Circling the Wagons
Coalition
The inherently personal nature of religious belief, spirituality, sexuality and individual identity have the propensity to evoke strong emotions, convictions and stances regarding issues that are of consequence to the LGBTQ/SSA Mormon community. As a result, deep divisions and ideological clashes exist among good people who share the similar objective of serving the needs of LGBTQ/SSA Mormons.
The Circling the Wagons Coalition is a body of professionals, community leaders, religious affiliates, and others who have put a considerable amount of effort into improving the lives of LGBTQ/SSA Mormons. It was established to facilitate communication and collaboration between community leaders having different religious and political ideologies and is founded on the principle that those who have the similar commendable objectives can work together to reach their collective goals despite conflicting perspectives. The Coalition’s hope is that through communication and collaboration more will achieved for the good of LGBTQ/SSA Mormons than might be independently.
Members of the Coalition are committed to striving together to serve LGBTQ/SSA Mormons by:
- Establishing and following standards of ethical communication
- Establishing and following standards of productive conflict resolution
- Collaborating on projects that align with shared ideals
- Promoting the empowerment of LGBTQ/SSA Mormons through education
- Promoting the empowerment of LGBTQ/SSA Mormons through advocating that their voices be heard, recognized and responded to within their families and communities
- Establishing standards that seek to protect the physical, social, emotional and sexual safety of LGBTQ/SSA youth and adults
The Coalition held its inaugural meeting on Friday, February 21, 2014. If you are involved in LGBTQ/SSA Mormonism, would like to be part of the Coalition, and did not receive an invitation to the meeting, we apologize. Please let us know you would like to participate. Our email address is coalition@CirclingtheWagons.org. Our intent is for the Coalition to be inclusive and we are working to do whatever we can to ensure that we do not mistakenly exclude anyone.