Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons
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| Founded | June 11, 1977 |
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| Location | |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Members
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10,000+ |
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Volunteers
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30 |
| 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."
Below is a timeline of events and publications involving the Affirmation community.
Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, it was a common LDS Church practice to excommunicate individuals who identified as gay, without distinguishing between attraction and behavior. An influential book by Spencer W. Kimball (LDS Church President, 1973-1985), entitled The Miracle of Forgiveness, 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 encourage members who confessed feelings of "same-sex attraction" to ignore their feelings and marry a member of the opposite sex based on the belief that this would overcome homosexuality.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Affirmation increasingly became an organization for ex-Mormons. Members and leaders of Affirmation tended to assume that activity in the LDS Church was psychologically damaging, and believed that the focus of the organization should be on helping people to transition out of Mormonism and to protest policies and doctrines of the LDS Church that were seen as harmful to gay people.
With a softening of the LDS Church's positions on homosexuality, increasing numbers of Affirmation members were choosing to stay active in and engaged with the LDS Church. In the early 2000s, chapters of Affirmation formed in Mexico and in Chile. With the resurgence in the 2010s, Affirmation began to experience new growth in Latin America, with chapters opening in Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Brazil.
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