Steve Young, Wife To Keynote Convention Of Gay Mormons

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young and his wife Barbara Young will serve as the keynote speakers at a convention of gay Mormons.

The Youngs will attend next month's 32^nd annual conference of Affirmation in Salt Lake City.

In a statement given to the Salt Lake Tribune, the Youngs said that they are happy to be part of 2013 Affirmation Conference, “where they hope to lend their voices to the healing work of making our families, our society and our church more welcoming places for our LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] brothers and sisters.”

The Mormon couple made headlines in 2008 when they placed “No on Prop. 8” yard signs in front of their Palo Alto, California home in direct defiance of the church which strongly supported passage of the constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.

Barbara Young said at the time that she wanted to support her bother, who is gay.

Steve Young is a direct descendant of Brigham Young, a former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and the first governor of the Utah Territory.

(Related: Utah Gay Pride Parade includes Boy Scouts in uniforms, Mormons.)