I was a high school student wanting to go to BYU. As part of the admissions process I had to obtain an ecclesiastic endorsement from my stake president. In my opinion, a stake president should be a source of support and encouragement to a young person. I expected to be greeted warmly and congratulated on my desire to attend a church-sponsored university. Instead, I entered the stake president’s office and felt like I had just stepped into a police interrogation room. The immediate line of harsh questioning took me completely off guard. “Do you masturbate? Have you ever masturbated?” etc. The tone was not that of someone who loves or cares about me; it was that of accusation, distrust and contempt. I was so confused about why masturbation had anything to do with whether or not I could be recommended to go to BYU. What about my lifetime of dedicated church activity and service? What about my beliefs and desires? What about my academic achievements and aspirations? No, none of that mattered one bit. This was simply an interrogation, attempting to dig out some kind of forced “confession” of masturbation engagement and/or history. I left that interview feeling disgusted and worthless. I thought I was doing everything to “please” the Lord at that time in my life, and his official representative could not have cared less. All he wanted to do was dig up details on whether or not my little factory had been inappropriately activated. This was the most extreme case I experienced, but in each youth/missionary interview with stake presidents and some bishops there was always a direct focus on asking about sexual activity and masturbation. Again, I was trying extremely hard to do everything that God expected of me, and I viewed these interviews as a way for his earthly representative to give me some kind of reassurance that he was pleased with my valiant efforts. Nope, nothing but a masturbation interrogation. I felt nothing but contempt and distrust. The “consequences suffered” which I marked in conjunction with this story were very real and had a heavy impact on my well-being.
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