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DIRECTORS' MESSAGE
Owning Our Stories, Living Authentically...
By Ty Mansfield
...and Standing as Witnesses
Over the course of the last few years there has been a remarkable shift in the conversation we're having around homosexuality in LDS culture. While core doctrines of the Church with regard to the appropriate bounds of sexual expression have not changed (and will not change), there has been a clarifying and nuancing of Church teachings, as well as a notable shift in our cultural attitudes...  >>MORE
CALENDAR & EVENTS
Register Now for Couples' Summit
by North Star International
Come join other couples, improve your marriage, and connect with other members of North Star and make lasting memories. We provide an environment of open discussion to help improve our marriages and ourselves while having fun! The Fifth Annual Couples' Summit will take place on Friday evening, August 2, and all day Saturday, August 3 in Provo, UT. More info coming soon. Earlybird Special is $145 per couple...    >>MORE INFO
NORTHERN LIGHTS BLOG
Fear of the Light and Dark…
by Jimmy Merrell
May 21, 2013— May Your Burden Be LIGHT This past weekend I and a friend were watching Les Miserables the musical.  When I was 17, I started reading the book written by Victor Hugo.  As I saw scene after scene unfold, I saw something that I had recently been clued into and wanted to share.   Something was hidden out in the open, what I call Shadowy.  I want to draw your attention to this little gem and another piece of precious shadow that is prevalent wit… >>MORE
Welcome.

North Star is a community for Latter-day Saints dealing with issues surrounding homosexual attraction who desire to live in harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ and the values and doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The purpose of North Star is to be a spiritually uplifting resource for individuals and families dealing with this complex issue. It is also to empower individuals to help educate themselves, their family, friends, and Church leaders as they strive to become integrated more fully and lovingly into the Church... You are not alone...

 
NEW & FEATURED ITEMS THIS MONTH

orerreuG nomaR yerfeY

Leadership Council Spotlight
Yefrey was born in Colombia in November of 1984 in a town called Arauca which borders Venezuela. At age one his family moved to Bogotá where they lived until 1988. In 1988 Yefrey’s father was made the Colombian ambassador to Italy so the family then moved to Rome. Yefrey has lived in Rome ever since, except for a 2 year internship he did in New York City after obtaining his law degree...  >>MORE

mahkcaP leahciM

Voices of Hope Project
Michael spent 34 wonderful years teaching music in Utah’s public schools. He and his first wife, Joanne, reared eight children resulting in 33 grandchildren. After Joanne lost a 12-year struggle with Alzheimer’s, Michael remarried a beautiful and articulate woman who graciously eats his culinary creations, admires his watercolors, encourages his family history research and supports him through the ongoing emotional challenges that his same-gender attraction presents. After his excommunication and subsequent rebaptism later in life, Michael is a living testament that the Atonement’s healing power is worth any sacrifice....  >>WATCH

Audio for Spring Fireside available

North Star Firesides
The Spring Fireside was a huge success, with record numbers and a beautiful spirit. Speakers Laurie Campbell and Michael Samuelian both spoke of the Savior's Atonement for each of us. The messages of the fireside were of light and hope, not only as it applies to same gender attraction, but as it applies to our individual challenges and relationships with our Savior....  >>MORE

Ty Mansfield to participate on HuffPost Live discussion on mixed-orientation marriages

Northern Lights Blog
North Star Executive Committee member was recently invited by the Huffington Post to participate in a 30-minute HuffPost Live Google Hangout chat discussion on mixed-orientation marriages (MOMs) with Amity Buxton, veteran and respected researcher on MOMs, founder of the Straight Spouse Network and author of Unseen, Unheard: The Journey of Straight Spouses; Carren Strock, author of Married Women Who Love Women; and Juliet Jeske, a New York-based comedian, actress and writer, and a featured voice on the Straight Spouse Network, sharing the story of her ex-husband who came out as gay years into their marriage...  >>MORE

The Self-Acceptance Project

The 2nd Great Commandment articulated by the Savior was to "" (). Shame, low self-worth, and lack of compassion and charity for ourselves should be the first area of serious address for anyone seeking healthy resolution to sexual or gender identity concerns. Starting March 4, 2013, Sounds True, a multimedia publishing company, has sponsored a weekly conversation with modern luminaries on spirituality, psychology, and creativity to explore insights and practices for living with a sense of your own fundamental worthiness. That collection, The Self-Acceptance Project, includes hour-long interviews with respected thinkers such as Harville Hendrix, Brené Brown, Parker Palmer, Geneen Roth and more. Registration is free and interviews can be watched or listened to online or downloaded to a personal devise to listen to elsewhere....  >>MORE

"A Community Conversation: Breaking the Silence on Suicide"

KSL 5 News Special
On Thursday, Apr 25, 2013, KSL 5 News presented a 30-minute, commercial-free conversation about suicide, which has been one of Utah's biggest problems with 2013 trending to be a record year. "A Community Conversation: Breaking the Silence on Suicide" profiled personal stories and discussed what parents need to know about preventing suicide in their families and how to safely have this important conversation with their children, as well as what children would say to their parents on the issue. Conversations can be viewed online. ..  >>MORE

eveeK pilihP

Voices of Hope Project
Northwestern Political Science major Philip Keeve converted to the LDS Church as a college freshman. Between his education, jobs, music, and moving around the country as a student of politics, health, and law, he puts family, friends, and faith first. The outdoors, quality time with amazing people of all stripes, and the Spirit's influence have all worked to bring Philip happiness, help, and hope. The many blessings bestowed upon him have inspired him not to blend in, but to blend out...  >>WATCH

Church Issues Statement on Boy Scouts of America

LDS Newsroom
Following a compromise proposal from the Boy Scouts of America to allow gay youths to join local troops, while continuing to exclude gay leaders, the Church, the nation's largest Scouting sponsor, issued a statement that it is "satisfied" with the BSA's plan. "While the church has not launched any campaign either to effect or prevent a policy change," said the statement on the Church's newsroom site, "we have followed the discussion and are satisfied that BSA has made a thoughtful, good-faith effort to address issues that, as they have said, remain 'among the most complex and challenging issues facing the BSA and society today."...  >>MORE

LDS convert Jordan Jantz offers winder of life of abuse, abandonment and homosexuality in new book

Jordan Jantz, a dear friend and supporter of many in the North Star community, shares his story of abuse, abandonment and homosexuality in a just-released memoir, Out of the Closet, Into the Light. Leaving his old life behind, Jordan came to know and understand God's love for him, as well as discover his own part in the eternal plan. But this book isn't just about his Christian conversion and lifestyle change€¦ It's about everything he was, everything he is, and everything he is on his way to becoming. Simply put, this is the story of his journey from the painful, cold darkness into the light. The book can be purchased in both hardcopy and electronic formats....  >>MORE

The Church's Position on Gays in the Boy Scouts

Meridian Magazine
Yesterday I read something so disturbing that it made me sad for hours. I had to stop reading it and walk away. It was a statement by someone posted on this website that read simply, "I'm so glad my boys are out of Scouts now. I would not want my little boy in the same troop as a gay 10 year old boy.'... It depressed me for hours that this person is out there representing my religion and all that I hold dear. I knew I had to say something...  >>MORE

Scouts, Saints and 'sexual orientation'

The big questions---and big gamble---are these: Can BSA acknowledge youth on the basis of "sexual orientation' without fueling even more politicization from within, and can the LDS Church acknowledge innate "same-sex attraction' without fueling the appearance of inconsistencies in church doctrine?...I wonder if these two beloved institutions...understand that they cannot be passive about matters that only serve to energize their opponents, especially matters unsupported by evidence in science or medicine?...  >>MORE
 
PREVIOUSLY FEATURED ITEMS

Creating the Voices of Hope Project

Directors Message - April 2013
On May 20, 2012, I came home from running errands and, there, among the stack of mail, was a copy of LDS Living magazine whose cover featured a smiling young couple with one of the cutest little boys I had ever seen. There was something riveting about the man in the picture. I thought at the time that he looked kind. He looked happy. He looked genuinely good. As my eyes shifted to the accompanying headline, I remember literally feeling so shocked that I stopped breathing for a second...  >>MORE

Latest issue of BYU Studies includes review of Ty Mansfield’s Voices of Hope

In the most recent issue of BYU Studies Quarterly, Allen E. Bergin, a highly esteemed Professor Emeritus of Psychology at BYU, and his wife Marian, a retired clinical social worker and program director in behavioral medicine at Utah Valley Hospital, wrote a decidedly positive review essay of Ty Mansfield’s Voices of Hope: "This unusual, beautifully conceptualized book features personal accounts by nineteen men and women...   >>MORE

Meridian Magazine features the Voices of Hope Project

"Voices of Hope has a singular focus on assisting those individuals who desire to live in harmony with the teachings and values of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding marriage and sexual expression. Its power stems from the collection of simple, heart-felt video testimonies of diverse men and women who share their stories of how they have reconciled their homosexuality with the gospel and to ultimately come to a place of happiness and peace." ...   >>MORE

Ty Mansfield interviewed for Mormon Book Review podcast

Voices of Hope compiler, Ty Mansfield, recently did an interview with Kirk Caudle, host of The Mormon Book Review podcast, about his book and the recently launched website expansion of the book LDSVoicesofHope.org. Kirk also talked with Ty about his spiritual path, homosexuality and identity, and possibilities for Mormons who experience same-sex attraction and who desire to stay in the Church...   >>MORE

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Disclaimer: North Star is not owned by or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and site content should not be interpreted as official statements of Church doctrine, belief, or practice. While North Star wholly supports the doctrines and values of the Church of Jesus Christ, all views expressed or errors made are the sole responsibility of site contributors.

 

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