The LDS (Mormon church) and homosexuality

Support groups. More information. Books

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Affirmation, a support group for gay and lesbian Mormons:

"Affirmation - Gay Mormons United" is a support group for gay and lesbian Mormons. Its roots go back to the 1960s when small groups of homosexual Mormons met in Salt Lake City, UT, Los Angeles CA, and Brigham Young University. Meetings were held in secret in order to avoid retaliation by the Church. Their newsletter was founded in 1979. It has been called "Affinity" since 1980. They have held national conferences each year since 1979.

Affirmation is "a fellowship of gays, lesbians, bisexuals," and their families and friends. It "serves the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender LDSand their supportive family and friends through social and educational activities." ₁ Their web site at http://www.affirmation.org/ states that:

"Its purpose is to provide a supportive environment for relieving the needless fear, guilt, self-oppression and isolation that LDS gays and lesbians can experience in an era where willful ignorance about human sexuality is too often a reality. We believe that a same-gender orientation and same-gender relationships can be consistent with and supported by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We affirm that we are children of Heavenly Parents who love us the way they created us and will judge us, as they do all, based on what we make of our lives here and how we have treated our sisters and brothers."

Some of their projects are designed to provide:

"...support and understanding for people experiencing difficulty reconciling their gay identity and their LDS faith with the popular attitudes of church members and leaders that often reflect misinformed ideas about homosexuals and homosexuality. [They attempt to influence] ... church leaders and members to follow scriptural admonitions in their treatment and perception of homosexual church members, rather than the unchristian ideas of hate, violence, fear and prejudice. [They provide] ... a forum for open and respectful discussion of issues of concern both to gay/lesbian LDS people and to other members of the church."

Other specialist groups include:

	Gamofites, a group for gay Mormon fathers at: http://www.gamofites.org/
	Wildflowers, a group for wives and former wives of gay Mormons, at: http://www.wearewildflowers.com

More information on LDS material on homosexuality:

	Jay Bell, "Available Homophobic Books and Pamphlets by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its General Authorities or Lay Members," at: http://www.affirmation.org
	"MoBoy1134" is a gay Mormon. His  blog titled "Journal of a Gay Mormon Boy" started on 2005-AUG. He comments: "It's hard to be Mormon. It's hard to be gay. It's Hell being both." See: http://gaymoboy.blogspot.com/

Books on Mormons and homosexuality:

	Ron Schow, et al,. "Peculiar People: Mormons and Same-Sex Orientation," Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store. This book has received very high ratings from all six volunteer reviewers on the Amazon web site.
	D. Michael Quinn, "Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans - a Mormon Example," University of Illinois Press, (1996). Read reviews or order this book. This is a controversial book which has received polarized reviews.

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