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Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons—Serving Gay & Lesbian Mormons and Their Family and Friends Since 1977
Deadlines for Affirmation Conference Approaching
Conference Program Is Rich, Diverse, Thought-provoking, and Fun
by Hugo Salinas, Affirmation webmaster
As an organization, no event is more important for us than the opportunity to share a weekend together in our annual family reunion. At a time when people worry about the economy, Affirmation members are discovering that flying to Salt Lake City is inexpensive, and that the hotel rates, starting at $89, are also a bargain. Conference registration for Affirmation members is set at $159, with a $20 discounts for first timers and the possibility of 50% discount scholarships for students and others with limited income.
In order to take full advantage of these savings, you must act before the deadlines. This means reserving a room before August 16 and registering for the conference before August 21. If you’re flying to Salt Lake, purchase your plane ticket early. During the recession, airlines are competing fiercely. On the weekend of September 18-20 you can fly from either San Francisco or Los Angeles for approximately $200. Flying from Portland is even cheaper. For those coming from Phoenix, Delta Airlines and U.S. Airways offer direct flights for as little as $232. For those coming from Washington DC, Delta offers direct flights from both Dulles and National for about $300. These prices are for round trips and include taxes.
In this issue of Affinity, we are including a preliminary program which speaks for itself. The conference organizers have put together a program that is solid, diverse, and packed with events from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening. From gay and lesbian to straight and transgender, from people who are active in the LDS Church to those have moved on or have never been members, from writers and scholars to artists, entertainers, and community leaders, the program promises a conference that will be rich, diverse, thought-provoking, and fun.
And how about venturing out of Fort Douglas? Here, again, Salt Lake is unbeatable: TRAX will take you downtown in minutes. And contrary to what some think, Salt Lake has a vibrant gay community—so vibrant, in fact, that it has been featured in a recent article in The Nation.
If you are a chapter leader, a national leader, or are thinking about getting more involved in Affirmation, please arrive by 2:00 PM on Friday and attend our annual council of chapter representatives. The meeting is open to all Affirmation members. If this is your first conference, please join us by 5:00 PM for a First Timers orientation.
If you’re coming by plane, you will have to decide whether to fly back on Sunday afternoon or on Monday. The last plenary session of the conference is a lunch scheduled to end by 2:15 PM, but the conference organizers have put together additional events which will run until 6:30 PM—including a Family Fellowship Forum which I highly recommend.
If you have discovered Affirmation recently and are not sure whether you want to get involved, I simply invite you to come and see for yourself what we’re all about. If you are single, this might be your chance to meet that returned missionary you always dreamed of! If you are not single, consider bringing your partner or spouse and your children with you. Whatever your circumstances and whatever your budget, I invite you to join us September 18-20 in Salt Lake City to see what The View from Here is all about.
Affirmation Calendar 2009
June 9 - July 5
Facing East staged in Long Beach
July 10
Deadline to register for the
Young Adult Cornerstone in San Francisco
July 17-18
Young Adult Cornerstone in San Francisco
July 17-19
Executive Committee Meeting in San Francisco
July 17-20
Since Psychopathia Sexualis staged in New York City
July 24
Pioneer Day
August 1
Deadline to submit nominations for the
Mortensen Award
August 3
Deadline for submissions to the Affirmation Writing Awards
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August 16
Deadline to reserve a room at the Conference Hotel
August 21
Deadline to register for the annual conference at reduced rate of $159
September 5
Deadline to register for the annual conference at reduced rate of $179
September 18-20
Affirmation's Annual Conference in Salt Lake City, UT
October 10-11
2009 March for Equality in Washington, DC
October 11
National Coming Out Day
December 1
World AIDS Day
December 8-9
Anniversary. Affirmation was organized nationally in Los Angeles (1979).
December 25
Christmas
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Preliminary Program for Affirmation Conference
The program is subject to last minute changes. For more information about the conference, visit www.affirmation2009.com.
 Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Map of Fort Douglas
| Friday, September 18 |
| 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM |
Council of Chapter Representatives |
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| 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM |
Registration Open |
Foyer, University Guest House |
| 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM |
First Timers Orientation |
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| 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM |
Gathering: Food & Socializing |
Officers Club |
| 8:00 PM |
Jason & deMarco Concert |
Libby Gardner Hall
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| Saturday, September 19 |
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Early Morning Yoga |
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Breakfast |
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| 8:15 AM – 9:00 AM |
Opening Plenary Session
- Marie Soderburg, “What Is Your View?”
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| 9:15 AM – 10:15 AM |
Saturday Morning Workshops, First Block
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Guest House Meeting Rooms |
| 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM |
Saturday Morning Workshops, Second Block
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Guest House Meeting Rooms |
| 11:45 AM – 12:45 AM |
Saturday Morning Workshops, Third Block
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Guest House Meeting Rooms |
| 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM |
Luncheon |
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| 4:45 PM – 5:45 PM |
Affirmation Chorus Rehearsal |
Post Theater |
| 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM |
Awards Banquet
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Sunday, September 20 |
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Early Morning Yoga |
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| 6:30 AM – 8:00 AM |
Breakfast |
Guest House, or on your own |
| 8:30 AM – 10: 30 AM |
Music & the Spoken Word |
Temple Square |
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11:15 AM – 12:15 PM |
Devotional |
Post Theater |
| 12:45PM – 2:15 PM |
Luncheon |
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| 2:30 PM - 3:15 PM |
Film Premiere, Voicings |
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| 3:30 PM – 4:30 |
Theater Reading, Borderlands |
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| 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM |
Family Fellowship Forum
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“A Tribute to Our GLBT Children”
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Affirmation Leaders to Meet During Conference
The Leadership Meeting Will Be Held September 18 at 2:00 PM in Fort Douglas
Affirmation's Council of Chapter Representatives will be meet during our annual conference. The meeting will take place at 2:00 PM on Friday, September 18, 2009, at Fort Douglas on the University of Utah campus, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Council (sometimes referred to at the Leadership Council) is the second-highest governing body in Affirmation; only the full membership meeting in the Annual Conference is superior. Although any Affirmation member may attend meetings of the Council, voting is limited to one representative of each chapter, plus one additional member appointed to represent the Chapter-At-Large.
Affirmation’s bylaws require that the leader of each chapter qualified to vote must notify the Executive Director in advance of the name and address of the person who will be representing the chapter at this meeting. Chapter leaders may fulfill this obligation by contacting Executive Director David Melson at dave_melson affirmation.org prior to September 16, 2009.
September’s meeting will include media training for chapter leaders and those who desire to serve as leaders on the chapter, national, or international level, as well several business items, and a report by the Executive Committee on the state of Affirmation. We are asking chapter leaders, chapter representatives, and those who wish to attend this meeting to adjust your conference travel plans accordingly.
Affirmation co-founder Paul Mortensen (right) with husband Robert Jacob in 2008 |
Call for Nominations for the 2009 Mortensen Award
The Deadline is August 1st
It is time once again to call for nominations for Affirmation's highest
honor, the
Mortensen Award. The award is presented each year at our annual
conference to an individual who has served Affirmation in outstanding
leadership and service during the past year.
The criteria for selecting a nominee should be:
- Someone who is dedicated to the goals of Affirmation and has worked
toward achieving them.
- Someone who has shown outstanding leadership and service.
- Someone who is a self-starter and a motivator of others. And,
- Someone who is making a difference in the lives of others.
We ask that you look all around in Affirmation to find that one outstanding
individual and then submit a nomination to the selection committee.
The nomination should be in the form of a letter describing
the individual and listing all the reasons this individual is qualified
and should be selected. All members of Affirmation are eligible
for the Mortensen Award, including past recipients of the award.
Do not submit just a name. We need to know something about the individual
since the committee may not know her/him well.
The nominations must be received by August 1st, 2009--no
exceptions! E-mail them to Ricky Gilbert, chair of Mortensen Awards Committee. Please do not send copies to anyone else. Or mail them to the National Post
Office Box:
Affirmation
Attention: Mortensen Award Committee
Post Office Box 46022
Los Angeles, California 90046
The award recipient will be announced at the Affirmation Conference in Salt Lake City on September 19, 2009. The selection committee is made up of past recipients of the award.
Be sure to show this letter to everyone in your area. You may be the
one who should be nominated and you may not want to nominate yourself.
If you have any questions, contact Ricky Gilbert.
We look forward to seeing you at the Salt Lake City conference, which
is certainly going to be a great event. Please start thinking about
this award today and get your nomination in tomorrow.
Do Your Thoughts Actually Matter?
Deadline for the Affirmation Writing Awards Is Approaching
Do your thoughts actually matter?
Well no, actually. At least not if you don’t share them with anyone. And right now is the time to speak up and actually get recognition for doing so – and maybe even some cash.
The 2009 Affirmation writing Awards Competition is bigger this year than ever before, and includes:
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Personal accounts, articles, pretty much any sort of article that is relevant to Affirmation or its mission.
- Editorials, letters to the editor, op-ed pieces. There is no shortage of relevant things to comment on these days.
- Videos. Make a video for YouTube or FaceBook or just for Affirmation.
There is a deadline, there is an entry form, and there are some pretty simple rules, and you can find all of them at www.affirmation.org/awa. Don’t miss out!
Affirmation Wants to Recruit You… to March and to Speak
National Equality March on Washington, October 10-11, 2009
Affirmation has endorsed the National Equality March on Washington, planned for this October, and Affirmation’s Executive Committee is working closely with the leaders of the march.
Affirmation first gained national attention during the 1979 March on Washington for Gay Rights, and also participated in the 1987 March on Washington. The potential for positive change in the next year is greater than it has even been, and every voice is important.
Affirmation is asking you (and anyone that you know) to step up and do three things that will make a difference:
- This month, now, please write you U.S. Congress-person and your two U.S. Senators. Let them know that you are a constituent, that you are a gay person, and tell them how you feel about gay civil rights, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DATA), marriage equality, hate crimes legislation, and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Please let them know that you are a person of faith (if you so identify), a Mormon or former Mormon, and a member of Affirmation.
- Come out. Make a YouTube video or FaceBook posting. Tweet everyone you know. Have the conversation with friends, co-workers, family. If people know people who are gay, they by and large tend to be much more supportive of gay civil rights issues.
- Make plans to be in Washington with us on October 10 and 11. Bring a white shirt and a tie. If you don’t have a black name tag, we can supply them. We want the world to know that not all Mormons are anti-gay, bigoted, or homophobic. And for those who are, we want them to know that we have a voice and that we are ready to be heard.
The March on Washington starts now. You action or your inaction speaks loudly and sends a message to all who are watching. See you in D.C.!
Affirmation Leader Comes Out to Ward in Testimony Meeting
“Continue the dialogue. This is where the real work gets done.”
Affirmation’s assistant director George Cole bore his testimony in a local singles ward on June 7 as part of “Come Out to Your Ward” Day. In a clip posted on YouTube, George reports about his experience:
A lot of people have asked me how my “Come Out to [Your] Ward” Day went. It went really well. I didn’t deliver the testimony I thought I would have, but I got a lot of very good responses after fast and testimony meeting ended.
I got up about half way through, which was maybe kind of a gamble, but it went pretty well. No one said anything condemning afterward. And there was at least one kind of sideways affirming supportive statement—actually the testimony immediately following mine, the guy who was sitting two people down from the pew from me.
A lot of people spoke to me right afterward, shook my hand, thanked me for the testimony I gave. They really liked what I had to say. I got an invitation to the DIY “Break the Fast” at a member’s home where there was going to be a huge number of people, but I had other obligations Sunday evening.
In short, it went really well.
However, I did this in a young single adult ward in San Francisco. So take those two big grains of salt with my story. Not everyone has such a good experience. Not everyone has in the past. Not everyone will in the future. But now the hard work begins: I’ve done this step, where I’ve told a bunch of people I barely know that I’m gay. And though I felt rejected for so long, and though I don’t think I necessarily have a place, I think there is room for me, and other people like me, in the gospel.
So, the hard part is, talking to them. Maintaining an ongoing dialogue with them. Granted, [in this particular ward] they’re all under 30, and they’re all unmarried—which is going to color my experience. If I were doing this in a family ward, where most people have kids about ten years younger than I am, it would be a very different experience. But I’m doing it with my own peers. So this is where it’s going to be most effective for me.
If you’re an older person who got married to someone of the opposite sex and had a bunch of kids and then came out, speak to other people who are about your age and have a bunch of kids… You’re going to relate stories to them that I don’t know, that I don’t share.
Continue the dialogue. This is where the real work gets done.
I learned something at the creating change conference in Denver last January: If we want equality, we have to show up as equals.
It’s a different spot for me, having been excommunicated already. I’m an automatic non-participant. But I got to show up, and I got to do it. Even if I don’t really want to rejoin the Church, even if I don’t believe all the doctrine, there’s a spot for people like me. And until they stand up and speak for themselves, someone has to speak for them.
I’m going to do it. I hope you do, too.
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Affirmation Chile Holds Autumn Ball in Santiago
by Brus Leguás Contreras
On May 2, some 20 Affirmation members and friends gathered in the home of Esteban and Pablo in Providencia neighborhood, Santiago, Chile, for an Autumn Ball. (In the Southern hemisphere, autumn begins on March 20.) The event reminded the not-so-young among us of the Gold and Green Balls we once held in church.
We ate pizza and drank sodas. We also talked about Affirmation’s purpose, shared personal experiences, and emphasized the importance of spirituality in our lives. We spent hours talking and enjoying ourselves, and when we looked at the time, it was 4:00 AM.
Young Adult Event to Be Held July 17-18
by Robert Moore, Director of Affirmation’s Young Adults Program
Are you 18-30 years old? Are you gay, lesbian, bi, trans, queer…? Are/were you, your partner or a family member Mormon? If so, “I'm here to recruit you” – Harvey Milk
On July 17-18 Affirmation is holding a Young Adults Cornerstone Conference, “What is Right.”
Young GLBTQ Mormons hold a peculiar place among an already peculiar people. Many of us did not serve missions, and many more of us came out long before marrying in the temple. Our experience is so different from the generations who came before us. This is why we will gather in San Francisco this July.
The conference will be held at the Metropolitan Community Church in the Castro District of San Francisco. On Friday July 17th at 8pm we will kick off the conference with an informal reception. The following morning we will meet back at the MCC at 9am for a fun and interactive program
including:
- Brief statements and Q&A with Affirmation's Executive Committee.
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Including transgender persons, with Christian Wynder & George Cole. (Remember, it's LGB and T.)
- Activism and civil disobedience, with Kip Williams and Janine Carmona of One Struggle, One Fight.
- Dating and safer sex, with Luis Guerra of the STOP AIDS Project.
- Walking tour of the Castro area, led by San Francisco City Guides.
We're limiting the conference to young adults from 18 to 30 because safe spaces are important: Women will talk to each other about things they won't say in front of men; parents will say things to each other they won't say in front of their children; young adults will talk about things they won't to people who are much older or younger than they are. To honor young adults' place in our community, only they will participate in the whole event.
The registration form and additional information are available at www.affirmation.org/news/2009_050.shtml.
A $20 registration fee covers the event, meals and snacks. It’s an opportunity no Young Adult should miss. We suggest public transportation as parking in the Castro is very hard to find. MCC SF is three blocks or less from several rail and bus routes. Please visit www.511.org to find out how to get around San Francisco. If you need help with housing for the Cornerstone weekend, please contact Young Adults Director Robert Moore or Assistant Executive Director George Cole.
See you in San Francisco!
Other Stories Posted at www.affirmation.org
Utah Pride Center Honors Mormon Governor
Mormon Senator Harry Reid: No Sponsors for Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
“8: The Mormon Proposition:” An Interview with Director Reed Cowan
Online Petition Urges LDS Church to Soften Stance on Gays and Lesbians
Commission Probes Connection between NOM and LDS Church
Robert Kirby to Be Keynote at Affirmation Conference
Plan Underway to Take “Facing East” to the Silver Screen
Daniel Holsinger and Jay Christianson to Marry
Mormon Nonviolence 2009 Writing Contest
Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons
P.O. Box 1435
Palm Springs, CA 92263-1435
National Phone Line: (661) 367-2421
To see a directory of current Affirmation chapters, visit www.affirmation.org/chapters
Executive Director: Dave Melson
Senior Assistant Director: Micah Bisson
Assistant Director: George Cole
Associate Director & Affinity Editor: Hugo Salinas www.affirmation.org/contact/affinity
Send Us Your Submission!
AFFIRMATION GAY & LESBIAN MORMONS is a non-profit support group serving
Gay and Lesbian Mormons, their families and friends since 1977. AFFINITY
is the official publication of the Affirmation National Executive Committee.
Submissions are welcome and should be limited to 250 words. To contact us, visit www.affirmation.org/contact/affinity. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the editors, national committee or publisher, but rather
the individual writers. The Editor reserves the right to edit any material
deemed offensive, libelous, grammatically incorrect or lengthy.
About AFFINITY
AFFINITY is available both as an email text and as a web-based document.
Although both versions are free of charge, we encourage you to become
a dues-paying member and thus help us advance Affirmation's important
mission.
If you wish to receive a text version of AFFINITY by email, simply send a request to Hugo Salinas by visiting www.affirmation.org/contact/affinity. If you are a dues-paying member and do not have Internet
access, you may request a printed version that will be sent to you by
mail.
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