My name is Jerry Chong. I’m a gay active member in the West Stake in Calgary. I currently serve as the Just Serve Communication Specialist, Family History Consultant and Temple Ordinance Worker and Assistant Shift Coordinator at the Calgary Temple. I stepped into LGBTQ advocacy within the church as a result of the November 2015 policy change regarding children of LGBTQ parents and baptism and other rules affecting LGBTQ members.

I have reached out to stake presidents in Calgary as a resource for discussing and learning about lgbtq members of the church. Since 2015 I have met with eight of our nine stake presidencies in Calgary to talk about lgbtq inclusion and sensitivity training. I have led bishops training in three stakes and stake wide auxiliary leadership training in the Fish Creek Stake . It has been a positive experience for all who have been in these conversations.  I have felt the need for a visible role model in our gospel community and hope to be the role model I needed when I first joined the church in 2004.