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…
Category: Self-acceptance
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…
Hermana Cencerrado and Elder Lee
By Esteban Cencerrado Lee-O’Neal Friends while on their missions, Hermana Cencerrado and Elder Lee met in 1984 (on the left). She was a rebel and didn’t do what they told her. He immediately sensed her soaring free spirit and they…
No Respecter of Persons
From a very early age I was taught that God was fundamentally fair. We were given laws and told to obey. We were taught that we would be punished for disobedience. We were taught that there was an atonement and…
Experiencing Asexuality and Owning My Body
Jen Stockett was the oldest of five children, born and raised in an active LDS family. She currently works in a small business with her partner, and spends her time outside of work outside with her horse as much as…
Celibacy: A Best-Case Scenario
Author must write anonymously because of concern that she would lose her job in a part of Utah where discrimination in the work-place is not illegal. I’ve heard it said that the LDS church doesn’t require anything more from gay…
Denial
When I was a teen I wasn’t gay. After all, how could I be gay? Gays were these people who were ugly and dressed funny and acted funny. I didn’t know anyone who was gay. Well, there was one guy…
Self Doubt / Self Esteem
I had a conversation with a newly found friend the other day — a man, like me, in a long-time committed partnership with a man, who has also been active for some years in the Church after a long time…
A Valentine to My Gay and Lesbian Friends–Welcome to the World of Romantic Love!
I have a story I want you to listen to and remember on Valentine’s Day and hopefully beyond. When my former husband Gerald was staying with me at the end of his life in 1984, preparing to die from AIDS…