Nathan Kitchen
Affirmation President Nathan Kitchen shares his experience and insights from Affirmation’s participation in the WorldPride 2019 in New York City. “This is a circle of love and support cemented by personal connections even stronger than World Pride. It is the kind of community building that Mormons are known for. And I hope you all will join in.”
Regrettably, on social media, these friends and neighbors pointed their fingers and mocked a young gay valedictorian, just because he delivered a BYU-approved speech at his commencement. It was a surreal moment as the comment sections became a “great and spacious building,” as spoken of in Lehi’s vision in the Book of Mormon, full of detractors scoffing at LGBTQ members of the church pressing onward towards the tree of life.
It was in these quiet moments of pain and confusion that I felt another triumph: That of coming to terms, not with who I thought I should be, but who the Lord has made me to be.
We move forward, I think, stronger and more resilient and more aware of ourselves because of what we lived under in the past three and a half years in the church.
Affirmation President Nathan Kitchen and Senior Vice president Laurie Lee Hall discuss with Mormon Mental Health Podcast host Natasha Helfer Parker the impact of the reversal of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Day Saint’s November 2015 policy on gay families in the church on the LGBTQ Mormon community.
A bird is not an ornithologist; It just is; Living life as itself; Basking in the sun; and eating a morning meal; And singing.
Over 70 members of the Affirmation community signed on Sunday, February 17th, to participate in a web conference detailing Affirmation’s efforts to organize and strengthen chapters throughout the United States and Canada to provide vital face-to-face communities to support LGBTQ Mormons, their family members, and friends.
Affirmation will become the mature worldwide organization providing supportive communities that foster health, healing, and personal growth to LGBTQ with spiritual or cultural connection to the LDS Church.
As president of Affirmation, I want to see Affirmation flourish with a brightness of hope that will illuminate the most vulnerable in the LDS LGBTQ+ community. I want to see a robust network of supportive communities within Affirmation available for those who have made or are making their own reconciliation journey, where ever you are (or are not) on the faith spectrum.