page_title: Evergreen International
section_title: General Authority Addresses
hierarchical_section_title: Evergreen International / General Authority Addresses
caption_attribution_description: English: A fairly typical Latter-day Saint chapel. Taken December 24, 2006 at the Joseph Smith Building in Salt Lake City, Utah
context_page_description: Evergreen International, Inc. was a 501 non-profit organization located in Salt Lake City, Utah, whose stated mission was to assist "people who want to diminish same-sex attractions and overcome homosexual behavior". It adhered to Christian and particularly LDS teaching and supported the doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The organization stated this task could be accomplished with the help of the Lord and, in some cases, psychological counseling. Evergreen was founded in 1989 as a grassroots organization by men who were seeking to deal with their homosexual feelings in ways congruent to the teachings of the LDS Church.
context_section_description: General LDS church leaders spoke at nearly every Evergreen annual conference from 1996 to 2011.
  2000 – Elder Alexander B. Morrison of the First Quorum of the Seventy addressed members of Evergreen at their 10th annual conference which was held in the church's Joseph Smith Memorial Building and stated, "Avoid as the plague social interaction with persons who justify, encourage or engage in homosexual behavior. Stay away from places where those challenged by same-gender attraction congregate."
  2005 – At the 15th annual conference Elder James O. Mason of the Second Quorum of the Seventy directed, "Can individuals struggling with some same-gender attraction be cured? “With God nothing should be impossible” (Luke 1:37) ... The right course of action remains the same: eliminate or diminish same sex attraction." "Feelings of attraction toward someone of the same gender should be eliminated if possible or controlled."
  2007 – Church seventy Douglas Callister spoke at an Evergreen conference and urged listeners to battle their challenge of "same-gender inclinations" and thoughts through prayer, fasting, and taking the sacrament.
  2009 – Elder Bruce C. Hafen of the First Quorum of the Seventy gave an address at the 19th annual conference promising, "If you are faithful, on resurrection morning—and maybe even before then—you will rise with normal attractions for the opposite sex.  Some of you may wonder if that doctrine is too good to be true. But Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said it MUST be true, because 'there is no fullness of joy in the next life without a family unit, including a husband and wife, and posterity.' And 'men (and women) are that they might have joy.'"
  2010 – Keith B. McMullin of the Presiding Bishopric addressed the 20th annual conference and counseled that "If someone seeking your help says to you, 'I am homosexual' or 'I am lesbian' or 'I am gay,' correct this miscasting. Heavenly Father does not speak of His children this way, and neither should we. It is simply not true. To speak this way sows seeds of doubt and deceit about who we really are. It belittles, depreciates and disparages the individual." He further teaches that the "such limitations" as same-gender attraction won't exist after death, though "in and of itself it is neither evil nor sinful".
caption: Joseph Smith Memorial Building chapel where many Evergreen Conferences were held.
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