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By Hugo Salinas October is family history month, and it is no secret that we as Mormons feel a special responsibility to preserve and celebrate our family history. The way I see it, this encompasses not only our biological family, but also our adoptive family (partners and friends) and our tribal family (Affirmation and the GLBT community at large). During the last three years I have spent hundreds of hours preparing and uploading pages and pictures that help preserve our gay Mormon family history on the Affirmation website. Following a suggestion by Queer author Connell O'Donovan, we have decided to call this area of the website "Our Book of Remembrance." We are committed to expand it without limit. Our gay Mormon legacy goes back to the 19th century. It includes patrician Mormon families, BYU professors, renowned activists, inspired poets, and yes--BYU Ambassadors as well. It features extraordinary stories of both failure and triumph, hopelessness and courage, doubt and resilience. Unlike the official LDS history, it is uncensored. It doesn't always have a happy ending. Precisely because of that, I find our gay Mormon legacy a thousand times more compelling that anything I've ever read in the Ensign. In the last four years I lost two close friends. The day after they died, I saw their relatives hijack their legacies, censor any reference to the fact that they were gay, and write obituaries that made me wonder if they even knew the deceased. Motivated by fear and ignorance, these actions threaten to rob us of a history that is legitimately ours. Please don't wait till you are 65 to start thinking about how you are going to preserve your own story and your own legacy. Start thinking about this matter today. Many gay and lesbian Mormons have sent me personal stories and photographs to be posted on the Affirmation website. I usually post such stories in an area called Personal Voices. I am waiting anxiously . If you wish to preserve personal papers or manuscripts--and I hope you do!--please consider donating them to the Special Collections of the Marriott Library at the University of Utah, where the Affirmation collection is preserved. Unlike the LDS Church archives, the University of Utah Library does not censor its collection. You can either start your own collection, or make a donation to the Affirmation collection. Please contact Stan Larson and make your donation today. As queer Mormons, you and I have a story that is unique. It has been hiding for too long; it too must come out of the closet. Let's take our gay Mormon legacy from under the bushel and let's place it on the candlestick, where it will give light to all that are in the house. |
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