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Perspectives on LDS General Conference Statements Related to Families

Love makes a family

April 6, 2015

Press Release
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Affirmation – LGBTQ Mormons, Families & Friends
Perspectives on LDS General Conference Statements Related to Families

As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Mormons, we also raise our voice in sustaining the joy and fulfillment that families bring. We affirm the inherent value of all families, including those that fall outside the heterosexually married norm, and their role in spiritual growth and creating vibrant and productive societies. We are from and part of our families of upbringing and many of us have or seek to form families of our own. For those LGBTQ Mormons who aspire to marriage, as Elder L. Tom Perry stated, “When it comes to the love of spouse and hopes, worries and dreams for children, we are all the same.”

Affirmation’s values include “authenticity, openness, diversity and integrity.” Those of us who create families, in whatever configuration, see them as nothing counterfeit but as authentic demonstrations of our desires to live lives of integrity that also contribute to the diversity that makes a strong society.

In our Latter-day Saint families, many of us have learned the importance of having our own family unit and the joy of having children. Many LGBTQ Mormons seek to or have formed lasting partnerships, and more recently marriages, where the coming of children also nourishes their love. We are loving and caring parents to children, sometimes our own biological offspring, and sometimes to adoptive or foster children whose biological parents were unable to care for them. We may also be playing an essential role in our extended family network as loving uncles or aunts or care providers for aging parents.

We also understand Elder Boyd K. Packer’s expression of the exquisite physical, emotional, and spiritual feelings associated with love as “that part of life [that] has no equal, no counterpart, in all human experience.” Those of us in committed relationships seek, as President Linda K. Burton stated, to follow the proverb of “Thee lift me and I’ll lift thee, and we’ll ascend together.” We also affirm, in accordance with Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s statements, that our relationships transcend our love for one another to encompass a “responsibility to the world and mankind.”

As LGBTQ Mormons, we deserve the same support as all of God’s other children in fully exploring our potential. All of us benefit from and deserve spiritual growth, healthy and happy families, inclusive congregations, and loving communities and societies.

We invite all to better understand our families and all that we share in common and can learn from one another. Together we can all build stronger congregations and communities where unconditional love and authenticity promote spiritual growth, health and security.

Affirmation Board of Directors

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Affirmation supports LGBTQ/SSA Mormons and their families, friends and Church leaders in seeking to live healthy and productive lives consistent with their faith or heritage.

We provide a loving, inclusive community for all LGBTQ/SSA people, and those who love them, regardless of how they identify in their sexual orientation, gender identity, or faith.

We encourage spirituality and empower LGBTQ/SSA Mormons to make valuable contributions within and outside of the Church.

We organize local gatherings and international conferences, provide informational resources, and work for dialogue within the Church.

 

1 Comment

  1. Maria d on April 6, 2015 at 9:56 AM

    Thank you! You are the family that many of us need!

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