My first girlfriend and I started dating during high school. We quickly grew very passionate of one another and began sexually experimenting. My parents didn’t afford me a lot of privacy growing up, and they quickly became aware of some very intimate details of our relationship.
My parents then shared these details with both my girlfriend’s parents and my Bishop. Suddenly a very sensitive and private subject became a community issue. My bishop immediately wanted to sit down with me, and my parents happily ensured I complied.
I didn’t know how this “worthiness interview” would go, and I was extremely anxious. As I sat down with my bishop he sternly asked why I thought he requested to see me. That was just the beginning of what would be a very intensive interrogation. He began asking me to describe every detail of my experiences with my girlfriend; I was extremely uncomfortable describing these events to a man I barely knew, and so I tried to be vague, be he kept prodding me for more details. I didn’t, and still don’t, understand his need to know every detail; the basics should have been enough.
My punishment was a public display of shaming. I was not permitted to take the sacrament on Sunday, and so my community quickly became aware that I was receiving ecclesiastical punishment. The entire ordeal was extremely embarrassing and uncomfortable.