“Joined in Fellowship”
With Mitch Mayne, Carol Lynn Pearson, Bishop Don Fletcher, and Dr. Caitlin Ryan!
The “Circling the Wagons” Statement of Purpose can be found at the bottom of this page.
Printable Conference Pamphlet (pdf)
Friday, August 10, 2012 – 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Opening Potluck Social
Location: To be announced
6:30 – 8:00 p.m. – Food and socializing
8:00 – 8:30 p.m. – Carol Lynn Pearson poetry reading and story sharing
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Saturday, August 11st, 2012 - 11:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Main Conference
Location: St. Cyprian’s Church
2097 Turk Street (at Lyon)
San Francisco, CA 94115
Standard Conference Price: $37 (Registrants may pay less or more, depending on ability to pay. See registration section below for details.)
11:00 a.m.-12:00 noon – Potluck Brunch – Meet and Mingle
12 noon-1:30 p.m. – Opening Session
Conducting: Sean Trueman
Non-traditional Prayer:
Musical Number: Judy Eggleston
Poetry Reading: Carol Lynn Pearson - Pioneers
Musical Number: Pioneers by David Zabriskie; set to the lyrics of Carol Lynn Pearson’s poem
Keynote Speaker: Bishop Don Fletcher
Keynote Speaker: Mitch Mayne
1:30-2:00 p.m. – Break/Mingle
2:00-3:00 p.m. – Breakouts
A parent’s journey to understanding homosexuality – Diane Oviatt
Authenticity as a Mormon lesbian – Kim Mack
What helps (and hurts) in resolving sexual, religious and social conflicts – Hollie Hancock
Allies – What can I do? – Dr. Caitlin Ryan and Mitch Mayne
3:00-3:30 p.m. – Break/Mingle
3:30-4:45 p.m. – Second Session
Conducting:
Community Speaker: Carol Lynn Pearson – The Perspective of the Straight Spouse
Community Speaker: John Gustov-Wrathall
Community Speaker: Kim Mack
Community Speaker: Dr. Caitlin Ryan
4:45-5:15 p.m. – Break/Mingle
5:15-6:30 p.m. – Story Sharing Meeting
Conducting: Bishop Adam Christensen
Musical Number:
-Story Sharing-
Congregational Hymn:
Traditional Prayer:
Mormon Stories Story Sharing Meetings are conducted in the tradition of Mormon testimony meetings. The microphone is open for all attendees to share their thoughts, feelings and beliefs. Those who currently identify with the Mormon faith tradition, those who identified with it in the past and all others are encouraged to share regardless of level of belief or activity.
7:00 p.m. Meet at a restaurant for dinner
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Sunday, August 12nd, 2012 - 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Interfaith Services
Location: St. Cyprian’s Church
2097 Turk Street (at Lyon)
San Francisco, CA 94115
FREE and open to the public
Conducting:
Musical Number: Judy Eggleston
Prayer:
Speaker: Michael G. Pappas, Executive Director of the San Francisco Interfaith Council
Speaker: Matt Mosman, San Francisco Stake LDS High Councilor
Congregational Hymn:
Prayer:
Donations and registration fees pay for speaker airfare, facility rentals, and administrative costs. Mormon Stories cannot continue to underwrite its conferences. Donors interested in helping ensure that Circling the Wagons conferences remain sustainable may make tax-deductible donations at the “One-Time Donation” button below. We thank you for your support.
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Registration:
The standard registration price of Saturday’s main conference is $37. If your budget prevents you from paying $37, please select the buttons beside the $10 or $20 options. If you feel you can afford to pay more and would like to help subsidize others’ registrations, you may select $50, $75, or $100. Anyone who does not have $10 may email Anne Peffer at MormonStories@gmail.com to request a free admission. Again, please choose the price that you feel best reflects your own ability to pay. We want to have you there. Your participation is more important to us than your pocketbook. All are equally welcome. Please come.
FREE admissions to ALL Mormon Stories conferences are our thank you to pledge-level members. $500 per annum pledge-level memberships available for as little as $41.67 a month. Click the button below to join. Please see our donate tab for more information. All pledge-level membership donations are tax-deductible.
If you would prefer, instead, to make a one-time tax-deductible donation, please use the one-time donation button below. Admission to the conference will be gifted to conference donors. No minimum donation necessary; we look forward to seeing you.
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“Circling the Wagons” Statement of Purpose
The goal of Mormon Stories “Circling the Wagons” conferences is to create spaces where LGBTQ or SSA individuals and their families and allies can gather to acknowledge, explore and honor shared experiences. No issues strike more deeply than who we love and how we understand and honor God. These issues carry an especially profound weight in Mormon communities and have been the source of a great deal of misunderstanding, judgment and hurt. Consequently, gay Mormons are deeply divided over how to address same-sex attraction and negotiate the choices they face.
In convening this conferences, we are inviting LGBTQ Mormons and their families and allies to step beyond historic divisions to establish a shared space where all who have ever self-identified as Mormon and have experienced same-sex attraction can speak truthfully and respectfully. Mormon Stories and the Open Stories Foundation are hosting this conference as an expression of our longstanding commitment to LGBTQ issues and in the spirit of our Shared Values:
We acknowledge the richness of Mormon heritage, teachings, and community in all of its diversity.
We believe that one can self-identify as Mormon based on one’s genealogy, upbringing, beliefs, relationships, and other life experiences, regardless of one’s adherence or non-adherence to the teachings or doctrines of any religious organization.
We seek spaces where we as Mormons can live lives of intellectual and spiritual integrity, individual conscience, and personal dignity.
We acknowledge and honor different spiritual paths and modes of religious or non-religious truth-seeking. We respect the convictions of those who subscribe to ideas and beliefs that differ from our own.
We recognize the confusion, distress, emotional trauma, and social ostracism that people on faith journeys often experience. We seek constructive ways of helping and supporting people, regardless of their ultimate decisions regarding church affiliation or activity.
We affirm the inherent and equal worth of all human beings. We seek spaces where Mormons (and all people) can interact as equals regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation. In this spirit of egalitarianism, we prefer non-authoritarian and non-hierarchical means of organization and affiliation.
We welcome all who wish to participate in a spirit of fellowship and openness, with condemnation for none and compassion for all, in the hopes that all will experience personal renewal and discover a basis for common ground in our shared heritage.