjoy coming to Portland because the enthusiasm and warmth of the Affirmation members there is incredible. The weekend opened with a potluck social at the home of Jason Giles, chapter co-director and Conference 2006 chairperson, which was well attended and a great chance to meet both new and old friends. During the day on Saturday, we conducted business meetings at the home of host Alan Blodgett. Thank you for a wonderful turnout of the Conference Committee, as well as the participation of other Affirmation members such as Eduk, our Seattle Chapter director, Michael McGrorty, moderator of Afirmación Latino, our Spanish language discussion list, and Rebecca Nay, our transgender concerns director. Following the meetings, Alan and Bruce Bowers provided a great spaghetti dinner after which many Affirmation members and friends meet to enjoy the Starlight Parade together. On Sunday, we held more meetings and closed the day with a charming dinner hosted by Rick Fernández and Henry Miller. Thank you to everyone who made this a wonderful and productive weekend. If you would like to host a Cornerstone in your hometown, contact the executive director or another committee member. In recent years we have held Cornerstones in Long Beach, CA, Washington, DC, Portland, OR, Phoenix, AZ, Salt Lake City, UT, and Los Angeles, CA. We would love to visit more cities and more Affirmation Chapters!
It's time to cross the next bridge on your journey to the 2006 Affirmation Conference -- actually registering for it! The registration form is now available and we encourage you to register as soon as possible. You will need to print the form, fill it out and mail it in with payment. Here are some things to keep in mind. First, if you are not an Affirmation member, you pay $20 more to attend. Therefore, the best deal is to join Affirmation: for only $5 more, you will be a member for the whole year. You can also become a sustaining member at $50 a year, to show greater support. Perhaps you don't recall when your membership is due for renewal. In that case, go ahead and renew now to eliminate the worry. When it comes to payment, we accept Visa & MasterCard for your convenience, but the best option for Affirmation is to pay by check. We must pay the bank a 5.3% (plus 10 cents per transaction) fee on each credit card payment processed. Paying by check on a $159 registration fee and $25 renewal is like making an additional $9.85 donation to Affirmation. That can really add up! You will also notice other "additional payment" lines besides joining or renewing your Affirmation membership. The Irwin Phelps fund was established following the 1992 murder of Affirmation Executive Director Irwin Phelps to honor his memory. The funds donated are used to provide assistance to people who would otherwise be unable to attend the Conference. More details can be found on the website. In addition, the registration fee barely covers the costs associated with a conference. We want to keep the conference as affordable as possible and to do so additional donations from those able to help will allow us to keep registration costs down each year. These additional donations are completely tax deductible (conference registration is not). Most importantly, keep the schedule of events in mind as you make your travel plans and book your room. A full schedule will be printed in an upcoming Affinity, but here is what you need to know to make the most of your trip. The core events of the Conference will be between about 5:00 pm Friday, October 20 and 2:00 PM Sunday, October 22. However, we will hold the annual meeting of the Council of Chapter Representatives beginning at 2:00 PM on Friday. All Chapters should ensure that a representative (or more) arrives early enough to attend this meeting. This is the annual business meeting for Affirmation and all interested members are encouraged to attend. Following the conference, there is an optional tour of the Columbia River gorge: one of the most beautiful natural areas in the United States. A $10 fee is being requested to cover transportation costs, though you'll need to pay for food separately. This tour will begin after the luncheon on Sunday and return to the hotel in the early evening. If you wish to stay for this event, we suggest you not plan on your return travel until Monday. Register now and mark your calendar for "Bridging Our Journeys". Don't worry -- if you have a family or work emergency, we will graciously refund your registration, up to Oct. 16. A successful conference is one with you in it!
A famous country song once said “I never promised you a rose garden”, but Affirmation can: just book a room at the Doubletree Portland-Lloyd Center for the 2006 Conference “Bridging Our Journeys” and you’ll find not one but three major rose gardens in this “City of Roses.” Affirmation has fifty rooms reserved for Friday, October 20 and Saturday, October 21 and twenty rooms for Sunday, October 22. We have negotiated a special flat rate of only $114 per night (plus tax) regardless of the number of people in the room. You can book for up to three days before or after these dates at the same rate, subject to availability (that is, at the hotel’s discretion.) Follow the directions below to reserve your room now, while the availability is still good. To reserve a room, call 1-800-996-0510 and ask for the “Affirmation Conference” room block and rate. You can also book on line at http://doubletree.hilton.com. Put in the dates and city and when you see our hotel name, click on the “View Rates” box below and on the right. Do NOT select the more obvious link of the hotel name. On the next screen will be a box “Need to book multiple group reservations?” Select this and enter our group code AFC, check that you accept the rules and enter. The next screen should have “Affirmation Conf” at the top and show our rate of $114. Be aware that both the toll free reservations number and the website can only be used to book rooms on October 20, 21 & 22. If you wish to include dates other than October 20, 21 & 22 in your stay, you will need to call the hotel directly at 1-503-281-6111 and ask for reservations (#1 on the phone tree). The in house reservations department is open 7:00 – 5:00 Mon-Fri ONLY (Pacific Time). If you are on hold over 1.5 minutes, it will roll over to central reservations. Unfortunately, they do not have the ability to reserve rooms outside our three day room block at the special rate, so you’ll have to make those reservations “in house” during the specified hours. If you have difficulties, you may call the reservations supervisor Michelle Kirn directly at 503-331-4915, or at m_kirn2  portlanddoubletree.com. (Please only do this if you have problems.) In addition to regular rooms (1 or 2 beds), we have a special rate of $164 per night for Lanai Suites and $189 for Parlor Suites (both very limited in number.) Lanai Suites have a king size bed and a pull out sofa and are $179 for more than two people. Parlor Suites have only one king bed, and are thus limited to two people, but have a Jacuzzi tub. Full details about all hotel amenities may be found on the Doubletree website. You must make reservations by SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 to get the special conference rate, but don't delay because the if our room block fills up you are more likely to get special consideration earlier than near the deadline. You may cancel your reservation 72 hours prior to the day of arrival without penalty. If you reserve and are a “no show”, you’ll be charged for one night. Checking out earlier than you reserved for will result in an early departure fee of $25.00. Parking at the hotel is $9.00 per day for Affirmation Conference attendees staying at the hotel (the regular rate is $18 to $21 per day.) All meetings and events will be at this hotel (or leaving from it), so if you are attending, please stay here. Not only will it be more convenient, but it will support Affirmation. Our hotel contract requires that we use a large percentage of our room block in order to qualify for free meeting space in the hotel. Without your room reservations, we will have to pay for additional rooms. So stay at the Doubletree with all your friends and get the warm chocolate chip cookies the Doubletree’s are famous for!
“The Church got sucked into the jets of cynical GOP political strategy” by Matt Christensen June 2006 The U.S. Senate rejected on June 7 a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, despite a carefully orchestrated political campaign in which the LDS Church joined a right-wing religious coalition and urged Mormon congregations to help pass the bill. If passed, the measure would have started the process of writing discrimination against gay and lesbian couples into the Constitution. Mormon senators Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Bob Bennett, R-Utah, Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Gordon Smith, R-Oregon, voted for the so called "Marriage Protection Act," while Mormon Senator and minority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted against it. "For me it is clear the reason for this debate is to divide our society, to pit one against another," Reid wrote on his website. "This is another one of the President's efforts to frighten, to distort, to distract, and to confuse America. It is this Administration's way of avoiding the tough, real problems that American citizens are confronted with each and every day." Columnist Holly Mullen critiqued the role of the LDS Church in the stunt. "On the amendment matter — whether intentional or not — the [LDS] church got sucked into the jets of cynical GOP political strategy," Mullen wrote June 8 in The Salt Lake Tribune. "Bush took a desperate dive to shore up his lagging approval and his party by pushing a plan destined to fail from the first. For LDS leaders to align themselves personally with this transparent political ploy seems beneath its public reputation for repudiating hands-on political involvement, and frankly, for trying to do good." "The president failed this time," Mullen added. "As did the church."
LDS Safe Space Coalition to Send Flowers as an Expression of Dissent May 29, 2006 Washington, DC — Many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were alarmed to hear political calls over church pulpits throughout the United States on May 28th urging members to contact their Senators in support of an anti-gay federal Marriage Amendment. Latter-day Saints across the Church who feel uncomfortable with political directives being involved in worship services are banding together to call on LDS leadership to hold more closely to its professed policy of separation of church and state. Church members have created the LDS Safe Space Coalition to call for more safe space for gay members, their families, and loved ones within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Coalition is currently mounting a Safe Space Campaign to send thousands of pink flowers to the First Presidency in protest of recent anti-gay political measures by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Church members were disturbed by the LDS leadership's decision to back the conservative Religion Coalition for Marriage in pushing for federal legislation to define marriage as solely between a man and a woman. Many report that gay and lesbian members in the Church are left with no choice but to live in perpetual silence, distance themselves from family and friends, or in many cases commit suicide. Mormon blogs and discussion groups from coast to coast have been active with expressions of dismay over Salt Lake's political directives against gay marriage. After hearing the First Presidency's letter read in church on Sunday, an LDS mother on the East Coast was troubled: "It's like we're back in the days where Brigham Young could promise 'the Mormon vote' on any issue. After all, when the prophet speaks, the thinking has been done. That's so alarming to me." A young Mormon on the West Coast agreed: "What's next? A 'Vote for Mitt Romney' order handed down to the obedient drones in the church from Salt Lake?" The LDS Safe Space Coalition is planning its campaign send pink flowers to Church Headquarters as an expression of peaceful dissent. The Safe Space Declaration reads, in part, "The color pink has been embraced worldwide as a symbol of Safe Space, a reminder of the prejudices and torture of the past, and a commitment to creating safe spaces for all of God's children to progress together as equals. The Church we believe in embodies the safest of all spaces, built firmly on the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." For more information, visit www.ldssafespace.org.
“An attempt to write discrimination into the Constitution for the first time in 230 years” by Matt Christensen May 2006 Mormon Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is asking his supporters to join him in opposing Senator Frist in his attempts to write discrimination against gays and lesbians into the U.S. Constitution. "Each week, Senator Frist and the Republican Leadership make choices about the Senate agenda," wrote Senator Reid in a letter sent to supporters. "They could focus our work on record high gas prices, the war in Iraq, or skyrocketing health care costs." "But there's an ugly truth: it's election season and down-in-the-polls Republicans are turning to their same old playbook—fear and division," wrote Senator Reid. "During the week of June 5th, Bill Frist, in an attempt to appease extreme right wing elements of the Republican Party, has promised that the Senate will vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment and attempt to write discrimination into the Constitution for the first time in 230 years." "Join me in telling Senator Frist, ‘The Senate should be working on real issues — not writing discrimination into the Constitution’ by visiting http://giveemhellharry.com/realissues  ." Senator Reid calls the amendment divisive and unnecessary. "[It] would undermine the Constitution," Reid wrote, "[and] has overwhelmingly failed each time the Senate has voted on it. ... Now, more than ever, it's time to focus on security, solutions for the high cost of healthcare and gas prices." "We need a President and a Congress that doesn't play divisive politics," Reid added. "At a time of war, Republicans should unite the country, not divide and undermine its founding principles."
“Elder Nelson practices a theology that extends the name ‘marriage’ to a union between a man and multiple women” May 2006 Calling his participation “deceptive,” petitioners are asking the Religious Coalition for Marriage to remove the name of one of its members from a letter he signed opposing gay marriage. Citizens for Mormon Honesty are asking the conservative coalition to remove the signature of Russell M. Nelson, a Mormon apostle whom they accuse of believing in polygamy and being eternally bound to two women. "Elder Nelson believes in polygamy," reads the website RemoveNelson.net . "As a matter of fact, only days before signing the petition, Elder Nelson married his second wife in a Mormon temple, thus becoming eternally bound to two women. ... It is deceptive of Elder Nelson to sign a petition that defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman when he practices a theology that extends the name "marriage" to a union between a man and multiple women."On April 6 Nelson, who became a widower a year ago, married BYU professor Wendy Lee Jackson, who is 26 years his junior. According to Mormon theology, in the afterlife Nelson will be entitled to his two wives. To learn more about this initiative, visit RemoveNelson.net . To sign the petition, go to petitiononline.com/ekerilaz/petition.html.
“Rolling Stone” Features Two Gay Mormons Brus: “I stubbornly continue to consider myself a Mormon” by Seba Martinez May 2006 The Chilean edition of the magazine Rolling Stone featured two members of Affirmation Chile in a May 2006 article titled "El Otro Rebaño" ("The Other Flock"). Brus Leguás Contreras, founder and president of Affirmation in Chile, is featured along with Marcelo Leiva, who til recently served as director of Affirmation in Santiago de Chile. "To be Mormon is part of my life," said Marcelo during the Rolling Stone interview. "I can interpret the law of chastity as it applies to my life. There's virtue in the fact that I have a partner and am faithful to him." In a section dedicated to Brus Leguás Contreras, the article describes many of the challenges Brus has had to overcome, including the death of his partner of 10 years, his excommunication from the Mormon Chruch, and a recent fire that almost completely destroyed his home. The article describes Brus as "an affable person who despite [so much adversity] never loses his optimism or sense of humor." "Despite my excommunication, I have never considered myself to be out of the Chruch," said Brus. "My relationship with God is personal. In this day and age the Church has to come to realize that its conceptions about sexuality are wrong. I stubbornly continue to consider myself a Mormon." 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)
AFFIRMATION GAY & LESBIAN MORMONS is a non-profit support group serving
Gay and Lesbian Mormons, their families and friends since 1977. AFFINITY
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