Coming Out Story of a Gay Mormon
I just viewed this coming out story of a young Mormon man on MoHoHawaii’s blog. It shows just how poisonous Mormon culture can be. There is something twisted and tortured in the heart of LDS culture that lays impressionable people on the altar of religious dogma. It makes me hurt to watch.
Tags: homosexuality, LDS, Mormonism
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July 1, 2008 @ 6:17 pm
I am a mormon and just wanted to tell you that I truly feel for you and the anguish you have to go through over this. The only consolation I can offer is my firm belief that one day God will make up for all of your pain – that if you follow the example of Christ as best you can, recognizing that no one is perfect and that that’s the point of the atonement, everything will be made up to you and everything will be ok. I wish you the very best in life – and hope that you will help strengthen the church. The church NEEDS you.
July 1, 2008 @ 6:23 pm
Thank you for your compassion. Just make this clear, I’m not the person featured in the video, and I’m an unrepentant heterosexual. Just so my wife doesn’t get worried, you won’t be hearing any coming out stories from me.
I just empathize with the struggles homosexual people face in the church and in life in general.
TAG said,
July 1, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
How long ago was this aversion therapy going on? Do they still do this at BYU? Has BYU ever denied that this sort of thing has occurred there?
July 1, 2008 @ 9:41 pm
I’m not sure about BYU, but Evergreen denies referring people to this sort of program:
http://www.evergreeninternational.org/aversion_therapy.htm
I’m not defending them, just passing along some info I found while looking into this.
July 1, 2008 @ 9:48 pm
The abusive therapy described in this video occurred in 1995. It is unclear to what extent the perpetrator was acting independently.
It is very unlikely that aversion therapy is still practiced at BYU today.
The Church admits that it directed men (and some women) to undergo aversion therapy during the 1970s. This was performed at BYU. The Church has never admitted wrongdoing or apologized to any who underwent this highly unethical intervention, or their families. There were a number of suicides among the participants. A brief history is found at http://connellodonovan.com/abom.html under the heading “Shocking Events at the Y”.
July 2, 2008 @ 9:45 am
While my heart goes out to any struggling LDS (or former LDS) homosexuals, I also feel that chalking up the LDS Church to being poisonous, twisted and tortured misses the mark, and is a rather myopic view of a much more complex issue regarding culture.
July 2, 2008 @ 9:53 am
BHodges,
That’s true. Please note that I said that in reference to LDS culture rather than the LDS church or all LDS members. I realize that there are many Mormons who would be equally appalled by the events in this young man’s life. Yet these things happened because he was Mormon, so Mormonism bears some of the responsibility for them.
I don’t have to look any further than the Anonymous comments on this post (which I assume came from a Mormon—anyway it’s not hard to imagine this to be the case) to see an example of part of the LDS culture exemplifying hatred and fear of those different than themselves. Ignoring this reality would be the truly myopic view.
July 2, 2008 @ 2:58 pm
That makes me so sad. I just sit there and I think, why would any organization require that of their members? Why do we let ourselves be tortured like that? And while a part of me sympathizes with his missing the temple, a part of me is so glad I got away when I did.
July 3, 2008 @ 7:40 am
I don’t know why we allow ourselves to be tortured. I guess no one ever told us that we don’t deserve it.