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2014 Ally Award given to Marge & Dr. William Bradshaw

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October 19, 2014

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John Gustav-Wrathall presents Marge and Dr. Bill Bradshaw with the Ally Award

 

Marge and Dr. William Bradshaw were awarded with Affirmation’s Ally Award at the closing luncheon of the Annual International Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday, September 14, 2014 at the University Guest House and Conference Center.

John Gustav-Wrathall, Senior Vice President, presented the award on behalf of Affirmation.  Below are the words he expressed.

“Bill Bradshaw was a professor of Microbiology and Molecular biology at Brigham Young University for over three decades. He served as an LDS missionary and, eleven years later, as an LDS mission president in Hong Kong and Vietnam in the early 1970s. It was during his tenure at BYU that I came to know him, first as a student in one of his honors biology classes, and later in an honors religion class that examined controversial issues such as abortion and evolution. This was the early 1980s. Although homosexuality was not one of the topics covered in the curriculum, we were required to write poetry and keep a personal journal as one of the course assignments. Thanks to this assignment, and thanks to the environment of fearless, open-minded inquiry in Bill’s course, this became the first opportunity I’d ever had to reflect on and write to myself about the challenges related to being gay and Mormon, something I have been grateful to Bro. Bradshaw for my entire life.

Many Affirmation members are probably also familiar with Bill Bradshaw because of his 2010 lecture at BYU, “The Evidence For A Biological Origin For Homosexuality,” a pivotal moment in the continuing Mormon conversation about homosexuality.
Bill and Marge have both played an important role as leaders of LDS Family Fellowship, a support group for parents and family members of LGBT Mormons.

Marge and Bill met in the mission field, in the Hong Kong Mission, where she also served as a missionary. In addition to her Church service in the mission field in Hong Kong and Vietnam, Marge has also worked as a teacher in secondary education. When their son Brett came out to them, like my mother, Marge Bradshaw quickly grasped the issues their son was facing. She has become one of his fiercest defenders. Her commitment to protect that sacred bond between parents and their child, and between the child and the family he has created with his spouse and adoptive kids has been evident in her work and commitment to LDS Family Fellowship and her support of Affirmation. Today, we have the “Dragon Mamas,” but women like Marge Bradshaw have been a role model of that kind of unconditional love, nurture and protection that have paved the way for the remarkable shifts we are seeing today.”

Affirmation – LGBT Mormons, Families & Friends extends its fullest appreciation and honor for the dedication, love, service and sacrifice of Marge and Bill throughout almost three decades.  THANK YOU!!!

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Marge and Bill enjoying each other’s company while listening to the music of Julie de Azevedo Hanks after receiving Ally Award

1 Comment

  1. George M Howell on August 27, 2015 at 8:22 AM

    I met Dr Bradshaw briefly in Vietnam. He came to see me a communication tecniction shortly after receiving my Endowment in the Hawian Temple. It seems that according to my church records at the time is was still a Deacon. The meeting was very memorable to me as it drove home to me the importance of the Temple.

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