After reading many of the stories here, I find myself fortunate, and I realize that it could have been so much worse. But the shame that I felt surrounding topics of sexuality were still potent. I was only 11 or 12 when I learned about the church’s stance on masturbation. I learned it in the…
When I was in High School I fooled around with a guy in my ward. Stuff had happened a bunch of times and I knew I needed to talk to my bishop about it. I set up the appointment and went in. He asked me what had happened. I told him. He wanted more detail.…
When I was 17 years old, I went to my bishop to repent for having sex with my boyfriend. My bishop asked for explicit details about what I had actually done, and whether or not I had done those things before. I told him. I didn’t know I had a choice. I didn’t realize how…
I was raped my first semester at BYU. My on-campus bishop was the one person I told of my experience, in desperate hopes to obtain some sort of peace for my broken heart. He told me I’d need to stop taking the sacrament, he handed me a copy of The Miracle of Forgiveness, and before…
I’m deeply saddened reading these stories. Although mine isn’t on the severity scale as some of those on here, I think the church needs to know that this happens everywhere. They are not one in a million. This shame happens to EVERY child in EVERY congregation in our church. In some degree. Just putting a…
There is so much. I can not write it all. I was beaten for masturbating. I was snuck up on if my bedroom door was closed or in the shower to “catch me in the act” so I could be beaten again if caught masturbating. I was raped by a guy I had gone on…
When I was a member of the church, I was 28 years old, single and was a recent convert. For the members, I was old. So, they were always offering me members to marry. I was preparing myself to serve a mission and I was not interested in marry anyone, just because it was convenient.…
My story begins at 2 or 3 years old when I was molested multiple times by/with the permission of a woman in her home during “daycare”. My mother, instead of reporting the incident to police, chose to report it to her bishop. I was examined by a doctor and he found that my hymen had…
***Sam, thank you for your hard work, selfless service, dedication to protect our children. I don’t know if this counts but I believe my bishop could have stopped the sexual abuse I endured from a brother and two cousins. My abuse was the span of age 4-10. My baptism interview is where I thought I…
Dear Mr. Young, March 22, 2018 I only recently discovered your work yesterday—your website, and stories of LDS children abused by ecclesiastical interviews. I glanced briefly at the headers for some of the stories on your web site, and knew I had to submit a story. I apologize for the length of the narrative, but…