(Salt Lake City, Utah) A face-to-face meeting between representatives of gay Mormons and church leaders that was to have taken place next month has been indefinitely postponed by the head of the LDS branch that had agreed to it.

Latter Day Saints President Thomas S. Monson agreed to a meeting in April with leaders of Affirmation, an organization for LGBT members of the LDS church, Fred Riley, commissioner of family services for the LDS, and Harold C. Brown, the agency’s past commissioner.

Affirmation had sought such a meeting for several years. It was to have taken place Aug. 11.

But in a letter to Affirmation, Riley suddenly called off the discussion, noting he was preparing to leave his position and that the meeting would best be handled by his successor, who has not yet been named.

“We feel badly about this, but believe that for this to be the best experience for all parties and to ensure appropriate consistency and continuity of the process, it would be best to postpone the meeting until the new commissioner is named,” Riley said in the letter.

Affirmation assistant executive director David Melson said he has written to Monson requesting the meeting go ahead and that another church leader represent the church in place of Riley.

Affirmation wants to address the historical treatment of gays by the church, including recommendations for aversion therapies to “cure” homosexuality.

The goup also wants to recommend more effective counseling methods and ways to avoid family break-ups over an LGBT family member, as well as a change in the honor code at church-owned Brigham Young University. Being a sexually active gay student is a violation of the honor code, and can result in expulsion. Sexually active, unmarried straight students can be expelled as well.

Melson told The Associated Press that he hoped the delay was not linked to LDS support for a proposed amendment to the California constitution that would ban same-sex marriage.

Last month Monson and his two top counselors called on Mormons to donate “means and time” to the ballot measure.

The search for a replacement for Riley to head the Commission of Family Services has begun but could take up to six months.