{"id":6330,"date":"2020-02-22T10:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-22T15:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/?p=6330"},"modified":"2020-02-21T11:05:41","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T16:05:41","slug":"6330","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/2020\/02\/6330.html","title":{"rendered":"Affirmation&#8217;s Response to New Church Handbook"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/affirmation.org\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Affirmation<\/a> is a pivotal entity in our LDS\/Mormon community and has come out with their response to the handbook changes we\u2019ve all been looking at this week.<\/p>\n<p>Please read this article and the\u00a0President of Affirmation, <a href=\"https:\/\/affirmation.org\/leadership\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Nathan Kitchen<\/a>\u2018s response.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"entry-title singular\"><a href=\"https:\/\/affirmation.org\/new-church-handbook-clarity-minimizes-lgbtq-identities?fbclid=IwAR0J-a4W3gsGgH2AMQqvT_Uf3-uYgcEtHOp2wTxpCVyh8sfVeA-tbtq1rfc\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">New Church handbook provides some clarity but minimizes LGBTQ identities<\/a><\/h1>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Affirmation is unique in that we have transgender leaders who provide a critical piece of the institutional voice. As a leader at the hi<span class=\"text_exposed_show\">ghest levels of Affirmation, <a class=\"profileLink decorated-link\" style=\"color: #800000;\" title=\"Laurie Lee Hall\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100008587339029&amp;__tn__=%2CdKH-R-R&amp;eid=ARBtm_o5M8zw0WcCeKnGOrRK-2YKkZUNY7BVxjWi7PCIOX_iLtMoe_FnzyQsMS-KYQbWF8MnS50HAsIA&amp;fref=mentions\" data-hovercard=\"\/ajax\/hovercard\/user.php?id=100008587339029&amp;extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdKH-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARBtm_o5M8zw0WcCeKnGOrRK-2YKkZUNY7BVxjWi7PCIOX_iLtMoe_FnzyQsMS-KYQbWF8MnS50HAsIA%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%2C%22directed_target_id%22%3A243098845790984%7D\" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show=\"1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Laurie Lee Hall<\/a> provides the backbone of today\u2019s response from Affirmation. <\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"text_exposed_show\">\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Today I sit with my transgender siblings to listen and acknowledge your experience with this handbook change.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<hr>\n<p><i><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-5994 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/153\/2019\/11\/42c76f_c52e0cf43b7b492e919aad90297a5272mv2_d_1536_1684_s_2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"115\" height=\"126\" data-pagespeed-url-hash=\"3060353197\">Natasha Helfer Parker, LCMFT, CST, CSTS\u00a0<\/i><i><\/i><i>can be reached at\u00a0<\/i><a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/natashaparker.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><b><i>natashaparker.org<\/i><\/b><\/a><i>\u00a0and runs an online practice,\u00a0<\/i><a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/symmetrysols.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><b><i>Symmetry Solutions<\/i><\/b><\/a><i>, which focuses on helping families and individuals with faith concerns, sexuality and mental health. She hosts the\u00a0<\/i><a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/mormonmentalhealth.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><b><i>Mormon Mental Health<\/i><\/b><\/a><i>\u00a0and <strong><a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/mormonsex.info\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Mormon Sex Info<\/a><\/strong>Podcasts, is the current past president of the\u00a0<\/i><a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/mormonmentalhealthassoc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><b><i>Mormon Mental Health Association<\/i><\/b><\/a><i>\u00a0and runs a sex education program,\u00a0<\/i><a class=\"decorated-link decorated-link\" href=\"http:\/\/sextalkwithnatasha.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><b><i>Sex Talk with Natasha<\/i><\/b><\/a><i>. She has over 20 years of experience working with primarily an LDS\/Mormon clientele.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Affirmation is a pivotal entity in our LDS\/Mormon community and has come out with their response to the handbook changes we\u2019ve all been looking at this week. Please read this article and the\u00a0President of Affirmation, Nathan Kitchen\u2018s response. New Church handbook provides some clarity but minimizes LGBTQ identities Affirmation is unique in that we have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":766,"featured_media":6335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,45,15,14,214,138,16,43],"tags":[323,234,46,211,29,100,113],"class_list":["post-6330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gender-identity","category-gospel-teachings","category-homosexuality","category-lgbtq","category-lgbtq-2","category-mindfulness","category-sexuality","category-temple-issues","tag-affirmation","tag-gospel-teachings","tag-lds","tag-lgbtq","tag-mormon","tag-spirituality","tag-transgender"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Affirmation&#039;s Response to New Church Handbook<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Affirmation is a pivotal entity in our LDS\/Mormon community and has come out with their response to the handbook changes we\u2019ve all been looking at this\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/2020\/02\/6330.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Affirmation&#039;s Response to New Church Handbook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Affirmation is a pivotal entity in our LDS\/Mormon community and has come out with their response to the handbook changes we\u2019ve all been looking at this\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/2020\/02\/6330.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Mormon Therapist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-22T15:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-21T16:05:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/153\/2020\/02\/General-Handbook-Featured-Image.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"403\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Natasha Helfer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Natasha Helfer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/2020\/02\/6330.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/2020\/02\/6330.html\",\"name\":\"Affirmation's Response to New Church Handbook\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-22T15:00:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-21T16:05:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/#\/schema\/person\/78971842fa93736d2376df2cd2ea8f54\"},\"description\":\"Affirmation is a pivotal entity in our LDS\/Mormon community and has come out with their response to the handbook changes we\u2019ve all been looking at this\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/2020\/02\/6330.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/2020\/02\/6330.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/2020\/02\/6330.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Affirmation&#8217;s Response to New Church Handbook\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/\",\"name\":\"The Mormon Therapist\",\"description\":\"A safe, confidential &quot;advice column&quot; 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