My story has layers of complexity, but I’ll do my best to share it. I’ll start out with the simple facts of being asked about masturbation as a teen some 34 years ago when I was 14. My mom died when I was 11 and I was the oldest of 6. So exact obedience was…
I felt impressed to tell my own story although I was a couple years older than a legal minor. I grew up in the Church. I was blessed to have wonderful leaders that watched out for me. I met my wonderful husband through the church and will always be grateful for it; however, I cannot…
I started masturbating when I was maybe 13 years old after reading about it in a book about puberty and learning about it at school. I was simply curious. It didn’t feel sexual at all to me, more like having someone tickle your back or something. Just a pleasant physical sensation. I didn’t know for…
When I turned eight years old, my parents took me to the bishop’s office to have my baptism interview. Before I went into the room, I asked my parents if they would go with me. They assured me there was nothing to worry about, the bishop was a priesthood holder and could be trusted. Then…
My Mormon story: growing up in Utah you had to be Mormon to be able to play with your friends. So i had been baptized around 4th grade. I took the lessons on my own, would go to church and sit by myself. I would fast alone as a young child because my dad and…
My childhood was very painful. This was not necessary the fault of the Mormon church, but rather my biological father was/is pedophile and abused me sexually, multiple times. Which lead to my brother’s sexually abusing me as well. He also physically abused my brothers and this went on for about 12 years. Never was I…
As a child I would have these one on one interviews with bishops behind closed doors. The sexual questions began when I was a teenager. Very uncomfortable considering I wasn’t taught what “chastity” meant. My family never talked about sex. So it was hard learning different things from leaders in the LDS Church. I was…
Hello, Sam, If I were in your ward, if I were your friend, I’d stand beside you and witness that you are quite certainly the most selfless person that I’ve ever known. I marched with you this spring, my first time ever in Utah, and I listened to you and others defend me in a…
My bishop at the time was a family member… I was 11 at the time… it was a Sunday afternoon we were at home we were a few members families for a dinner. Kids we were playing and as we were playing we lost the door keys. During the evening I had the duty to…
When I was 13, my bishop asked me if I masturbated. I didn’t know what that was at the time, since sex was a prohibited topic in my household growing up. I just answered “no”, because, by the way he said it, it seemed like it was something bad. When I was 16 and lost…