Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
| Founded | June 11, 1977 |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Website | affirmation |
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Formerly called
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Affirmation: Gay Mormons United |
Affirmation: LGBT Mormons, Families & Friends is an international organization for individuals who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, queer, intersex, or same-sex attracted, and their family members, friends, and church leaders who are members or former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon Church). According to its charter, Affirmation "offers its members strength and support in solving personal problems through mutual acceptance and fellowship" and "work[s] for the understanding and acceptance of gays and lesbians as full, equal and worthy persons within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and society, and to help them realize and affirm self-worth."
Under the name Affirmation: Gay Mormons United, the first Affirmation group was organized on 11 June in Salt Lake City by Stephan Zakharias (formerly Stephen James Matthew Prince) and a group of other Mormon and former-Mormon gays and lesbians at the conference for the Salt Lake Coalition for Human Rights. Stephan organized the group in response to the suicides of two BYU friends who had undergone shock aversion therapy on the campus. The original organization struggled to survive until 1978, when Paul Mortensen, inspired by an article on the group in The Advocate formed the Los Angeles chapter, and in 1980 the name was changed to Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons. Through the influence of the Los Angeles chapter, Affirmation groups began appearing in many cities around the US.
Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, it was common LDS Church practice to excommunicate individuals who identified as gay, without distinguishing between same-sex orientation and behavior. An influential book by Spencer W. Kimball (LDS Church President, 1973-1985), entitled The Miracle of Forgiveness (Bookcraft, 1969), counseled individuals with "same-sex attraction" that they could overcome same-sex oriented sexuality through faithful living. Because of the strong emphasis in Mormon theology on marriage of a man and a woman as a requirement for "exaltation" in Heaven, it was common for LDS leaders to counsel members who confessed feelings of "same-sex attraction" to simply ignore their feelings and marry a member of the opposite sex in the belief that same-sex orientation was ephemeral or unreal. In 1979 and 1980 Affirmation leaders sought to engage LDS Church leadership in dialog about these beliefs, but these early attempts at dialog were rebuffed by LDS Church leadership.
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