Friends and Family :: Community and Resources

Congratulations on finding this site! The fact you are looking for more information may be a good indication you've got an open mind and healthy attitude toward the issues surrounding homosexual attraction. There are a few things to keep in mind as you learn about the topic and try to give your best support to any friends or family members who experience attractions to the same gender:

• Don't stereotype the feelings, beliefs, or experiences of someone merely because they don't experience attractions most people do.
  
• Offer the same love, acceptance, and encouragement you always have. Learning about this single issue doesn't change the lifetime of experiences you may have already shared.
  
• Be sensitive to the fact that the language people use to describe their attractions and feelings may be easily misunderstood. The typical words people hear hold different connotations for different people. Find ways to communicate clearly while avoiding embarrassment or offense.
  

Loneliness and a feeling of being misunderstood can be one of the more difficult challenges anyone faces in life. As you study up using some of the resources gathered on this site, you may have the opportunity to help more than one close friend or relative choose materials that will help them remain close to the gospel and achieve greater peace regarding the specifics of their personal situation. May God bless you as you seek to, "bear one another's burdens, that they may be light" (Mosiah 18:8).

Resources on this page are organized as follows:

North Star Resources

Upcoming Events

Church Resources

Other Resources

North Star Resources

These are discussion groups, articles, and personal essays created by North Star or published on the North Star website. If you'd like to share some of your feelings, experiences, or you're your testimony in a personal essay, please contact us.

Join North Star Friends and Family discussion group

This group is for parents, siblings, spouses, friends, or local Church leaders to provide an open and supportive forum to encourage, strengthen, and educate one another, and to learn how to best encourage, strengthen, build up, and support our same-sex attracted loved ones.

Read the rules and expectations, and request to join.

Upcoming Events

North Star does not currently sponsor any specific activities or events. We do, however, provide a calendar of events sponsored by other individuals or groups which are in harmony with the mission of North Star and/or encourage values and behavior standards that are consistent with the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The following events cater to, or are welcoming of, friends and family of men and women experiencing homosexual attraction:

Monday, February 4
Fireside at home of Fred and Marilyn Matis
Lehi, Utah

Saturday-Sunday, February 16-17
Father-Son Healing Seminar
Baltimore, Maryland

Monday, March 3
Fireside at home of Fred and Marilyn Matis
Lehi, Utah

Friday-Sunday, April 4-6
Healing a Mother's Heart Retreat
Westminster, Colorado

Saturday-Sunday, April 5-6
Love, Sex, & Intimacy (LSI) Level I Healing Seminar
Baltimore, Maryland

Monday, April 7
Fireside at home of Fred and Marilyn Matis
Lehi, Utah

Church Resources

God Loveth His Children | PDF
Newly released booklet (July 20, 2007) providing counsel specific to Latter-day Saints who experience same-gender attraction

Articles and Addresses by General Authorities and Officers of the Church
LDS.org Email Subscriptions: Family Gems
LDS.org Email Subscriptions: Daily Gems

LDS.org Articles

Compassion for Those Who Struggle
Name Withheld
Ensign, September 2004

Disagreeing without Being Disagreeable
Joanna Stephenson Price
Ensign, March 2005

"I Won't Give Up On Them!"
Name Withheld
Ensign, February 2004

When a Loved One Struggles With Same-Sex Attraction
A. Dean Byrd
Ensign, September 1999

Let us know of articles by Church leaders or in Church publications that have been helpful to you as parent, family member, or friend of someone experiencing same-sex attraction, by emailing us.

LDS.org Gospel Library Selected Topics

Adversity | Agency | Communication | Family | Forgiveness | Hope | Love | Parenting

LDS.org Provident Living articles

Communication | Family | Fatherhood | Homosexuality (Same-Sex Attraction) | Marriage | Parenthood (Child Rearing, Teaching and Training) | Parenting (Discipline and Behavior Problems) | Single Parenting

Other Resources

These are online discussion forums, informational websites, weekend seminars and retreats, or articles and addresses sponsored by other individuals, groups, or organizations. North Star provides the following information only as reference and the approach of particular resources may or may not fully reflect the opinions or approach of individual North Star contributors.

Online Discussion Groups

Disciples2 Online Support Group for Families
Family Reconciliation Online Support Group
LDS-SSA.org Friends and Family Forum

Website Resources

Evergreen International family resources
People Can Change family resources
LDS Resources family resources
A Guide for Latter-day Saint Families Dealing with Homosexual Attraction
Suggestions to Families and Leaders When a Loved One Comes Out
International Healing Foundation family resources
Exodus International family resources

Weekend Seminars and Retreats

Love, Sex, and Intimacy
Sponsored by the International Healing Foundation
For youth, men, women, spouses, parents, family

Adventure in Manhood
Sponsored by Family Strategies LLC
For men with fathers or male mentor

Father-Son Healing Seminar
Sponsored by the International Healing Foundation

Mother-Daughter Healing Seminar
Sponsored by the International Healing Foundation

Healing a Mother's Heart
Sponsored by Janelle Hallman, M.A.
Mothers of daughters only

Sixteen Stones Seminar-retreats
Sponsored by Wendy Ulrich, Ph.D.; Carrie Kelly, Psy.D.; Christine Packard, M.C., LPC
For men, women, spouses, parents (Not SSA-specific)