I thought for a long time that I was alone in feeling that the interviews were damaging and shaming. This is the story of how my experience with Bishop interviews led to me leaving the LDS church and cutting all ties with my blood family. A bit of context. I am a female. Being raised…
When I went to college I met a guy and began to date him. He told me that he looked at pornography and I didn’t really know what to do about that. I went to the bishop and he encourage me to date him as he told me he was a “good catch” and everything…
I had grown up in the church from about age 9 but had not been baptized yet. My mother was not LDS but I lived with my father and step mother and attended church every Sunday or else we were grounded for the following week. I was an inquisitive child and asked “why” way too…
I went to a church university in the mid 1980s. I was super young and naive. I was also raped by my Family Home Evening Brother. We had been playing “Night Games” by the church, and he offered to walk me home for safety’s sake. This particular semester I lived with only one other girl…
Shame, shame and more shame on the LDS brethren. I have seen a great friend’s son commit suicide. The LDS church played a role. Shame on Joe Bishop. Shame on the LDS cover-up. Shame on the Eagle Mountain stake President for siding with the adulterer husband. I am repulsed by my religion.
I love the church so much. I really really do. And it is because I love the church so much that I am supporting this cause. The experiences shared in these stories are heart wrenching. Adolescents do not need probing into their sexual lives by older men alone in a closed room. The only question…
Trigger warning — I’m being honest and open where I never have before. If you have suffered from abuse, I caution reading this. Feel free to skip to the end where I discuss why I’m sharing my story. I’m male, as a boy I believe I was abused at a young age, but don’t remember…
Having to discuss masturbation and even asked questions about anal sex as a teenager. Asked my 9 year old convert daughter if she had homosexual relations or an abortion.
When I was 13, my family was not active in the church. Our bishop did, however, reach out to my parents encouraging an interview since I was at a “vulnerable age”. My parents agreed and I soon met with him alone in his office. I did not know this man. He asked me if I…
I was sexually abused by family members (aunts and cousins) and babysitters from my earliest memory (as a toddler). One such abusive event actually resulted in my drowning death but I was miraculously and gratefully revived. All of my abusers were “faithful” members of the LDS Church. I have also since learned that the abuse…