Hello! My name is William and I am celebrating my 28th birthday today… Even though I am so grateful to have another year of life, there were times where it was not that easy…. Confusing aspects of sexuality in my childhood started around 7 years of age, where my bishop at the time, had to…
I grew up in a very active LDS home. My father was my bishop twice when I was young. I loved all my bishops. However, whenever my birthday came up, I dreaded the interview. I had been sexually molested as a child by a neighborhood boy, so being alone with a man filled me with…
Writing a list is easier for me than delving into the heart breaking emotions. Here it is: Sexually assaulted in high school. Perpetrator goes on mission. Confesses his crime in MTC Continues mission with no consequences, writes me telling how he loves attending temple every week. Named me as victim in his confession. My bishop…
When I was a little girl, I was sexually abused by my older brothers and an older cousin. I was 3 when the abuse started. It happened almost daily until I was 9 years old. When my parents found out what happened, they took my brothers and I all to see our bishop. In an…
I grew up in the church. From a young age, I was taught the church’s “law of chastity” from church materials such as the pamphlet “For the Strength of Youth”. This pamphlet says, among other things, that sexual sins are more serious than any other sins except for murder and denying the Holy Ghost, that…
I’m honestly not sure where to start with this. How do you fit your story into just words? I hope I can express how I felt and how I feel to anyone willing to read my story. I want to tell my entire story, because I am finding this very healing. Sorry for the length.…
It’s 1973, I’m 15 years old, it’s mutual night, we’re playing basketball in the cultural hall. I’m thirsty so I walk out into the foyer to get a drink from the fountain and standing there is a young woman in my ward, a year or two older than me who normally didn’t say more than…
As a young child I was sexually abused by two male family members several times. They were 8 to 10 years older than me. I never told anyone, thinking it must be my fault and I must be horrible. I also had a father that was physically and mentally abusive. I really was very vulnerable…
When I was a child about 9 or 10, I briefly viewed pornography out of curiosity before I knew it was a sin. When I had learned it was a sin in sacrament meeting sometime after, I was overcome with guilt and shame, as well as a terrifying fear of not making it to the…
When I was twelve I started having yearly bishop interviews where he would ask me questions about keeping the commandments and if I was following the church rules. The door was always closed and the main focus was always on the sexual questions. He would breeze past most of the questions, but would spend the…