These are personal accounts of the negative consequences that inappropriate interviews have had on people.
I was raised in the church and my mother was sexually and physically abused by my biological father. Whenever she tried to leave him, the church held her back in several ways. After he began sexually abusing me as an infant, my mother left him. However, regular unsupervised visits with him still happened and I…
I grew up in the LDS church with parents, siblings, friends, and many other family members. I was taught from a young age that men in the bishopric are called of God and that they answer to him. I was raised to trust bishops by my church family. When I turned 12 and I entered…
My first memory of worthiness interviews was being terrified at 7 when masturbation was explained to me in graphic detail but my parents insisted that I go ahead and be baptized. I was young, I felt powerless… This normalization made me an easy target I guess, it was years later that this normalization would have…
March 10, 2019 Dear President Nelson, I’ve heard that it doesn’t matter if I write you or not because my letter will get kicked back to the Area 70 that the postage is from and I’ll get contacted directly. I hope that by not using my name, that won’t be the case and you’ll actually…
Roughly 12-14 years ago a sibling of mine came forward with a terrible story. He gathered the family together and informed us that when he was younger he had been groomed and repeatedly fondled and raped by a former bishop. He approximated that he had been about 10 -12 years old when it hard started.…
I grew up in the church and remember never properly being taught about sexuality until my teenage years. Even then it were very vague attempts. It always seemed as though people at church were embarrassed (or largely uninformed themselves) teaching about these things and even my parents never really taught me anything. The only occasion…
My husband and I were recently married and wanting to be sealed. He was excommunicated and coming back to the church and I had just been through a divorce. My husband wanted us to both be free from our sins. So he wanted me to go to our bishop. I knew our bishop, we loved…
Hi Sam. Thanks for being a force for good. My story is not one of childhood. I was on my mission. But what it shows is how much power the church has to keep things quiet when it comes to anything that might make the church look bad. A SHORT HISTORY ON ME: I was…
I never had a bishop ask me explicit questions until I was 17. My next door neighbor who I babysat for became my new bishop. I went in to get my temple recommend. I had never been on a date or even alone with a boy so when he asked me about chastity I told…
Posting this mostly for validation and because part of me wants to scream FUCK YOU to the men who interview anyone about their chastity and worthiness. Today I was triggered in class at UVU, hence what sparked this post. Flashback to 8 years ago I’m preparing to serve a mission. I’d always been a good…