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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A top Mormon leader will deliver the keynote speech at the opening of a conservative conference in Salt Lake City this fall that has drawn opposition from LGBT groups.
Officials with the World Congress of Families said Tuesday in a news release that M. Russell Ballard will speak on Oct. 27. Ballard is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Quorum of the Twelve, a top-level governing body.
World Congress of Families said the 86-year-old Ballard was chosen because he's a longtime proponent of the natural family dictated by God.
Mormon spokesman Eric Hawkins said conference officials have also been invited to a Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsal.
The event is the organization's first worldwide conference in the U.S.
Gay rights groups accuse the congress of promoting anti-LGBT rhetoric and legislation.
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