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?…
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…
My husband Jon was very well liked by his bishop. He was often called on to give speeches during church. From the outside it appeared my husband had found favour in the eye of his LDS bishop. What people didn’t know is this behavior is a very common grooming process of predators. My husband suppressed…
Sam, there was a discussion on the RFM board the other day about whether sexual abuse always leaves you broken. I felt compelled to finally tell my story but did it anonymously. And even though I know it was easy to tell that I was writing my own story, I had to tell it in…
I grew up as a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints in the UK. I remember the Bishop’s interviews very intrusive and embarrassing and also I felt violated looking back now as an adult. I grew up in a ward that there were many leaders men who were very egotistical and…
I received heavy doses of shaming at the hands of leaders. I was made to feel ashamed of my body, and my natural urges. I got asked numerous times behind closed doors with leaders if I masturbated. I usually lied. Before my mission, a leader at the MTC wanted to hear all the details of…
When I was a young man, I couldn’t stop masturbating. It was just too hard, and I was too weak. Guilt destroyed me. I sinning in a way that was so bad it was “second only to murder”. I considered suicide after I had been clean for a while, but I was too scared that…
When I was 15 and in my sophomore year of high school, I had a nonmormon best friend who happened to be a boy (which was a sort of “scandalous” thing in my ward). It was a normal bestfriendship and we spent a lot of time together during school and after school. I was already…