Alex Boye, a black singer and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said this week at the sixth annual Mormon Apologetics Conference — "FAIR" — that the so-called racial issues in the faith don't bother him.

He said he always gets the "black" question regarding his church membership and how black men could not hold the church's priesthood prior to 1978, but he's converted to the faith and that's all that matters.

"I grew up in a rough area of London," he said, mentioning there were many members of the church — including the bishop — who were also black.

Boye said to him the LDS Church has been more about principles that help keep him morally clean, rather than about facts and scriptures. He prefers the simple truths of the church.

A. Dean Byrd, president of Thrasher Research Fund, a pediatric research granting institution, addressed "Born that Way? Facts and Fiction about Homosexuality."

"In my view, homosexuality is an issue of ethics and morality," he said, stressing that tolerance is a two-way street, too.

Scott Gordon, president of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR), said the group is not sponsored by the LDS Church. It is a non-profit group seeking to be a resource for regular church members who may be bombarded with trivia and questions.

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