Last year, after my class on Mormon history, in which I had discussed with my students the Mormon belief in modern day revelation and modern-day prophets, I overheard the following comment in a conversation between two of my students: “The…
Month: March 2013
Easter Reflections of a Gay Man
By Aaron Tabacco (cross posted from his blog Quorum of the Outcasts) You know, the entire Passover and Easter season used to be my very favorite time of the year for spiritual renewal. Not in a social connect-with-family-and-friends-and-food sort of way…but…
Heavenly Mother Intervenes for a Gay Man
By Edward J. (originally from his blog gailymormon) I delivered this talk in sacrament meeting at the Washington DC Third Ward on Sunday, January 20, 2013. The first counselor in the bishopric asked me to speak on how the gospel has…
Letter to a Stranger
By Gretta Whalen (this will be cross-posted today to her blog sayitwithasmirk.blogspot.com) This is a private message I sent to a friend’s friend on Facebook at his request. The thread was pretty Mormon-y, and so is my response. The context: you…
Gifts From My Faith Tradition
My family and I sat huddled in our small living room staring intently at the projection on our wall. We were in the middle of a slideshow of the story of Joseph Smith that the missionaries had come to show…
Mercy and Justice(s) and Same-Sex Marriage
The Supreme Court is hearing two cases about same-sex marriage this week. One is on the constitutionality of California’s marriage definition, the other is about whether the federal government may or must not recognize same-sex marriages which are recognized by…
Outing Esther
By Johnny Townsend (originally from his blog Queer Mormon) Women do not often have starring roles in the scriptures, so when they do, it must be because they’ve done something extraordinary. Surely, women did many more interesting or incredible things…
Candlelight Vigil
On March 26-27, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States of America (SCOTUS) will be listening to oral arguments on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Proposition 8 (Prop 8). DOMA states that marriage is…
How I Came Out to My Ward
James Brinton The coming out process is a continual journeyby James Brinton (cross-posted from The Affirmation Messenger, a weekly newsletter from Affirmation)The coming out process is a unique journey for us all. To each of us is given the freedom to…
Coming Out (A Young Returned Missionary Shares His Story)
(originally published at my blog Broken Lights) Yesterday I sat down with one of my professors to talk about economic history. After briefly discussing the decline of the Netherlands in the mid 18th century, he paused and asked me what…