There are no closed off souls

By Diane Oviatt (a speech given in Berkeley, California Sep, 2014) There are no closed off souls. No one is impervious. Story, unlike anything else, can change the heart. I learned this first hand five years ago this month, when…

What Manner of Men and Women Ought We to Be?

by Tom Christofferson (Address given at ALL Are Alike Unto God, 2014 Arizona LDS LGBT/SSA Conference April 26, 2014) At this tender time for my family, I am grateful to my brothers for their willingness to plan our father’s funeral…

What Words Can’t Define

Mormons, like most Christian’s, in pursuit of greater spiritual understanding, pursue Christ’s words in scripture. Who’s words, on any given subject, are more authoritative than those of the Savior himself? Even more notable are subjects on which Christ never spoke…

Why I Stay

Talk presented at Sunstone Symposium on August 1, 2014 My husband and I both come from very active, conservative, multi-generational Mormon families. There has never been a time when the gospel wasn’t front and center in my life. Tom and…

Changing the Conversation

About three years ago or so, I was approached by a friend who wanted to solicit my participation in a documentary project about gay Mormons. The friend was Jon Hastings, someone I’d come to know through the gay Mormon blogging…

Crumbs from the table

“Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” —Matthew 15:27 The Church is not a welcoming place for LGBT people, and most are either forced out or leave. Meanwhile, there are still…