2019 Affirmation International Conference

Gregory A Prince holds both a doctorate degree in dentistry (DDS) and a Ph.D. in pathology. After graduating as valedictorian from Dixie College (St. George, Utah), he served a two-year mission in Brazil for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Upon returning to the United States in 1969, Prince attended graduate school at the University of California, Los Angeles, receiving a D.D.S. (valedictorian) in 1973 and a Ph.D in pathology in 1975. In 1975 he and his wife, JaLynn Rasmussen, moved to Washington D.C., for a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. He is the author of dozens of articles and three books including the award-winning volumes David O McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (coauthored with WM Robert Wright) and Leonard Arrington and the Writing of Mormon History. Both books have won the prestigious Evans Biography award. In 2008, Prince and his wife established the Madison House Autism Foundation, named after their youngest son who is autistic, for the purpose of addressing the perplexing issues facing adults with autism, along with those facing family members, caregivers, and society at large.

Prince serves on the boards of several non-profit institutions including the National Advisory Council, Dixie State University; the National Advisory Board, J. W. Marriott Library, University of Utah; the National Presidential Advisory Board, Utah Valley University; the Dean’s Advisory Council, University of Utah School of Dentistry; and the Board of Governors, Wesley Theological Seminary.

Rebecca Solen doesn’t like writing her bio, but she’s writing it anyway. She was raised an active member of the church. She served a mission in Munich, Germany and found she only liked one regional variation of sauerkraut and that the German language is fun because the words are so long. Afterward, she knew she needed to do stuff, so she enrolled in college and discovered that she loved learning, but hated choosing a major. All was not lost, however, having also discovered her superpower is baking chocolate chip cookies. Rebecca is an Army veteran, having served 2004-2012 achieving the rank of Captain. She can still demonstrate a perfect push-up, but never grew fond of MREs (Meals Ready-to-Eat). In 2016, she ran for Congress. That was fun. Having run out of excuses to hide her true self, she came out as transgender. She has a bachelor’s degree in information systems, a master’s degree in international relations, and a large collection of LEGO because — why not? Rebecca and her wife Melissa have been married for over 21 years and have four children. Rebecca currently serves as the Vice President of Affirmation, and occasionally serves pancakes for breakfast when all the kids are home on a Saturday morning.

Bianca Cline is mother to the best three kids in the world. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She served a mission in Spain and studied film and photography at BYU. She now works as a cinematographer shooting movies and commercials.

Chelsea Gibbs is a New York based film archivist and programmer who’s always interested in recommendations of LGBTQIA films, shows, and books. She’s queer as heck.

Laura Skaggs is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in LGBTQ+ experiences at the intersection of religious and spiritual identities. She is a former Affirmation Board Member, mother of two daughters, and sees LGBTQ+ clients full time in Provo, UT as part of Flourish Therapy Inc.

Tom Christofferson is the author of That We May Be One: A Gay Mormon’s Perspective of Faith and Family, published by Deseret Book. His career in global investment management and asset services included long-term assignments in Europe and Asia. He is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in his Mesa, Arizona ward and stake.

Olin Thomas is a long time member of Affirmation from the Washington, DC Chapter. He served as Affirmation President from 2004 to 2008 and has been a member of Executive Committees and Chapter leadership many times. Olin was the chief organizer for the 2000 Affirmation Conference in Washington, DC and also served as Corresponding Secretary for a few years. Currently he serves as the chairman of the Mortensen Award Committee and in local chapter leadership.

Alix Chen Yee is native to Utah and grew up in the Salt Lake area. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a Master’s in Business Management. Her extracurricular studies have included attending the Nonprofit Academy at the University of Utah, and Legal Studies courses at Salt Lake Community College. Having worked 3 years in Higher Education and 3 years in the Utah Courts system while volunteering her time with many nonprofit organizations including Make a Wish Foundation and The Organization of Chinese Americans, she would like to focus her attention on supporting LGBTQIA+ as well as allies to navigate the current issues at hand. Although she is no longer a formal member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, she studies scriptures regularly and maintains a spiritual compass. Having to personally reconcile her faith with her identity as being gay, she knows and sees the struggles that families are going through. She believes that through a centered approach on love and understanding, we can work to empower one another to educate and bring about social justice in a peaceful manner.

Melissa is a freelance writer and poet who has ongoing publications with “Exponent II” and “InnerVision Magazine.” Melissa’s passions include teaching Special Education, supporting LGBTQ rights, and being a voice to the marginalized through her nonprofit project B.E. S.A.F.E., serving survivors of abuse and domestic violence.

Melissa is a member of the Board of Directors of Affirmation: LGBTQ Mormons, Families & Friends.

Jodie’s greatest education came from learning about love as the gay partner in a 17-year mixed-orientation marriage. She and her former husband are now parenting partners as they continue to love the beautiful family they share. Jodie is an Aries, which gives her permission to always be right. She is trying very hard to make friends with uncertainty and discomfort, but they keep demanding she stop being so controlling. Her passion is building things—humans, companies, communities, causes, and tree houses. She thinks random acts of kindness, curiosity, and belly laughs are super sexy. The contribution she most wishes to make to the world is to spread empathy and dialogue as the universal guides to navigating conflict in a way that leads to connection. She also thinks a lot about what it will be like to be 90 and look over her life. She hopes to be remembered as a leavener, an instrument of peace, a champion of beauty, a believer in the power of love, and that she went with kindness.

Ann Pack is a transgender woman and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is the oldest of five children and has lived in Utah her whole life. She served a full-time mission in London, England. Ann married her wife Brigit 19 years ago in the Bountiful temple and together they have a 14-year-old daughter. After 15 years of marriage as husband and wife, Ann could no longer keep the secret that she was transgender. Instead of divorcing, Ann and Brigit have chosen to stay together even though at times this choice has been extremely difficult for both of them. Ann has a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and lives with her family in Syracuse, Utah.  She currently works for Zion’s Bank as a systems administrator. Ann and Brigit regularly attend their ward meetings and they are both passionate about bringing more understanding and awareness of LGBTQ members of the church.

Ben Schilaty works as an Honor Code Administrator and adjunct professor at BYU in Provo, UT. Ben speaks Spanish and Portuguese from his time living abroad in Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, and Portugal. He is the author of the forthcoming book A Walk in My Shoes: Questions I’m Often Asked as Gay Latter-day Saint and co-host of the podcast “Questions from the Closet.” He also writes a blog about his experiences as a gay Latter-day Saint and started a support community for LGBTQ Latter-day Saints in Tucson, AZ while he was living there. Ben is a lifelong member of the Church and served as a missionary in Chihuahua, Mexico, from 2003-2005. He currently serves as a High Councilor in his stake.

Kyle Ashworth is the creator and voice behind Latter Gay Stories. Latter Gay Stories is an LGBTQ+ podcast and website resource for those in—and adjacent to the intersection of LGBTQ Street and LDS Avenue. Its mission is to bring visibility to the LGBTQ+ community and establish the value of queer experiences in society.

Kyle actively supports many local LGBTQ organizations and he currently sits on the Encircle advisory board. He has previously served as president of the Affirmation Intermountain Region and in various community board positions.

He is the father of four children. He and his partner, Jay, reside in Heber City, Utah.

Debra is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist and worked at Children’s Hospital focusing on assisting children and their families recover from various types of traumas with the use of CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). She also participated in research to identify variables that help children recover from their abuse.

Debra did her thesis project on how homophobia affects the developmental stages of the LGBTQ population and she continues to carve out a portion of her private practice to work specifically with the LGBTQ community.

Debra played college basketball at the University of Utah and still loves to be active and be competitive by being a member of the San Diego Rowing Club.
Debra Asper’s passion is to help her clients not take on “what you can’t be responsible for.” She is an engaging speaker who uses the training of her profession to teach how the brain processes rejection and then shares the skills and knowledge to resolve trauma.

We are thrilled to have Debra join us to speak and share her vast experience with her LGBTQ community.

Laura Skaggs is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in LGBTQ+ experiences at the intersection of religious and spiritual identities. She is a former Affirmation Board Member, mother of two daughters, and sees LGBTQ+ clients full time in Provo, UT as part of Flourish Therapy Inc.

Bianca Cline is mother to the best three kids in the world. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She served a mission in Spain and studied film and photography at BYU. She now works as a cinematographer shooting movies and commercials.

Anna Empey is from Eastern Washington, she grew up on a commercial apple orchard, was raised LDS/Mormon, and graduated in 2012 from BYU with a degree in Socio-Cultural Anthropology and a minor in communications.

She came out in 2014, left the religion she was raised in a year after the exclusion policy was released (2015) and married her amazing wife Katlin in 2018. Throughout her journey, Anna has volunteered for many non-profits, in multiple roles, to support the Post LDS & LGBTQIA+ community to find support, resources, and a loving community.

Anna is a Business Development Consultant and Coach, a mentor, a personal coach, and a spiritual teacher. Ultimately, she wants to leave the world a better place than she found it! Through her undergraduate research on acceptance and her own search for belonging she found a vivacious was for life. Now her goal is to empower and lift others through and on their own journey of belonging.

Paul is a CPA specializing in serving nonprofit organizations. He currently serves as the Treasurer for Affirmation and also for Utah Humanities – the organization commissioned to engage Utahns in the humanities. He is married to Cynthia Winward, and together they have three children, including gay daughter.

Charlie Bird was Cosmo the Cougar at Brigham Young University from 2016-2018. He received national acclaim for his multiple dance performances with the BYU Cougarettes. As Cosmo, he performed on stages across the country, including the ESPN College Football Awards and America’s Got Talent. The year 2017 was dubbed “Year of the Mascot” by NBC Sports in honor of Cosmo’s character and performance. Charlie was born and raised in Southwest Missouri, and served a 2-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Redlands, California. He graduated from BYU in 2018 with degrees in Global Supply Chain Management and Spanish Studies. Charlie is an active LBGTQ advocate and is involved with multiple nonprofit LGBTQ organizations across Utah. He currently resides in New York City where he works in Spanish translation, and logistics consulting.

The family of Jairo Fernando González Díaz was among the first LDS converts in Colombia, hence the unusual trajectory of an active Mormon since boyhood in a conservative and Catholic society where Mormonism was barely known. The mission he served in different cities of Colombia, accentuated his leadership skills and his religious convictions.

His professional training included a professional degree from the Colombian Polytechnic, as well as the development of his expertise as an auditor in renowned law firms such as Price Waterhouse Coopers and Nexia International. In the latter, his performance included the assembly of a conceptual technical structure that is still in use today. In more recent times, he established himself as a Founding Partner of Infinity, an accounting and consulting firm that develops its activities in important companies in western Colombia and Ecuador.

Laurie Lee Hall is the Senior Vice President of Affirmation. Not only does she create beautiful spaces within Affirmation, as a practicing architect she has created many of the beautiful and iconic spaces of the LDS Church.

Singer/Songwriter Mindy Gledhill powerfully captured the essence of Laurie Lee in one of her Facebook posts:

“Two of the most prized buildings in my city (the new MTC addition and the rebuilt Provo City Center Temple) should remind our community daily, that the contributions of transgender citizens bless us all.

Laurie Lee Hall, Chief architect of those buildings (and many other LDS temples) is a transgender woman who leads with graciousness and love. She is one example of many amazing transgender people whose contributions make our state a better place.

Let’s think about that when we send our kids off to the MTC on missions (where transgender kids are barred from serving), or see them get married in the temple (where trans people are not even allowed to enter, let alone get married).”

This will be a powerful evening where Laurie Lee will weave together her remarkable work of church building projects with life lessons of communication, grieving, and mindfulness. Most importantly we will leave the evening more empowered as we navigate the challenges and triumphs of living authentically.

Elected as Affirmation President in 2018, Nathan Kitchen (he/him) grew up in Orem, Utah. When he was 15, his family moved to Illinois where he finished high school. He served a full-time mission for the Church in Alabama, graduated with a B.S. in Zoology from BYU Provo, earned his Doctor of Dental Medicine from Southern Illinois University, and completed a general practice residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He is currently in private practice in Mesa, Arizona. He is the proud father of five children and three grandchildren and lives in Gilbert, Arizona with his husband Matthew Rivera.