October 2006

The Mortensen Award was established, under the direction of Ron Kershaw, in 1987. It was decided the award would be given annually to the one individual who had given outstanding service and leadership to Affirmation. It is the only continuing award Affirmation presents and it tries to recognize the best people in the organization. The past recipients are:

1987 - Paul Mortensen 1988 - Clifford Barnes (†) 1989 - Ina Mae Murri 1990 - Irwin Phelps (†) 1991 - Ron Kershaw (†) 1992 - Larry Gates 1993 - Rick Fernández

1994 - Tere LaGiusa & Jacki Riedeman 1995 - James Kent 1996 - Duane Jennings 1997 - Ricky Gilbert 1998 - David Johnson 1999 - Henry Miller 2000 - Alan Blodgett

2001 - Scott MacKay 2002 - Olin Thomas 2003 - Ben Jarvis 2004 - Mike Miner 2005 - Hugo Salinas 2006 - Brus Leguás Contreras 2007 - James Morris & Aaron Vinck

The selection committee for the award is composed of past recipients. Each year, around July, a call is sent out to all Affirmation leaders, chapters and groups asking for nominations. Anyone may nominate any individual or you may even nominate yourself. The receipt of nomination letters constitutes the only people considered for the award.

The award was established and intended to always be an award for service to Affirmation. This is the only consideration in the selection of the recipient. We greatly applaud those wonderful souls in our midst who also make great contributions to the gay and lesbian community at large. We especially applaud those people who have made outstanding efforts in the Mormon community through related groups such as Family Fellowship, Gamofites and others in increasing the understanding of the gay and lesbian Mormon community.

But because the Mortensen Award is intended to honor only service and leadership to Affirmation, the winner is decided totally on the merits of the nomination letters received and the contributions to Affirmation as spelled out in those letters.

Brus Leguás Contreras

2006 Mortensen Award Presentation

The Mortensen Award, Affirmation's highest honor, is presented each year at our annual conference to an individual who has served Affirmation in outstanding leadership and service. This year's nominees were Alyson Bolles, Brus Leguás Contreras, Jason Giles, Aaron Vinck, and James Morris. The award went to Brus Leguás Contreras, founder and president of Affirmation Chile. Here's the remarks made by Hugo Salinas as he presented the award:

This year’s award is unusual in that it honors someone who has established Affirmation not in a city, but in a whole country. Three and a half years ago Brus Leguás Contreras launched Affirmation Chile. He was completely alone, he didn’t speak English, and he had limited financial resources. Today Affirmation Chile is a national organization with chapters and contacts extending from Iquique in the north to Futaleufú in the south. Brus Leguás Contreras is the Paul Mortensen of Chile.

In building up Affirmation Chile, Brus has been the architect, the contractor, and the brick layer. Because of his efforts, stories about Affirmation have appeared in Chile’s newspapers, websites, and magazines. Brus has created websites, mailing lists, and newsletters. He has produced materials in Spanish and in Portuguese. He has promoted Affirmation at suicide vigils, gay pride events, and interfaith services. He has set up booths, marched carrying the Affirmation banner, started a program of family home evenings, and launched “Institute classes” for gay Mormons. Despite living 60 miles away from Santiago and depending on public transportation, he has organized Affirmation conferences and events in Santiago, the capital of Chile.

The last two years have been very hard for Brus: In December 2004 he was excommunicated because of his high profile in Affirmation. Last February his home burned to the ground, a loss that he and his partner faced with incredible resolve. Five days after the fire, his local Affirmation chapter had its family home evening in the new home Brus and his partner had just rented.

Chile is today a model of what can happen when gays and lesbians from around the world take a look at their Mormon background and decide to celebrate what they have in common. Affirmation Chile is flourishing in its own language and culture, using their own resources, led by their own leaders, and Brus Leguás Contreras is the person who has enabled all this to happen.

It is an honor to present the 2006 Mortensen Award to Brus Leguás Contreras, “father” of Affirmation in the land of Chile.