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By Fred Bowers, Chapter-At-Large Director Creating and maintaining an atmosphere that causes everyone to feel welcome is an Affirmation priority and tradition regardless of the location. Chapter-At-Large contacts and directors over the years have done our best to bring a sense of warmth and welcoming to people all over the globe. Those Affirmation members who are located more than 30 miles from an active chapter are members of the Chapter-At-Large. This will be my second opportunity to be the Chapter-At-Large Director. I previously held the position starting in 1996 for about two years while I was living in Little Rock Arkansas. My closest Affirmation contacts were hundreds of miles away in Austin and Houston Texas. I had a great time hearing from people all over the world from most every continent. Having participated in the Washington DC Chapter for many years, I missed the contact with a chapter and I wanted to remain involved in Affirmation. I volunteered to be the Chapter-At-Large Director at that time. Almost a decade later, the desire to be actively involved with Affirmation led me to ask the Affirmation Executive Director how I could help Affirmation beyond the local level. That led to us discussing the possibility of me becoming the Chapter-At-Large Director. Affirmation has relied on electronic communication and media in the past to keep its “virtual” chapter, the Chapter-At-Large, informed and connected. I believe that this idea should be revived and updated to meet the technology available today. Some of the options are interactive podcasting, a Chapter-At-Large website, resuming an electronic Family Home Evening (as we did in 2000), or a special Chapter-At-Large blog. The target date for starting these activities is January 2007. I would like for the Chapter-At-Large to meet as a group at the Affirmation Annual Conference. I will ask the Washington DC conference committee to set aside time for Chapter-At-Large members to meet and socialize at the Affirmation 2007 conference. Renewing the Chapter-At-Large will be a challenge but I look forward to serving as Director and to make the Chapter-At-Large a thriving and welcoming chapter in the same spirit as the other chapters in Affirmation. “Welcome” to the Affirmation Chapter-At-Large wherever in the world you are!
Conference Update: “Bridging Our Journeys” Is Almost upon Us! The Portland Conference is two weeks away! You will find here information that will be particularly useful as you arrive at Portland on Friday. Additional information, including a detailed conference program, a map of the hotel floor plan, and a description of Saturday workshops, has been posted on the Affirmation website. You can still register for the conference, but make sure that your registration form and payment arrive in Palm Springs by Monday, October 16. If you miss that deadline, do not mail your registration: Contact (malexrcowan  yahoo.com, 503-737-4008) for instructions on how to register.For permanent updates on the conference, visit www.affirmation.org/conference.
Getting from the airport to the hotel is very simple. Follow the signs from your terminal to Baggage Claim, which is on the bottom floor. From that floor, exit the doors on the far right. Before exiting the doors, you will see TriMet ticket vending machines. An adult ticket from the airport to the hotel costs $2 even. Put in your change, bills, or credit card and receive your ticket. Then exit the doors and get on the MAX light rail train. (Airport is the last stop, so it only goes one direction.) Exit the MAX train at the Lloyd Center stop, and you'll see the DoubleTree Lloyd Hotel within short walking distance. You can also travel from the DoubleTree Lloyd Center stop to Downtown Portland and back on the MAX for free. Friday Events Leadership Meeting Friday 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM, Willamette Ballroom The traditional start to the annual Affirmation Conference is the "leadership meeting", sometimes called the "business meeting". By our Bylaws, it is called the "Council of Chapter Representatives." Although we refer to it as a leadership meeting, it is open to all members, not just the formal representatives. However, each chapter should designate a representative, who will have voting abilities to decide major issues, such as changes to by-laws, changes in dues or major policies. The executive director, treasurer and other officers will also present concise reports on the state of Affirmation. We will also discuss locations and dates for upcoming conferences. Attending this meeting is a great way to meet the current leadership of Affirmation, to get a sense of Affirmation's direction and to contribute your views. The executive director will keep the meeting strictly on topic and on schedule. Join us this year from 2:00 to 4:00 PM on Friday for this important session! First-Timers Reception Friday 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Hospitality Suite (Room 1555) New to Affirmation's National Conference? Drop into the Hospitality Suite (Room 1555) between 4:00 and 5:00 Friday night. Let's get acquainted, answer your questions, and help you get into the swing of things. This event is geared towards those attending their first conference. Friday Night Activities Buses Depart DoubleTree Hotel Friday 5:00 PM - 5:30 PM In the Willamette Ballroom Foyer (within eyesight of where we'll have the registration tables set up) is where the big doors lead outside for us to meet our buses for the Scream at the Beach outing. The area is covered, and both of our busses can line up one behind the other. Once we get to Scream at the Beach, we'll have our opening remarks and pizza dinner. Welcome, Pizza Social & Scream at the Beach Friday, starting at 6:00 PM, Jantzen Beach Please note the following: We understand that some people do not enjoy haunted houses, and you, therefore, may be wary about joining us at Scream at the Beach. We guarantee that you can still have a fantastic evening at our Opening Night Social & Dinner at Scream at the Beach, even if you choose to not go through the "scary" attractions. In addition to the pizza dinner, Scream at the Beach has "Zombie Theater," a stage where musical comedy shows occur, a Pirate Ship for all ages (with actual pirates putting on shows for the patrons), a Tarot Card Reader, Gift Shop, child play areas, etc. And the bus will be going back and forth to the hotel every 30 minutes, so you can leave when you're ready.
Scream at the Beach will be our opening night activity. From the Doubletree Lloyd Hotel, we'll shuttle as a group to Scream (at Jantzen Beach), mingle over a pizza dinner, and then go through all 4 of these chilling attractions. Over a $25 value, this evening will be free to you with your registration to the conference. Openings for National Executive Director, Other Leadership Positions by Hugo Salinas We are still accepting nominations for executive director. The term of office for executive director of Affirmation is one year, running from January 1 to December 31, although it really seems to run from conference to conference. Candidates for executive director are introduced at the conference and they address the attendees, outlining their vision and goals and answering any questions. Affirmation benefits when we can choose among a variety of candidates who care about moving Affirmation forward. Please do not be deterred by the responsibility of the office. Affirmation does not depend on one person alone; as many executive directors in the past have found, there are many who help. If you would like to be one of those who help Affirmation survive and flourish, also consider offering yourself as a candidate for assistant director or one of the other positions. Many possible future executive directors are out there, waiting for the moment they are ready to take the plunge. Candidates must declare their candidacy no later than October 15, but earlier submission is preferable. Only current dues-paying members can run for office. Affinity's editor accepts the nominations. If you are a dues-paying member and are considering becoming executive director, submit a full statement of candidacy to Hugo Salinas by October 15 (AffirmationLDS earthlink.net).
If you're interested in accepting a leadership position, please (olinaffirmation.org).The candidate statements will be published in the November issue of Affinity. Ballots for the election of the executive director will be mailed to all current dues paid members following the Conference and the results will be announced in December.
The real purpose of this interview is not to help gay and lesbian people and their families, but to deny the accusation of being homophobic by Lisa Hansen September 2006 In a interview calculated to spin facts and deny the accusation of being homophobic, two high-ranking leaders of the LDS Church compared gays and lesbians to people with mental retardation and claimed that "thousands of years of human experience" prove that heterosexual marriage is the only form of marriage people should approve of. "There are people with physical disabilities that prevent them from having any hope — in some cases any actual hope and in other cases any practical hope — of marriage" said Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve. "The circumstance of being currently unable to marry, while tragic, is not unique." "I happen to have a handicapped daughter," added Elder Lance B. Wickman form the First Quorum of the Seventy. "She's a beautiful girl. She'll be 27 next week. Her name is Courtney. Courtney will never marry in this life, yet she looks wistfully upon those who do… Courtney didn't ask for the circumstances into which she was born in this life, any more than somebody with same-gender attraction did." "Frankly, I am utterly appalled at Elder Wickman's exploitative use of his disabled daughter in order to make a case against same-sex marriage," responded Mike Kessler, who is married to Affirmation member Buckley Jeppson. "I pray that, in private, she is afforded more dignity than he has shown her in public, and not unknowingly trotted out in the future as a sacrificial lamb." A careful reading of the Oaks-Wickman "interview," which is actually a statement carefully crafted with the help of the LDS Public Affairs Department, suggests that the real purpose of this document is not to help gay and lesbian people and their families, but deny the accusation of being homophobic. "Elder Oaks chose to emphasize that it was important because church policy was being criticized and was receiving 'unrelenting pressure from advocates of that lifestyle to accept as normal what is not normal,'" said Family Fellowship co-founder Gary Watts. "I would have preferred to hear him say that it was important because so many of our good church families with homosexual children were hurting and were having a difficult time reconciling the reality of their lives with a church policy that, too often, seemed to divide, rather than unite their family members. I know so many gay people in committed relationships that I think are every bit as moral as any straight person's. That's the healthiest thing for gay people to do." "In their interview, Elders Oaks and Wickman seem to be more concerned about protecting the church's public image than in helping homosexuals," commented Affirmation's associate director Hugo Salinas. "Apostle Oaks seems more lawyerly than prophetic. Instead of condemning those who have been created with homosexual orientation, I would invite Elders Oaks and Wickman to contemplate God's unconditional love for all people, Jesus's all-encompassing embrace, and the awesome diversity of God's creation." The LDS statement can be found at www.lds.org/newsroom. To read Hugo Salinas' response, visit www.affirmation.org/media/2006_08.shtml. Mike Kessler's response can be found at www.affirmation.org/media/2006_09.shtml.
A gay Mormon from Phoenix tells us how he ended up living and getting partnered in the UK by Brian Walters I am a returned missionary, originally from Phoenix, AZ. I went to University of Pacific in California, then came to the United Kingdom to do some postgraduate study at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. I came out whilst in my last year of undergraduate work and met my partner Will in my second year of postgraduate study. He is a British accountant living and working in Manchester. We decided to get married well before we heard about the activity in Parliament, but when we heard that the bill had been passed and was going into effect in Dec 5, we were able to start planning our wedding. We ended up having two ceremonies; one, more of a commitment ceremony with guests, family, and the like, and the second was where we signed the actual civil partnership record and said the vows. The reason for the two ceremonies was really bureaucratic red tape: Since I am a foreigner residing in the UK, I had to apply for permission from the government to get married in the UK to a UK citizen. This permission ended up coming to me only days only a week and a bit before our ceremony, and in the UK, one has to have a 15-day waiting period between "giving notice" at the registrar's office and having the ceremony. Therefore, we decided to have our first, big ceremony (what we really feel is our wedding) on the December 30, 2005, and ended up having the legal bit with just two witnesses and the registrar on January 9, 2006. We had our first (real) ceremony at the Manchester Town Hall in Manchester, England and the second just in the registrar's office. I believe that we were the 35th same-sex couple in Manchester to be "civil-partnered," or married. Within my family of four kids, two are gay: one of each really-two boys (one gay, one straight) and two girls (one gay, one straight). Both my sister and I have partners and have been in wonderful, loving relationships for quite a while. Unfortunately, my sister got laid off from her job the week before Christmas, so she and her partner could not come to our wedding at the last minute. But, nonetheless, the four of us (my sister, her partner, my partner, and me) are very close. We, Will and I, do not have any immediate plans of moving to the States, but we have thought about doing so sometime whilst we are still young (we're both in our late 20s), but alas, it would be quite unfortunate if we were not given the same (equal) treatment we are used to in Britain. Like everyone else in Affirmation in the States, I am waiting for the day when same-sex union, marriage, civil partnership, whatever you want to call it, becomes legal in the US. Living in the US's closest ally (beside Canada, I suppose), I feel extremely blessed that the UK has chosen to allow for same-sex partnerships to be legalised, like opposite-sex partnerships. I hope that putting my story on the website might show that a society once closed and very disdaining of homosexuality has embraced it and really has no issues with it whatsoever now. I really hope the US gets its act together.
Affirmation Chile Supports Campaign for Civil Unions Bill “All Rights for All Couples” September 2006 Affirmation Chile is participating in a national campaign for the legitimization of civil unions in Chile. October 7 and 8 gay Mormons will participate in the First National Conference for Equality and the Rights of Domestic Couples. The announcement that a bill will be prepared to allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions was made last July at the country's national LGBT pride celebrations in the capital. But how far the legislation will get is not known. During January's presidential campaign, both President Michelle Bachelet and center-right candidate Sebastian Pinera voiced their support for civil unions, but the Catholic Church and many members of Congress are opposed. Chile's national LGBT rights group, the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation, says it is cautiously optimistic the measure will pass.
We regret to announce the passing of Hoyt Hilton Grant, on August 9, 2006 in Sacramento, CA at the age of 87. Hoyt was a member of Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons for about 25 years. Hoyt was involved in Pen Pal and Chapter-at-Large programs of Affirmation for many years. Hoyt served as Pen Pal coordinator for nine years, from December 1984 to January 1994—the longest any Affirmation member has served, perhaps with the exception of Paul Mortensen, in a national position. During the 1993 national conference, Grant was deservedly honored for his many years of service to the organization. Hoyt was a high priest, still active in church. Hoyt had a marvelous life, and love for both the church and Affirmation. His journal entries speak of his friendships that he made in Affirmation and through the Pen Pal Program. His obit read: An angel while on earth, he has been called home to serve in Heaven. Hoyt was an artist and a musician. He was born in Sumpter, SC and spent his adult life in Stockton and Sacramento, CA. He graduated from BYU with a degree in music. Hoyt always volunteered his time and the little bit of money he had to Affirmation and support of animals. He loved dogs and cats and often donated to the Humane society. Hoyt was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hoyt leaves no family, but many friend, and many fond memories of his gentle spirit and southern hospitality. In memory of Hoyt we would ask that you make a donation to your local Humane Society or to Affirmation.To learn more about Hoyt' life and post a tribute, go to www.affirmation.org/memorial_members. 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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