#264 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,4,7,8,9

I didn’t know what masturbation was at 11 when I went in for my “are you ready for the priesthood?” interview with the bishop. Little did I know when I walked into that office with my best Sunday clothes and celebratory new set of scriptures that this would be the beginning of years of group…

#263 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,7,8,9

I’m one of the lucky ones who had only good men as bishops throughout my life and yet I still did not escape unscathed. I discovered masturbation by about age 4 or 5. My parents caught me and I then got the entire penis-vagina sex talk with a heaping side of the impending fires of…

#261 James H. CS: 1,2,3,4,7,8

I could say so much but I’ll keep it simple. I was indoctrinated into Mormonism as a child, I believed it because it was the only perception of reality offers to me. The LDS church taught me to hate myself when I was about 13 years old. I was lucky to get good kind bishops,…

#260 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2. Other: Regular questions about masturbation led me to habitual lying.

I asked my children’s bishop not to ask them any questions related to sexuality. He refused my request, claiming that he had a responsibility as a bishop to address issues of sexual purity with the youth. We emailed back and forth a few times, and when he still hadn’t agreed to not ask my kids…

#257 Name Hidden. CS: 1,3,4,6,7

When I was 17, I fell in love for the first time. This boy looked at me in a way that no one else ever had before. It was like his eyes bored straight into my soul and saw me, the me that I didn’t even see yet. It was like our souls met. And…

#255 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,6,7

I struggled with bishops interviews all growing up. The questions always made me feel uncomfortable, I hated being alone in a room with an adult male that I didn’t know well or trust. I felt so much confusion for not completely understanding what they were asking me. Like others, I had no idea what masturbation…

#254 Name Hidden. CS: 1,2,3,8,9

My parents are amazing people. They are always there for me (turning 30 this year) and have never judged or meant to harm me or my brothers in any way whatsoever. That said, the influence the Mormon church has had on their parenting was without a doubt very harmful. I have been drawn to women…