This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Evergreen International, a nonprofit group that helps Latter-day Saints to "overcome homosexual behavior," is holding its 20th annual conference this weekend in Salt Lake City.
On Saturday morning, the group will hear, as it does each year, from a general authority of the LDS Church. Bishop Keith B. McMullin, a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric will speak.
Last year, Elder Bruce C. Hafen, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, gave the address. He promised attendees that those who are "faithful" will be resurrected with "normal attractions to the opposite sex." Some he said, will experience that change in this life.
The LDS Church's beliefs and policies on homosexuality has been cause for concern for decades for people who support the right of gay men and lesbians to be open about their sexuality and have relationships.
The American Psychological Association has advised mental health professionals against telling their clients they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments, saying doing so has the potential for harm.
The "long-standing consensus" of the behavioral and social sciences, the APA noted in a report last year, is that homosexuality is a "normal and positive variation of human sexual orientation."
The LDS Church recently launched a campaign to share the stories of everyday Mormons at http://www.mormon.org. One woman, Marishia, says she returned to the church and to a positive relationship with her family after disavowing her life as a lesbian.
"When I prayed to know why I was born homosexual a few hours later I received my answer," she writes on the website. "I have come to understand that homosexuality is similar to a physical defect and in the next life I will no longer have this physical defect, therefore I will no longer be a homosexual."