Revising Eternity: 27 Latter-day Saint Men Reflect on Modern RelationshipsEdited by Holly Welker272 pp. University of Illinois Press, $19.95 “I always knew that ‘good Mormon boys’ did three things: they went on missions, graduated from BYU, and married in the temple,” writes Scott Blanding, a gay man who came of…
Category: Testimony
Symbolic beliefs can counter cognitive dissonance, but at a cost
Under the Banner of Heaven is a Fascinating Examination of Ex-Mormon Issues
Under the Banner of Heaven, the new true crime series on Hulu, delves deep into the story of Brenda Lafferty (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a Mormon woman who was murdered along with her baby in 1984 in a Utah suburb. The case is portrayed through fictional detective Jeb Pyre (Andrew Garfield), and…
The prophets say God’s love is conditional, but they can’t say ‘I’m sorry’
Kimberly Applewhite Teitter, a Black Latter-day Saint, says she doesn’t need anyone to apologize for policies that kept Black members from temple rituals or Black men from having authority to serve as leaders and baptize their own children. Her testimony is hers, and it doesn’t depend on anyone else, not…
When You’re Selling Nineteenth-Century Heteronormativity and Kids Today Aren’t Buying It
Remember back in 2021 when the COJCOLDS canceled the Saturday night gender-specific session of conference? Yeah, me neither, because I almost never pay attention to conference anymore. For some reason, though, in March the church announced the addition of a hastily arranged Saturday night Young Women’s session of General Conference…
The Dangerous Myth of Big-Tent Mormonism
About a year after I excised Mormonism from my life, I received a Facebook invitation from someone I hadn’t thought about in all that time. It was for an event called “Sit With Me Sunday,” organized by a group of self-proclaimed LDS allies to LGBTQ people as an attempt to…
Miracle of Forgiveness: from harm to art
Inside the British Museum, there’s a tree made of guns and grenade launchers. It’s a sculpture by four artists from Mozambique in a country moving away from war and exploitation. Citizens could exchange something deadly for ploughs, bicycles, and sewing machines. Thousands of weapons were cut up and soldered into…
Gay Mormon Generations: Stuart Matis and David Archuleta
Twenty two years ago this month, Stuart Matis, a Latter-day Saint in his early 30s who was troubled by his attraction to men, pinned a note reading ‘do not resuscitate’ to his chest and shot himself on the steps of the Mormon stake center in Los Altos, California. Last month,…
Parents Who Believe in Sexual Purity Should Still Vaccinate Their Kids Against HPV
With all the talk about COVID vaccinations, we forget that there are other useful vaccinations out there, too. “My children don’t need to be vaccinated against HPV,” I’ve heard some of my Mormon friends and family say. “They’ll still be virgins when they get married. They’ll never have to worry…
Centering the straight spouse and the route to self
On their wedding night, Kylie’s husband came out to her as bisexual. (He now identifies as gay.) Six months later, as they were moving into a new apartment, he confessed he’d been cheating on her with men. So they did what many devout Mormon couples would do and called their…
It’s Time to Vote for the 2020/2021 Brodie Awards!!!
If you haven’t voted yet for X-Mormon of the Year 2021, you can still vote until January 16, 2022 at this link. And now for the Brodies!! The polls will remain open until Sunday, January 23, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. Switzerland time. Best LDS-Interest Podcast or Video Channel 2020/2021: Exmo…