GALA is a non-profit Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 corporation that is an association of gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

, lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

, bisexual, and transgender

Transgender

Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....

 persons and their family and friends that are connected with the Community of Christ

Community of Christ

The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , is an American-based international Christian church established in April 1830 that claims as its mission "to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace"...

.

Informally organized in 1984 by Antonio A. Feliz

Antonio A. Feliz

Antonio A. Feliz was the founder and first president of the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ, a denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement that was founded to serve the spiritual needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersexual Latter Day Saints.Prior to the founding of the...

 and formally organized in 1987, GALA's stated purpose is to "affirm the dignity and worth of all persons without regard to gender, race, sexual orientation, or religious affiliation". The organization publishes a newsletter, offer regional retreats and workshops, and sponsors an annual international retreat.

Although GALA is not formally affiliated with the Community of Christ, most of its members have a connection to the Independence, Missouri

Independence, Missouri

Independence is the fourth largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri, and is contained within the counties of Jackson and Clay. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...

-based church. The organization sends representatives to Community of Christ jurisdictional and World Church gatherings and conferences

World Conference (Community of Christ)

World Conference is the highest legislative body in the Community of Christ and is empowered to act for the entire church. It operates according to a principle known as "common consent" and is presided over by the First Presidency...

. GALA also sponsors the Welcoming Committee Network, an organization that assists LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 individuals' participation in the Community of Christ.

See also

• LGBT-welcoming church programs
  LGBT-welcoming church programs
  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender affirming religious groups are religious groups that welcome LGBT members and do not consider homosexuality to be a sin. They include entire religious denominations, as well as individual churches and synagogues...
  
  
• Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
  Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
  Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons is an international organization for gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, and intersex people who identify as members or ex-members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...