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God doesn’t ask us to suffer and stay under the storm. As we move away from darkness and towards a lighted horizon, we can find our safe space. There may be rain, wind and flying debris in the journey away from oppression and conflict. But if we’re looking for the rainbow, we’ll recognize God’s colors when we see them.
Nathan Kitchen, president of Affirmation, will give an address at Utah Valley University on Thursday, February 17th at 11:30 am MST during the University’s Humanities Symposium. You can attend the address live at the Fulton Library Auditorium on the UVU campus in Orem, Utah, or watch it via live stream.
If Latter-day Saints can accept the idea that same-sex relationships can be just as beautiful and uplifting as heterosexual relationships, then the Church could fully affirm and even celebrate same-sex relationships without compromising what they claim to be eternal doctrines.
Since queer students are being disciplined for a rule that no longer exists, they are being discriminated against for doing things that abide by the Law of Chastity but aren’t explicit in the Honor Code any longer.
We’ve taken a message of love, hope, and acceptance to all the souls that require it and being a refuge, a new promised land, in which each person can develop their gifts and their wonderful potential in this life.
We are excited to announce the appointment of four new members to the Affirmation Board of Directors, Melissa-Malcolm King, Juan Carlos Peralta Rodríguez, Kate Mower, and Heidi Ramirez. Three members of the board have completed their terms of service or will complete their term at the end of the month, Justis Tuia, Francisco Villalobos, and Randall Thacker.
Paul Mortensen helped me feel at home with myself and to embrace both my Mormon and gay sides. In the beginning, I thought those two aspects of my life were forces pulling me in opposite directions. Paul helped me understand that both identities were important and that they were complementary: I did not have to choose one over the other.
He felt firmly that you could be a Mormon without letting church leaders tell you how to do it or that you were on the wrong path. He was the original guru of understanding and accepting your own identity as a gay Mormon. He always understood the purpose of Affirmation wasn’t to shape anyone’s beliefs but to help them find their own faith- wherever that took them.
Coming out as gay became a template for more changes in my life. I began to ask myself, “If I mistakenly cast my queerness as a deficiency, what about other character traits that I thought were weaknesses?” Like a spiral of dominoes, I put down my put-downs and saw myself take shape.