Coming Out After 40, Joe Makston, 2024 Affirmation International Conference
Coming Out after 40: How to Lose Friends, but Find Yourself. Joe Makston has been on a journey that’s taken him through coming out later in life and stepping away from the church that once felt like home. He’s still figuring out what faith means now and how to rebuild a community that fits the real him. If you’re in the same boat—wondering what’s next and curious to see where the journey leads—you’re in good company. In this session, He’ll dive into the messy, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking process of embracing your true self later in life. He’ll talk about leaving behind old expectations, the friends who might not get it, and finding new purpose and connections that truly fit who you are.
The 2024 Affirmation International Conference was held October 11-13, 2024, at the Ogden Eccles Conference Center in Ogden, Utah. Portions of the conference were streamed and recorded in English and Spanish. The conference and recordings were made possible by the financial support of conference attendees, sponsors, donors, and exhibitors.
Affirmation creates worldwide communities of safety, love, and hope and promotes understanding, acceptance, and self-determination of individuals of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions. We affirm the inherent self-worth of LGBTQIA+ individuals as complete, equal, and valuable persons and support them as they define their individual spirituality and intersection with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Affirmation’s vision is to be a refuge to land, heal, share, and be authentic.