Nathan Kitchen
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.