Thursday April 12
6:30-7:30 p.m.
Salt Lake City Public Library
Conference Room 4
Facilitated by Kendall Wilcox
For many, if not most in the Mormon community, the on-going conversation about homosexuality and Mormonism has failed us. This failure has resulted in broken homes, broken hearts, and a deep misery that’s even led some to take their own lives. These tragic results have led many to blame and point fingers rather than find more constructive ways of sustaining the conversation that lead to understanding, growth, and hope. At the heart of this failed conversation lies the unresolved tension that often exists between our beliefs in the way things should be and the reality of how things are.
After conducting over 100 interviews with gay Mormons, their loved-ones, mental health practitioners, ecclesiastical leaders, sociologists and more, the community organizers and producers of the documentary Far Between have developed a simple yet sustainable method of engaging one another around this divisive issue in a way that will draw each of us further into the conversation rather than drive us further out. They’ll share ways of sustaining the tension that allow each of us to focus on the most salient questions long enough that, together, we can find better and better answers. They’ll suggest ways that we can navigate this space between the principles of a beloved ideology and the realities of our “lived experiences.” They’ll share how by conscientiously loosening our grip on ideology for a moment in an effort really seek to understand someone’s lived experience of being gay (or being devoutly Mormon, etc.), we’ll be one step closer to operating from a space of true empathy.
The community conversation will provide an opportunity to engage with others’ lived experience while not forfeiting or shifting our opinions on the issues. The organizers hope that the community conversation will help each of us to open ourselves up to more nuance, more compassion, and, frankly, better decision making.
Read more about the conversation about Mormonism and LGBT issues in the Salt Lake Tribune. Watch clips from Kendall Wilcox’s upcoming documentary Far Between.
