A couple years ago, a member of the Bishopric in a previous ward shared how happy he is in the Church. He shared how happy the gospel makes him and his family. He finished it off with, “I don’t even…
Sadness
Category: Reconciliation work
Trust
Today was my first day in a new ward. It is unavoidably true that one of the reasons for our move was to find a fresh start in a new ward. By way of synopsis, our son Jordan came out…
Religious Freedom, Our Founding Fathers and Marriage Equality
We all learned in elementary school that the Pilgrims came to America so that they could practice their religion without persecution. They were willing to put up with hardships as they left their homes and countries in order to live their…
Mormon LGBT Outreach: Part I (Efforts by One Stake to Include LGBT Members)
By Aaron Brown (originally published at By Common Consent blog) In November of 2013, my stake president, Thomas Fairbanks, asked me to spearhead “gay and lesbian outreach” in the Seattle North Stake. Seattle is the new San Francisco – our…
Active LDS Gay Man’s Reaction to Press Conference
By Christian Frandsen In the last several days I’ve had many conversations with straight friends about my reaction to the now infamous press conference of this past week. A day or so after the conference, I posted the following thoughts…
Seeing Through My Tears
I live about two hours from the Los Angeles Temple. Recently, I made my first trek there since my son came out gay about almost three years ago. I have always instinctively kept my temple recommend active and remained worthy…
For Those Who Don’t Support Marriage Equality But Want to Show Love To LGBT People
I have heard many LDS people profess that they want to show love to LGBT people but don’t support marriage equality. The point of this essay is not to argue over beliefs, but to discuss how we show love when…
The Doctrine of Celibacy
When Mormons speak of the Law of Chastity, they often define it as remaining celibate until marriage. In actuality, it would be more properly defined as remaining abstinent until marriage. Today, the words abstinent and celibate are frequently used interchangeably,…
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…
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…