Affirmation Conference Talks and Reports
As part of the closing session of the 2019 Affirmation International Conference, we took a look at some of the amazing people and special moments at this year’s conference.
In conjunction with the ALL: LDS Arizona LGBT Conference in Mesa Arizona, Affirmation hosted a Spring Conference May 3rd through May 5th, 2019, providing additional opportunities for the Affirmation community to connect with the theme of Connecting with Community: You have a Place.
Affirmation recently held its first conference in Spain. The conference ran from September 21st to the 23rd in Barcelona. During the conference, the first Affirmation chapter in Spain was organized. Rafael Bravo has been appointed as president of the Affirmation Spain Chapter.
Today I am a person who succeeded in life, for everything I struggled for and sought, I became a confident and determined person. With all that happened, I never lost my faith and spirituality. Today I accept myself. My family accepts me. Most important of all, I built new castles for my life.
Our time here has a purpose. You were born LGBT. You were born to lead and fight for this cause, and that is our privilege. We want to have the opportunity to prove that we are worthy and enlightened as members of the LGBT community and as members of the LGBT Mormon community.
I know that things don’t always work out beautifully. They certainly don’t for me. In the times that my life gets really really hard, it helps to remind me that God does have a plan for me, that He does care for me, and that He can see the full picture when I can only see part.
What do we truly want? What does God want us to be? If we are not honest with ourselves on this journey, we risk losing our very worth. If we deny another’s chance to live honestly, we put them in danger. Follow wherever life pulls you; whether you believe that pull is from God or from your own intuition, just follow it.
I feel distant, but at the same time not, from the church. I feel far away in the physical sense, not knowing sometimes how to introduce my husband, but close because I am with my Heavenly Father, and being close to Him unites me with the church and unifies my marriage.
Gregory Prince traces the development in the Mormon Church’s handling of homosexuality, future possibilities for change, and how medicine has evolved its understanding. He discusses the need for gay, lesbian, and bisexual Mormons to have healthy relationships with the church.