Not all groups in Steve Shields book should be considered denominations. In our next conversation, we’ll talk about some of these subgroups with official endorsement of the LDS Church, such as Affirmation and the Genesis Group.
Steve: Affirmation is a para-church organization. It provides a church-oriented fellowship for LGBTQ people who are not often welcomed in the standard ward and most of them are LDS folks in Affirmation. But, they’re providing a ministry that is, dare I say it? Tangential to the LDS Church. So, I consider that an expression.
GT: Would it be like the Genesis Group?
Steve: Genesis Group would have been a very similar kind of a group. Genesis had the full support of the church where Affirmation does not. So, there’s a little difference there. Maybe that’s a big difference, actually. Certainly, with the LDS Church’s policy of a couple of years ago about LGBTQ people, and their children being able to be baptized [that] would take them even one step further the other direction, away from seeing Affirmation [as a good thing]
GT: Whereas the Genesis [Group] was [fully supported by the church], right?
Steve: Yeah, they were. Right.
GT: Just for people who may not know what Genesis Group is, I know we do. But can you describe Genesis Group?
Steve: I probably don’t know very much about it. It was before blacks were allowed to be ordained and it was a ministry group for black LDS Church members, their families and friends. They could be members of the church and it was a support. It was supported by the church, mostly here in the Salt Lake area, I think. Darius Gray, who is well-known in Mormon thought circles, was one of the key people, as I remember.
GT: Yeah, he was one of the original counselors and he went on to become President later. He’s a great guy.
Steve: So that was an important ministry in the era of civil rights upset in the United States. Ultimately then in 1978, when full ordination was finally permitted for all.
It’s sad to say that some groups that believe in the Book of Mormon are notorious for the crimes they have committed. In our final conversation with Steve Shields, we will discuss the Lafferty brothers, and Ervil Lebaron. Both groups were involved in murder.
Steve: It’s really hard to deal with some of those that are just so grossly offensive in what they do. A lot of people, especially Bob Crossfield’s folks would rather I not talk about the Laffertys. But I say, well, I can’t not [talk about them] because they exist or existed, and there was something going on. Bob Crossfield was a self-proclaimed prophet from Canada who eventually developed what they called the School of the Prophets and Bob himself issued more than 100 revelations. The Lafferty brothers, Ron and Dan got involved in Crossfield’s School of the Prophets, but quickly took over what that was all about and turned it into something evil. Evil, maybe that’s not objective, but when you receive or proclaim a revelation that says, “God tells me to kill this person and kill that person and kill that person…” They were a modern-day resurrection of Ervil LeBaron. Ervil was evil. Most of the family members that I know in the LeBaron clan would say the same thing. I don’t know any of the Lafferty folks, but I do know Bob Crossfield’s people. They were just devastated by how the Laffertys twisted everything that Bob Crossfield is all about and turned it into something so horrible. History is not always pretty. Thankfully there haven’t been too many of those kinds of things happening in all of Latter-day Saint history, but every now and again, some of that stuff crops up and you have to deal with it the best way you can.
What are your thoughts about Affirmation & the Genesis Group? Have you heard of the Laffertys or Ervil Lebaron?
Wheat & Tares 
Rick B; I can’t believe neither you nor Steve mentioned Jeffrey Lundgren; the ex-RLDS who murdered an entire family of followers in 1989. The first action taken by the Church against Lundgren was not removal of his priesthood (Priest), but excommunication. As a tour guide of the Kirtland Temple, Lundgren was commenting negatively about the RLDS ordination of women.
Steve looks favorably on the Affirmation group that separated from the LDS over policy, but the CofChrist dismisses the groups that separated from them because of the Church’s progressive policies.
Also, “people who are not often welcomed in the standard ward” is on account of their behavior, not the person. Wearing their homosexuality on their sleeve and in-your-face attitudes does no one any benefit during a worshipful gathering; the same as someone coming into the chapel purposely intoxicated.
Mark,
The Lafferty murders were huge news here in Utah. My wife went to high school with a daughter of one of these men, so the story has been quite memorable for me. I only recently learned about the Lundgren family from Bill Russell describing them, but they would have been an interesting story as well. For those who don’t know, here’s a link to Bill Russell’s talk about the Lundgrens. https://mormonheretic.org/2012/04/18/bill-russell-nephi-is-dangerous/
“Also, “people who are not often welcomed in the standard ward” is on account of their behavior, not the person.”
Not actually true. My straight-child who dresses a little non-standard (not just for church, but always) gets glares and spoken to dismissively pretty regularly. Never once has a person who has treated my child badly known anything about her behavior at all (which is model-citizen). The judgement is all about appearance and the creative-thinking of the person doing the judging…
I don’t know Affirmation very well, but I don’t think they are separating themselves from the LDS Church. Steve said they are providing fellowship for LDS gays, and are somewhat trying to provide a ministry for gays to stay engaged in the LDS Church.
I also agree with ReTx. People who don’t dress appropriately, wear tattoos, long hair on guys, pants on women, man-buns, pink or blue hair, lots of piercings, or do other things outside the orthodox box aren’t treated well, as a general rule. Appearance of an individual can initiate prejudice. It’s not just sexual orientation. Even beards aren’t as welcome as clean-shaven, white shirts.
I’ll also add that unorthodox comments regarding history or science can be difficult to offer on a consistent basis without orthodox backlash.
I heard Genesis sing the National Anthem at Rio Tinto Stadium; the anthem with a Southern Baptist Gospel Choir flavor. It was delightful and still reverent.
“Never once has a person who has treated my child badly known anything about her behavior at all”
Dress is part of behavior. At times, and initially, it is the first and maybe only clue a person has about non-visible behaviors.
If you come to church dressed like a “biker dude” I will assume, based solely on probabilities, that you ARE a biker dude. I won’t go out of my way to avoid you but very likely we don’t have a lot in common although I did ride a small Kawasaki in my younger days. Loved it.
What you wear is an advertisement. Hey everyone, this is me! Knowing local cultural customs is good business. When in Hawaii I wear Aloha shirts; I love them and have many, but I don’t wear them in Utah. Unless I’m visiting Samoans.
Rick, ReTx, and Michael 2:
View the situation as the brackish waters of personal likes/dislikes, guidelines, church policy and doctrine. Members confuse one for another, like the missionary who told me “Any hymn not in our hymnbook is not a real hymn”.
The man in the raggedy work clothes raised a few eyebrows, until people found out he was a member driving a semi all night and stopped in for services.
So we think (or say),”this person is unaware of our beliefs/standards and we accept that. If it continues, there’s a reason why, like the YW who didn’t own a nice outfit for Church til the YW leader took her shopping.Or it could be a form of rebellion.
markagblog –
That’s a fine response. I don’t disagree with it. But I have no idea how it proves the original statement that I objected to: “Also, “people who are not often welcomed in the standard ward” is on account of their behavior, not the person. “
Not sure how we feel about Affirmation being referenced in the same post as “Murdering Mormons,” but we appreciate the shoutout! Affirmation is a 100% autonomous community of support for LGBTQ+ Mormons, their family members, and their friends. The Affirmation community includes everyone across the spectrum of sexual orientation, gender, identity, faith, and relationship with the Church. Unlike Genesis, Affirmation doesn’t have our own church meetings, but we do have chapters conferences around the world. We believe in building bridges with the Church where we can, and last year accepted a grant from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Foundation to aid in our suicide prevention efforts. For more information, we invite you to visit our website at https://affirmation.org.
Joel, thanks for the note. I have a couple of questions.
I wasn’t aware of an organization called North Star until my Kurt Francom interview. (https://gospeltangents.com/2018/11/we-must-have-difficult-conversations/ ) Apparently North Star is an LGBT organzation that is officially sponsored by LDS Church. Do you have any “cross-promotions” (for lack of a better word) with North Star? Also, do you encourage people in Affirmation to stay affiliated in the LDS Church?
We do have some in the Affirmation community who also participate in North Star. Affirmation is not prescriptive about the decisions individuals make while seeking healing, self-acceptance, and spiritual self-reliance. We support all affected by the nexus of sexual orientation and gender identity and Mormonism, supporting each person according to their individual needs, honoring each individual’s path and help them process through it.