I am sharing my husband’s story that he only recently dared share with me after 29 years of marriage. He finally decided to share it after learning about all of the other stories that have come out and finding he was not alone. When my husband was a teenager, he was asked several times in…
My story is not one of overt sexual abuse by my priesthood leaders, but I feel it represents the sometimes subtle but deep shaming and overall damage that is done to a developing child during one-on-one priesthood interviews. At any rate, the damage done to me is something I’m still working to heal from now…
It all started in the summer of 2009.. Worthiness interviews for baptisms for the dead. This was the first time he called me in, I was just recently sexually active and I knew it was inappropriate for my age.. Embarrassed and scared at what he might do or say, I lied and I let my…
When I was younger, I was LDS and my main goal in life was to be married in the temple. Around the age of 14, I can remember wanting to go with the prom with a boy that was older than me and I knew that it was going to hard to convince my parents.…
I was born transgender. I had male parts so that was put on my birth certificate. But I was really female though. In the 2nd grade, I went into the closet to hide from the pain that teachers and students gave me. Baptism came and went. I then went through early male puberty. I hated…
Here is my story: When I was 4 years old, my parents and I traveled from Arizona to Idaho to see family that summer (1983). We saw a number of family members, including one of my aunts and her husband (and their children) who were a “foster” family for a Native American young man (13-14…
The enclosed is one of the chapters in a book I’ve been working on. Until this year (twenty years after leaving) I had remained silent. It’s time to speak. O! My Father! O my Father, thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place, When shall I regain thy presence And again behold thy face?…
I reported crimes local LDS clergy committed. These reports included some women in the LDS church in my city who talked to me about abuse they and/or their friends suffered. One women told me she was abused as a child by a LDS stake president. I brought all the information I had to the authorities…
One experience I had with being asked completely inappropriate questions in a worthiness interview was just after I had started attending singles ward. I had very recently come to understand, with the help of a friend, that what I had experienced through my high school years was not premarital “sex” but actually rape, in the…
I first want to thank everyone for their efforts to protect our most precious blessings. I have had concerns for the almost 30 years I have been a member and am thankful to be a part of this effort. When my husband served as bishop, I had his ear and many times expressed my concern…