Nathan Kitchen

Unashamed Authenticity: UVU Humanities Symposium Presentation

February 18, 2022 |

Affirmation President Nathan Kitchen presented at the Utah Valley University Humanities Symposium on February 17, 2022. The title of his presentation was “Unashamed Authenticity: Unapologetically Navigating the Queer/Latter-day Saint Intersection during an Ongoing Restoration.”

Affirmation President to Speak at UVU Humanities Symposium

January 29, 2022 |

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.

Paul Mortensen

Paul Mortensen, Affirmation Co-Founder, Dies at 80

December 30, 2021 |

If you have ever participated in Affirmation’s communities of safety, love, and hope or felt the support of Affirmation’s network of mentors and peers, you have done so in the path that Paul blazed before you with love and as a visionary.

Nathan Kitchen Interfaith Service 2021 Oct 25

Affirmation President Speaks at LGBTQ Interfaith Sunday Service

October 29, 2021 |

It behooves us as we find our joy as LGBTQ people, to internalize the lessons of our first parents that are taught in the temple. This lesson is that sometimes to find joy you have to make hard decisions about what your joy is and where your joy is found. And sometimes your joy is not found in Eden.

Season Tree

Protect Your Queer Children Under the Boughs of Love

August 28, 2021 |

You cannot build walls and fortresses to keep them out, for they are already a part of us, already a part of the sealed network of Saints. But you can use musket fire to drive them out from among you, from their spiritual home and from their families, through exclusionary positions and rejecting behavior.

Affirmation at Rexburg Pride

Affirmation at First-Ever Rexburg Pride: A Historic Moment

July 2, 2021 |

From an expected 100 to 200 attendees to actually having over 1,000 people turn out on the day of the first-ever Rexburg Pride, this was a historic event. Thanks to our volunteers in Eastern Idaho, Affirmation was there. Affirmation President Nathan Kitchen shared that he was “humbled and proud to have witnessed it in my lifetime: a Pride celebration, with over 1000 people in attendance, in Rexburg, Idaho.”

2021-06-06 Parent Fireside Play

Fireside for Parents of LGBTQ Kids Featuring Nathan Kitchen

June 7, 2021 |

On June 6, 2021, Affirmation hosted our first virtual fireside especially for parents of LGBTQ kids. Nathan Kitchen, president of Affirmation, was the guest speaker for the fireside.

Queer Mormon Theology An Introduction

Hope and Beauty in Ostler’s Queer Mormon Theology: An Introduction

June 6, 2021 |

Blaire steps in and immediately discards the problematic dominant narrative that manages queer bodies in the church. She turns our attention to the theology of restoration and renewal that has always been with us. She lifts our chin and invites us to walk with her as she expertly shows us that in the absence of prejudice and folk tradition, there is not a significant difference between queer Mormon theology and Mormon theology.

Call for BYU Poetry Prose Entries

Call for BYU Queer Poetry and Prose

June 1, 2021 |

We are seeking poetry and prose by queer BYU students and faculty (current and past) about their lived experiences at BYU. The purpose of this project is to give artistic voice to and honor the queer BYU experience by setting select texts to music which will be performed as a song cycle for soprano and piano.