Windy Sydney

The other day I promised to take tons of photos at the SigningforSomething.org petition and letter delivery to church headquarters in Salt Lake City. Here are the photos that I promised, along with a little explanation of what you are seeing. If you are in one of the photos and you don't want to be, please pm me and I will take the photo off immediately.

When my Mom and I made our way to the designated meeting place, I immediately picked out FlatLander being interviewed by Chris Vanocur from KTVX News Channel 4. I took this shot from the passenger seat in my Mom's truck while we waited at a stop light.

An amazing couple drove all the way from St. George to be a part of the delivery and to show their love for their son who was married in California 4 months ago. They were also interviewed by Chris Vanocur.

If you want to see the video, click here... side note: There is also a photo of me on that page (I freaked out when I saw it) I am the one in the brown sweater and the camera around my neck placing my stack of letters on the table.

There were 13 individual copies of each and every letter sent in to the SigningForSomething.org website. One for Thomas Monson, and one each to each member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They were wrapped neatly in pink ribbon.

The crowd was getting larger and larger by the minute. We were all very happy to see the number of people willing to help us take a stand and make a difference.

Many media groups were there. This is a photo of a journalist from the Associated Press. She was waiting to speak with Peter and Mary Danzig who have helped with the website since the very beginning.

More media interviews took place while we waited for everyone to arrive.

These flowers represented men and women who were no longer with us because of their struggles with their sexuality, church, and their families.

Not only did we have adults, but we had a small group of children who wanted to help. This young girl waited her turn to help carry the flowers across the street to the church headquarters. I have another photo of her smiling for the camera (it's my favorite photo of the whole day) but I wouldn't want to put her photo on the internet like this...

As we all made our way across the street, trying not to cry, many in the group started singing the hymn, "As I Have Loved You." It's important because in my opinion, the church isn't showing love for anyone right now.

We finally made it to the entrance of the COB when we were greeted by a Church Spokesperson. Members of the media scrambled to get their microphones and cameras to capture what Andrew Callahan (aka Flatlander) and Peter Danzig had to say as we walked up, one by one, and placed our stack of letters on a cart.

This is another shot of Peter Danzig (bottom right) talking with the Church spokesperson (woman in red). You can also see Rod Decker, a well-known Utah jounalist from KUTV channel 2, and behind him a photographer from the Deseret News.

After the adults had placed the copies of the petitions and letters on the cart, the children walked up and placed their flowers in baskets to represent those that we no longer with us. It was quiet and amazing.

Sorry the rest of these are kind of blurry... I was crying and shaking. Lets just consider the blurry photos "artistic."

These gentlemen worked for the church, and they wheeled in our letters, petitions and flowers with a promise to get them to the men in charge.

Rod Decker, from KUTV News, interviews Peter Danzig about the SigningForSomething website and our message.

Soon after the media went into the building to hear the Church's official statement, they packed up their equipment and got ready to edit their stories for television, newspaper and radio.

All in all, it was a beautiful day.

I will never forget the feeling I had when I walked over to the table to place my stack of letters. Imagine that warm fuzzy feeling we were told was the "holy ghost" and multiply it by 20. I was smiling, laughing, meeting new friends and making a difference.

We don't know if the church leaders will actually take the time to read the letters given to them, but we got our message across. Hopefully, someone reading the newspapers, watching the news stories or listening to the radio programs will realize that what the church is doing isn't right, and that they should also take a stand.

I would like to personally thank Andrew Callahan (Flatlander), Peter and Mary Danzig who helped with everything, and most of all, every single one of you who took the time to voice your concerns over the church's actions in this matter. Without you, none of this would have been possible.

Thanks,

Andee