SALT LAKE CITY -- As the Mormon faith prepares for its 171st semiannual General Conference this weekend, ex-Mormons will hold their own conference a few blocks away.
This much smaller conference, titled "Living in the Fold, but not of the Fold," is billed as a chance for "ex-Mormons adapting to life, love and work among their Mormon friends and family" to share their stories.
"When people think ex-Mormon, they think anti-Mormon. That"s not it at all," said Natalie Collins, spokeswoman for conference co-sponsor Ex-Mormon.org.
She said the conference was set for General Conference weekend in an effort to begin a dialogue between the two groups.
One speaker, Maxine Hanks, a feminist writer who was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1993, said she chose to participate at her first ex-Mormon conference because it is a time for healing.
"It seemed like the timing was right to talk about finding peace with each other in a time when there"s so many conflicts around us," she said.
In Utah, those who leave the dominant religion feel like pariah, she said.
"You never really leave Mormonism. It"s a whole culture. You still have family, friends and colleagues who are Mormon. If you live in Utah, you"re still working in Mormon culture," Hanks said. "It"s not like leaving another church. It"s an entire world view."
Although Hanks said she has endured "subtle but scathing" snubbing from practicing Mormons, she will not leave Utah where 70 percent of the population belongs to the religion.
"I feel like I have a role to play here. I feel like I make a difference here, that I stand for something: the right of a woman to be herself in this culture," she said.
Other speakers include Steve Benson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist for the Arizona Republic and grandson of Prophet Ezra Taft Benson, and Sandra Tanner, who co-founded The Utah Lighthouse Ministry with her husband Jerald.
Trent Harris, a movie producer, director, writer and author, will also address the group.