When I was a sophomore in high school I joined the Mormon church. I had been a member for 6 months when I joined a club at school, and was elected to State Office. For a year and a half I traveled around the state and country with the other state officers and our chaperone/advisor.…
At age 13, I was sexually abused by a school teacher (LDS). When I finally worked up the courage to talk to my Bishop, he told me that I had jeopardized the temple marriage and celestial standing of this man, but I could be forgiven. He made suggestions like take cold showers and sleep with…
I will tell my story anonymously as it the internal and external impact Church teaching around sexuality and expectations of worthiness evaluations by Church leaders still impacts me substantially. If a leader in the Church takes seriously these stories including mine, and wishes to communicate with me about the harm they have done, I will…
When I was at BYU, I was called into the bishop’s office. My bishop was a 60 something Orem raised seminary teacher. He had decades of experience interacting and counseling youth. He started off this meeting by saying, “I prayed to see who the new Relief Society President should be and the answer was you,…
When I was 15 we had a sleepover at our Mia Maids leaders home. We were in the basement with her two teenage sons. I had a crush on her 19 year old son about to go on a mission. Everyone was asleep and I was up reading. He came out of his bedroom and…
It took me reading so many stories to gather the courage to tell my own. While the suffering felt by all is incalculable, my story is nightmarish. When I was 12 or so, my family moved to Idaho right around the exact time anew bishopric was called. Of course, we didn’t know any of them…
I am not comfortable telling everything, but I will say I was asked the following questions in an interview when I was 15 or 16 when I confessed to looking at porn and masturbating. This isn’t a complete list. This was 15 years ago or so: What kind of porn was it? Did you watch…
I went to my bishop to ask for support as i filed a rape case against my rapist from 10 years prior. My bishop said i had to tell him every detail of my experience so he could make sure i repented for my sins. I told him i did nothing wrong and i would…
I was thirteen or so when I was asked by a member of the bishopric if I touched myself. Of course, I lied. I barely knew this man. This was shortly after I was sexually abused by my ” best friends “, who happened to be the bishop’s twin daughters. They were younger than myself…
My story is four stories, and you may split them if you wish, or you may tell them together. So we will begin: The story of my mother. I will insert names where I can, you may delete as needed, but I want to give the truth to the point of traceable people should you…