“Our policy will be to love and support individuals and families wherever they are in their journey."

LGBT Center To Open Up Across From Mormon Temple In Utah

A new family and youth center opening in Provo, Utah hopes to be a safe, inclusive space for LGBT Mormons abandoned by the Church.

The Encircle LGBT Center, set to open its doors in February 2017, stands not 500 feet from one of two Mormon temples in Provo, a city home to one of the largest Mormon populations in the United States.

The location was a deliberate choice made by attorney and founder Stephenie Larson who remarked that the community is “ready for this.”

“We need to move the LGBT community forward and learn how to love these individuals better,” she told The Huffington Post.

David McNew, Getty Images

Historically, the Church of Latter Day Saints has been anything but welcoming to the LGBT community.

In addition to countless reports of queer Mormon youth being bullied into suicide, new guidelines released by church leaders in November 2015 explicitly banned all Mormons in same-sex marriages from the Church and stated that their children would be barred from being baptized unless they disavowed their LGBT parents.

The move inspired a mass exodus of LGBT folks and allies from the LDS Church and cast a renewed scrutiny on the religion’s lack of inclusivity.

In response to the controversy, Larson decided to build a space where excommunicated LGBT Mormons and their families could gather free of judgment or hate.

“This will be a place where no blame will ever be cast,” she remarked. “We want this to be forward-thinking, helping these kids realize who they can be and what their potential is and helping them learn to love themselves.”

Though Larson herself doesn’t identify as LGBT, she worked on plans for the center with her late uncle-in law, who was gay. Additionally, nearly half of Encircle’s board members are LGBT, including treasurer Tom Christofferson, whose brother is one of the Church’s governing leaders.

“The audience I’m most concerned with reaching is local church leaders so that they will see this as a resource in their ministries to families,” said Christofferson.

Encircle

Encircle is located in a historic house in Provo and seeks to be a figurative home for LGBT youth, stocked with fresh-baked cookies, warm staff and services that affirm queer identities.

Programming will include on-site counseling, a speaker series, homework help, art classes and more.

“More than ever, [these kids] need support to know they’re loved by their community, their family and their God,” Larson stated.

Though Larson remains an ardent Mormon, she says the center is not about bringing LGBT youth or families back into the fold.

“Our policy will be to love and support individuals and families wherever they are in their journey and no matter how they decide to live their lives. We want them to choose the path that will help them thrive,” Larsen said.

She concluded: “Hopefully the positive and educational conversations we have at Encircle will trickle out into the community and…we’ll start to see a real change.”

h/t: Huffington Post

