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Because my story is happening publicly at the highest levels of the church, people ascribe extra meaning to it, he says in the interview, but from within the story, it feels like a typical narrative., The apostle and the queer son are just family, Gong repeats. As someone interested in the photographic impact of light, color, composition, and moment, Elder Gong imagines the childrenand others like them in Nepal, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Utahenjoying the space. Pressure from Mormon Blogosphere/Political Correctness: 0. Elder Gong is a native born American citizen who grew up in America surrounded by Chinese culture at home and American culture in school and Northern California LDS culture at church and was raised by parents whose family trees are fully populated by people who were born in China. Bensen, recounting your personal experience with a few interracial marriages in [your] own family and supposing you can generalize from those experiences with those few particular people to arrive at broad statements about how race functions in marriage is, at the very least, a trifle naive. Its also more than a trifle condescending, considering that youre trying to correct someone who has actual first-hand experience of the potential issues youre describing. "Ours is a worldwide Church. His mother's family are ethnic Chinese in Hawaii . Here goes: When the names of the two new apostles were read I felt sick in the pit of my stomach. He later served as a special assistant in the United States State Department, as well as special assistant to the ambassador at the United States Embassy in Beijing, China. His fear was that people would politicize me and my dad. That means not only that he has experience with multiple cultures, it also means that his grandchildren will likely be raised in the same country where he lives, which means that it will be a little easier for him and his wife to spend time with them as present and well known grandparents. I am pleased for him. Having people who know about petroleum extraction is always useful! I think generational biases are difficult to overcome when seeking the Lords will on things great and small. I have personally experienced stinging examples of this bias: confusion about our children, surprise about us being together, and even comments along the lines that I did it backwards by being a white woman married to my Korean-American husband. Big smiles in the Hedgehog home. He had a close almost familial relationship with de Jong and would refer to him as "Grandpa de Jong." Forgive me, Im not sure. Sexuality, however, was never discussed. Elder Soares, a Brazillian, brings long-overdue representation from the southern hemisphere. Ill investigate Rosana. Felix was referring to genetics. The church desperately needed someone who represented Latin and South American saints symbolically and with experience in the 12. Thanks for calling attention to the interracial marriage barrier being broken and what this can mean to many families. Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter. Here are 6 fun facts about Elder Gong. Latter-day Saints across the globe sustained Elder Gong and Elder Ulisses Soares as Apostles during the Saturday morning session of general conference on March 31. Maybe well get rid of those now. *We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred).. Yes, my heart feels especially full today in seeing what I believe is the first interracial couple in the Quorum of the Twelve [1], and in knowing that my son and daughter can see children in the family photo of an apostle that look like them, too! LDS Church wants to light up a temple in a place that prides itself on dark skies, For husband-and-wife team, this new restaurant is the culmination of a decadeslong dream, Gong took his place for a lifetime appointment in the faiths Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, asked in 2018 if having a gay son had affected his views on LGBTQ. [25], In May 2018, Gong and his wife spoke at the BYU Women's Conference. People. You can produce it under its own pressure; you can lift it out with a pump jack; you can energize it by reinjecting the gas cap; you can push it out by injecting water down a nearby well; you can melt it by injecting steam. Why treat it like a zero-sum game? But you probably didnt know how cool it was. And that, I believe, is a blessing for all concerned. That being said, my thoughts are that we may be making more of Elder Gongs lineage than is really there. Fairbanks is home to Seoul Gate Restaurant, an unpretentious spot where beef bulgogi, chicken bulgogi, traditional BBQ platters, and crispy, fried chicken are served in large portions. It will be another important step when we have the first woman of color wife of an apostle, the first black man, more examples of lives lived on more continents and in bodies with different abilities, anddare we hopethe first woman. Big smiles from this multiethnic family too. Its most likely that any individual called into the Q12 is pretty socially conservative. He served as a member of the United States Department of Education's National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity and participated in multiple national education summits.[9]. I hope that we will each make an effort to discover our own family stories, to record them and to share them with our children and grandchildren. I forgive you, he says. Until he was 10, Matt Gong, the family's fourth of four sons, lived in the Washington, D.C., area, where his dad worked at a policy think tank. Today, I love myself, scars and all, and I am awestruck by the simplicity at being happy, something I would never have believed possible in my younger years, says Gong, who shares an apartment with his longtime partner. Elder and Sister Gong said it was wonderful to join members from across the world for general conference, to sustain President Russell M. Nelson and the First Presidency, and to witness continuing revelation bless the members of the Church in all their many circumstances. The mural they created, which added light to the once colorless space, wasn't theirs. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax He will be a good fit with the brethren. Thanks all for the kind answers to my post. Its just good to have people from outside of the Western US. My family name.. Still, they often have warred within the psyche of this 29-year-old, leaving wounds that have taken years to heal. To appreciate why this feels especially significant to me that we have not only an interracial couple, but specifically a Chinese-American man and a white woman, we have to have a frank talk about how racism in the United States manifests against Asians and Asian-Americans, specifically in regards to gender and sex. I also rejoice in the callings of Elder Gong and Elder Soares. Also, only in the USA, would someone with Soaress phenotype be considered not white. Hes white everywhere else on the planet. [9] The Gongs married in the Salt Lake Temple on January 4, 1980. This is a big deal. Both men and women of Asian descent in the US face a media and social stereotype of being more submissive, passive, and infantilized. Yet in this case and always the Lord calls his Apostles. SALT LAKE CITY In his first public appearance since completing a COVID-19 quarantine, Elder Gerrit W. Gong, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of . A few early apostles married Scandinavian immigrants, but thats really stretching the definition of interracial marriage. Elder Gerrit W. Gong and his wife, Sister Susan Lindsay Gong. Parents and children can work through the awkwardness and conflict over deep disagreements to arrive at a place where they are simply family. Factor does not mean negative or positive it just is. David A. Bednar. -Gerrit W. Gong. 37 Views. So, when I talk about the Church, I mean the Church. When I talk about my father, hes just my father.. for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.. Discover Gerrit W. Gong's Wiki Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. I do expect that their calling will reflect a process of opening the churchs leadership to the churchs global realities. Put On Thy Strength, O Zion. Weeds, she told him, were plants growing where they werent wanted., His queerness, the opposite of his religious ethnicity, was something I was born with but not into, Gong says in an LGBTQ Affirmation conference speech, I had to discover it, like a secret birthright.. He seemed to remember a conversation with someone or something outside of himself that affirmed he was loved. More than anything he is American. Cynthia you make a great couple. I dont know of anything further back in the family tree than that. That was a message about God that he wanted to share and prompted him to serve a two-year mission for the church, he says in the interview. Currently, he is the fourteenth most senior apostle in the church.[6]. Steven J. Lund. But if you would indulge me for a moment, I want to focus on one area of very specific, personal appreciation: the marriage of Elder Gerrit Gong, as an Asian-American man, to his wife Susan Gong, a white woman. Photo courtesy of the Gong family. I know several members of Elder Gong's extended family, and they couldn't be a more dynamic, talented, kind family. A variety of banchan Korean appetizers are offered to precede the main courses served with white rice. :). :) Hope all is well. >:(. I have five other children that have married Caucasians as well. And love that something so small an interracial marriage can yet be so huge for your family and for others. Although the family had provided the sketch, paint and brushes, something had shifted. We used to hang out during our days at UCSD. Benson, although its not incorrect to say the manuals (Kimball) advise caution, they go a little further than that in recommending/expressing preference for racially homogenous marriages. That was later postponed indefinitely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. (The . Winter 2003 Contact Us Advertising News & Alumni. He is the son of Gerrit W. Gong, an apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is because, in the white supremacist schema that subconsciously permeates our thinking, the latter is seen as marrying down in a way that the former is not, even though both are examples of interracial marriages. The fact that they are an interracial couple didnt even occur to em; I was just thrilled that there is finally some more international representation in the upper-most echelon. Gong had the same dreams as other young Latter-day Saints, serving in callings with a wife and children, and spending eternity in heaven with his family. A lot of good viewpoints and thoughts. They understand that diversity is out there, but they havent lived it, and there is no substitute for living it. He really desires with all his heart to build the kingdom and bless Heavenly Fathers children. Our cultural biases are a factor, as well. Elder Gong was with Elder Quentin L. Cook and Elder Gary E. Stevenson in Vietnam when the Church received official recognition. Gong reflects on September 11th and reviews perspectives on war. STE 1058, Provo, UT 84601, Elder Gerrit W. Gong, wife to keynote RootsTech Family Discovery Day. Process of opening the churchs leadership to the once colorless space, wasn & # x27 s. Bless Heavenly Fathers children Caucasians as well in Vietnam when the names of COVID-19! May be making more of Elder Gong and Elder Gary E. Stevenson in when... 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