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Editorial: Affirmation Makes a Splash in Zion Not many years ago, there was little mention of gay LDS people in the media. On August 11, I saw how much that has changed. by Olin Thomas, executive director For several days in early August, few people in Salt Lake City could have missed the fact that Affirmation exists and is actively advocating for better treatment of gay and lesbian Mormons. Media coverage of Affirmation and other supporters was so extensive as to be difficult to list. Major stories, several billed as “top story,” appeared over two days on four different TV stations morning, noon and night broadcasts, National Public Radio broadcast an interview with George Cole, and both major newspapers carried stories over the period: the Deseret News from July 26 through August 20 had nine articles and the Salt Lake Tribune had three or four over the period August 10 through 14th. The Associated Press released several more stories during the same period, which were picked up by various media outlets in Utah and across the country. How and why did this media storm develop and what does it mean for Affirmation or its members?
Less than three weeks before the trip we received word that Fred Riley was leaving the position and the meeting was postponed. There was no offer to meet with an alternative representative and we were told that the new director would not be appointed for some months, meaning the meeting would be postponed until 2009. This cancellation is what triggered the intense media coverage, in two ways. First, when we announced the change, both media and Affirmation members considered this newsworthy and began discussing it and what it meant. Secondly, because we no longer had an audience with Church officials, the executive committee decided that the only practical recourse we had was to hold a news conference to present our concerns. By doing this, we hoped that our concerns would be heard by LDS leaders just as they would have had we seen them in person. The Sunstone presentation occurred on Saturday, August 9. Olin Thomas, Dave Melson, George Cole, Micah Bisson and David Nielson were the presenters. Audio recordings of the presentation are available through Sunstone, so I will just say that the presentation went well and was well received. I was most touched by a comment from a woman I met on Sunday morning at another event hosted by the Community of Christ, who said: “I heard your presentation yesterday and wanted to tell you did a good job. Someone needs to get your message out.” She then added, “I skipped Relief Society to be here this morning.” I was also glad to see reporters from the Associated Press, Salt Lake Tribune, Q-Salt Lake, National Public Radio, and Logo/365Gay present at the panel discussion. In the evening, Affirmation hosted a reception at the home of Duane Jennings and Brian Benington, to which we invited Family Fellowship and Sunstone members, Affirmation and Gamofite leaders, as well as other individuals who have spoken out in support of tolerance for gays in the Church. We wanted to be able to personally hear the opinions, suggestions and warnings of different individuals who would be concerned about and impacted by Affirmation’s actions and statements. Our goal has never been publicity for its own sake. However, the lesson we have learned over the years is that only publicity can focus attention on our concerns and only that focus can lead to change. Yet we are ever mindful of the abrasive nature of publicity and want to craft our message to best reach the hearts of LDS people without offending them but without apologizing for who we are. Affirmation wants to thank everyone who attended this reception for their insight and thoughtful suggestions. On Sunday, Fox 13 Television did a feature story about gay Mormons, focusing on George Cole and including David Melson and Micah Bisson, shooting the story at Temple Square. In the evening, Affirmation Salt Lake and Reconciliation held a joint meeting which gave the membership of both organizations a chance to express their views and concerns and share stories from their experience. While the primary focus of the news conference was to send our message out to the wider Mormon community, we never forget that it is our members and future members we are representing. All your concerns and suggestions are heard and factored into our decisions. Monday began early with phone calls from reporters starting at 4:00 AM, though the news conference wasn't scheduled until 10:00 AM. After interviews on the morning news, we set up for the event and were pleased to see camera crews from five TV stations, crews from at least two radio stations, and reporters from the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, Associated Press, Q-Salt Lake, Logo, Reuters, and other media outlets — even someone from an anti-gay LDS web site showed up. Frankly, the level of interest surprised me and this brings me to the point of this article. Not many years ago, there was little mention of gay LDS people in the media. Society either did not think about us or did not care. On August 11, I saw how much that has changed. There was intense interest in the lives of gay Mormons and how the Church was dealing with the issue of gay members. It was not just reported on but given top billing. These repeated news stories on broadcast television, coupled with radio and the press, brought Affirmation's concerns to the attention of thousands of people who may never have heard of us before. I was impressed how thorough and well balanced the coverage was in all cases. The biggest change and most positive outcome of the events this year and especially that week in August was the reaction of the Church. Within an hour of the news conference, the Church public relations department issued a statement titled “Church Issues Response to Affirmation.” One year ago, Church officials would not use our name in public statements and in general tried to avoid admitting Affirmation even existed. On this day, they were concerned enough about us to promptly issue a statement which confirmed they were interested in meeting with us, were aware of our news conference and stated that “issues surrounding same-gender attraction deserve careful attention.” They did add that the issues did not deserve “public posturing” and stated “It appears from Affirmation's actions today that it has opted for a public rather than a private exchange.” By holding a public event, we realized that we might annoy some people, and we regret that. However, this is not a private matter. We are talking about the lives and treatment of hundreds of thousands of gay and lesbians who are current or former members of the Church, each with friends and family active in the Church. We are also concerned about the opinions and actions of millions of Church members towards their gay family members and neighbors. This is ultimately an extremely public issue in that sense. Nonetheless, Affirmation looks forward to conducting a private exchange with Church leaders and we are glad that they have expressed that “it has always been the intent of the Church to engage in an open and honest discussion with Affirmation leaders to listen to their concerns.” Such a dialogue, when it actually begins, will be treated with great respect and discretion, in the hopes of reaching greater understanding. That has always been the intent of Affirmation. Note: For links to recent media coverage of Affirmation and the LDS Church, see “Affirmation Leaders Hold Press Conference, Ask LDS Church for Dialogue”
The LA Conference Is Only 6 Weeks Away Could this year’s annual conference be, in your life, a pearl of great price—something worth time, effort, and money to have? The Los Angeles conference will be a celebration of diversity and a family reunion for Affirmation members, their partners, and their supportive family and friends. If you have not yet made the final decision to attend, remember that many airlines are still offering bargain air fares to LAX, and both the Irwin Phelps scholarship and the roommate finder offer additional opportunities to save. The Conference Planning Committee has been working since last year on a program that promises to be unforgettable. Please note the following:
September 2: Deadline to register for the Los Angeles Conference at $159 Affirmation Members and Leaders Invited to Leadership Meeting It Will Be Held Friday, October 10, 3:00 - 5:00 PM All Affirmation members are invited to the annual Council of Chapter Representatives, to be held October 10, 2008, in Los Angeles. Commonly called the “Leadership Meeting,” this annual business meeting is the time when representatives from each Affirmation Chapter meet to hear about the state of Affirmation and discuss the direction they want to see the organization move in. This year’s meeting will include a report and a discussion about the recent interactions between Affirmation and the leaders of the LDS Church. 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 meeting will begin at 3:00 PM on Friday, October 10, and conclude around 5:00 PM. We will be meeting in the Marina Room, which is at the far left end (as viewed from the front entrance) of the conference hotel. Please consider the scheduling of your flight so that you can arrive in time to attend. Should you arrive later, please do not hesitate to drop in for the remainder of the meeting — we will be glad to see you! Please join us and help keep Affirmation going strong!
“The Church could do better to educate its local leaders” In a press conference that received wide media attention, Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons asked LDS leaders one more time to open up a dialogue that could find ways to help gay and lesbian Latter-day Saints. “Being gay doesn't automatically equate to being promiscuous,” said Olin Thomas, Affirmation's executive director. “We would like the Church to recognize the worth of our committed relationships and help correct the perception some Church members have that being gay is a disease or a defect.” George Cole, Affirmation's Young Adults Program director, said, “We believe the [LDS] Church could do better to educate its local leaders, to preserve our families, to preserve us as members of the Church, and to allow us to serve the Church.” Also present at the event were Senior Assistant Director Dave Melson, Reconciliation President David Nielson, Youth Concerns Director Micah Bisson, and Salt Lake Chapter co-directors Duane Jennings and Brian Benington. All of them spoke with the media following the formal part of the press conference. The press conference was held in Salt Lake City on August 11, the day when LDS Family Services director Fred Riley was supposed to meet with Affirmation for a previously scheduled appointment. Two weeks before the meeting, Fred Riley was re-assigned to another position within the Church and was therefore unavailable to meet with Affirmation. Church leaders asked Affirmation to wait until a new Director of LDS Family Services was appointed but provided no one to serve as a point of contact in the meantime. “We were told that it is expected to take several months to appoint a new director,” explained David Melson. “It was too late to change our travel plans.” “Taking the admonition of an earlier prophet to heart, that it is better for a thing to be underway than under consideration, we felt that the public presentation was the best means of moving the conversation forward,” Melson added. “Affirmation looks forward to meeting with whomever President Monson appoints as his representative on this issue.” The event was held to offer the presentation that LDS Church officials would have heard had they attended the meeting as originally scheduled. In its own press release, the Church acknowledged Affirmation and the event, and Affirmation has since responded with a private communication to Church leaders.
Symposium Panel Explores Proposition 8, “Proclamation on the Family” A history of political meddling that goes back to the 1970s A panel held during the 2008 Sunstone Symposium in Salt Lake City provided a legal analysis of California’s Proposition 8, described how this Proposition would affect gay and lesbian people, and suggested that the current LDS involvement in California is consistent with a history of political meddling that goes back to the 1970s, when the LDS Church became a formidable foe against a proposed U.S. constitutional amendment that would have guaranteed equal rights for women. Nadine R. Hansen, an LDS lawyer who lived for many years in California, said that the timing and the circumstances under which the Proclamation on the Family came into existence suggest that the Church had from the beginning a political motivation for issuing the document. “Back in 1996, I said that there was an underlying subtext in the Proclamation on a topic that is never mentioned in the Proclamation, and that’s homosexuality,” Hansen told the audience. “I said that certain aspects of the Proclamation are a clear statement that the Church leaders intend to resist any further social legitimization of homosexual relationships. I noted the political language at the end of the Proclamation and talked about some of the reasons why I thought that the issued the Proclamation when they did. In particular, at the time, the Church was trying very hard to be a party in a [gay marriage-related] litigation in Hawaii, and not long after that, they started to ask people in California to write legislators about a measure that was pending there about homosexuality, and also in Hawaii.” “Later some anonymous member of the Church structure, in a directive to my stake president, took exception to my suggestion that this is a political document to fight homosexuality. Yet in the more than 12 years now since the Proclamation came into existence, I am not aware of any time or circumstance under which the Church has urged members or government leaders to enact a single measure to strengthen the family other than legislation that would undermine homosexual relationships.” Hansen’s remarks are available for online streaming by courtesy of the website “Understanding LDS Homosexuality” and the Sunstone Foundation. A sound version of the full presentation, including Q&A, is available in MP3 or CD-Rom format through the Sunstone Foundation. Deadline for Mortensen Award Nominations Approaching The Deadline is September 13 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 nominations must be received by September 13, 2008—no exceptions! E-mail them to the Mortensen Awards Committee. Do not submit just a name. We need to know something about the individual since the committee may not know him/her well. For a full description, visit http://www.affirmation.org/news/2008_038.shtml. Call for Nominations for National Executive Director by Olin Thomas We are now accepting nominations for the position of executive director. The term of office for executive director of Affirmation is one year, running from January 1 to December 31. Candidates for executive director are introduced at the conference and they address the attendees, outlining their vision and goals and answering any questions. The position of executive director is the only elected position in Affirmation, outside of individual chapters. The executive director appoints two assistant directors and these three people form an executive committee that conducts the business of Affirmation. Also appointed by the executive director are associate directors, the treasurer, Affinity editor, webmaster, endowment committee, and a host of special positions such as young adult program, youth concerns, women's concerns and transgender concerns coordinators. The person selected for the position of executive director will greatly influence the performance and direction of Affirmation. 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. Grow into the role and learn about Affirmation from more experienced leaders by accepting the appointed positions first. If you're interested in accepting a leadership position, please send me an email (www.affirmation.org/contact/ex_dir) or telephone me at 703-864-5527. It is my intention to leave the post of executive director after the 2008 term. Therefore, it is important for the future of Affirmation that interested and able people step up to serve and keep Affirmation going strong. Candidates must declare their candidacy no later than October 10, but earlier submission is preferable. Only current dues-paying members can run for office. Affinity's editor accepts the nominations. You must submit a full statement of candidacy to Hugo Salinas by October 5, either by email (www.affirmation.org/contact/webmaster) or regular mail: Affirmation Attn: Hugo Salinas P.O. Box 77504 Washington, DC 20013-8504 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. LDS Church Responds to Affirmation Church Affirms Rights of Gay Couples Leaders of Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons both praised and called to task the leaders of the LDS Church for recent statements by the Church regarding gay men and women. In an August 13 press release, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acknowledged that it “does not object to rights [for same-sex couples] regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the family or the constitutional rights of churches and their adherents to administer and practice their religion free from government interference, [and that] the Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage neither constitutes nor condones any kind of hostility towards homosexual men and women.” Church members were reminded of their “obligations of love, kindness, and humanity toward all people,” and urged to “approach this issue with respect for others, understanding, honesty, and civility.” “This is by far the Church’s most affirming statement of both human and civil rights of gay people since the issuance of “God Loveth His Children” which acknowledged that being gay is not a disease or a sin,” said David Melson, Affirmation’s media spokesperson. “We applaud the courage of the leaders who chose to make this statement, which is contrary to many of the Church’s words and actions of the past, and we see this as a positive step. We would have been more pleased if it had not been issued during a time of contradictory action by the Church to repeal the civil rights of gay U.S. citizens and to seek to break apart families.” The press release, one of two issued in one week by the church Public Affairs Department and apparently authorized by the First Presidency of the church, came in response to media statements by Affirmation and against a background of a California political campaign and the Church’s indefinite postponement of a meeting with Affirmation leaders. In the same press release, the Church issued a document entitled “The Divine Institution of Marriage,” attempting to defend the Church’s actions in support of California’s Proposition 8, which would revoke the right of California gay couples to marry. Stating that “strong families, headed by a father and mother, are the anchor of civilized society,” the document marginalizes families headed by widows, single parents, adoptive parents, grandparents, or foster parents, and ignores the Church’s own history honoring polygamous marriage. Using half-truths and fear to paint a picture of gay marriage leading to an end of religious freedom and of societal standards, the document often contradicts itself. Affirmation’s Executive Director Olin Thomas pointed out that California law does not require any religious institution or clergyperson to perform or to even recognize any marriage not in accord with their particular doctrine. Many studies, including author and researcher Jonathan Rauch’s book Gay Marriage, have found that in countries that have enacted gay marriage, that the entire institution of marriage has become stronger, with the rates of unmarried cohabitation and divorce both decreasing. The attitudes of the LDS Church or its leaders over the years have led to sometimes tragic consequences as well as an exodus from the Church of both gay members and, in many cases, their non-gay family members, because of the feeling of hostility within the church. George Cole, Affirmation’s Young Adults Director, stated that “the positive and affirming portions of the Church's releases are a very appreciated step forward; we hope and look toward the day when the Church will value all families and will recognize that our families are not a threat to theirs, but just another one of the pillars of our society.” 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: Dave Melson Assistant Director: James Morris 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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