Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons

2003 Affirmation Writing Awards Contest Winners

Oct. 2003

First Place - Sara Jordan, "The Odyssey." As the essay begins, the author recalls an experience meditating during a recent trip to India. Her thoughts then drift to other times and places, taking readers on a metaphorical and literal -- but not chronological -- journey through her coming out process and her ongoing search for spiritual grounding, relationship, and meaning.
Second Place - Connell O'Donovan, "Stumbling Towards Zion." The author writes passionately of his "life-long quest for Zion" -- a place where all tears will be wiped away. He weaves into his own story accounts of two other Latter-day Saints who seemingly searched in vain for Zion: black pioneer Jane Manning James and the gay son of a prominent anti-gay psychologist at BYU.
Third Place - James Pate, "Social Constructions of the Homosexual Phenomenon: The Politics of Homosexuality in the United States." Drawing on existing scholarship, the author gives a historical overview of the ways religion, medicine, psychology, and law have shaped --that is, "constructed" -- the public's understanding of this issue.

Honorable Mentions:

Tom Clark, "Aurelia." The essay is a tender and supportive tribute by a gay Mormon father to his daughter, whose name, Aurelia, comes from a Latin word meaning "light."
Terry O'Brien, "Deep Dark Sin, But Whose?" The title for this essay is an allusion to a passage from The Miracle of Forgiveness, in which Spencer W. Kimball refers to homosexuality as a "deep, dark sin."
Braulio Ventura, "Kaddish for a Gay Mormon." The author describes how strongly he has come to identify with the Kaddish --a Jewish prayer -- as he seeks new direction for his life.