The message most LGBT people get from the church is: Live chaste and celibate lives. It is a burden like any other. The obvious response to this is: It is not a burden like any other. Heterosexual members of the…
I get lots of questions along the lines of, “What made you – a heterosexual, LDS-since-forever, woman/wife/mother – become an activist for LGBT rights/same-sex marriage?” The short answer is: I could not live with myself if I weren’t doing this,…
Having a teenager in the home is an always fascinating experience in parenting. I heard one parent describe it as having a movie or food critic living in your own home! But I find it a source of fun and…
I am the father of a young gay son. I am also a lifelong member of the LDS Church, a temple recommend holder and the Elder’s Quorum President in my ward. Having been thrown into the teeth of one of…
A few weeks back, I had a visit with an old friend. Margot is 82 now, and over the years she’s garnered a depth of understanding that I’ve come to greatly admire. In her words I’ve often found pearls of…
Micah Nickolaisen is a photographer and active, faithful Latter-Day Saint living in Chandler, Arizona. You can read more of his thoughts and story at FaithfulHeretic.com. Micah also manages and hosts the new Open Stories Foundation podcast A Thoughtful Faith I’m…
“I must admit that I have gone through those moments when I was greatly disappointed with the church and what it has done in this period of social change.” —Martin Luther King, Jr., “Social Justice and the Emerging New Age…
This past Saturday, I met with a local group of LGBT Mormons and Allies. As I and another facilitator of the group used that term, “ally,” one (heterosexual*) member of the group spoke up and said he wasn’t sure if…
While shadowing Dr. Norm Spack in his work with the GeMS clinic at Children’s hospital Boston, I couldn’t help but wonder what my Mormon pioneer ancestors would think if they could see me now. Dr. Spack is one of…
Last night–just after I wrote down a few thoughts for this blog–I watched the second in a three-part series on PBS called “The Abolitionists.” It ended on a challenging note: a bill had been passed that promised to secure…