I finally had the courage to confess my “sins.” I sat in the bishops office shaking, explaining that I had a messed up. He asked detailed, explicit questions that I felt uncomfortable answering. He lectured me on orgasm and erection. He looked at me accusingly like I was some kind of criminal, “where exactly did…
At BYU-Hawai’i, while a student, I came out as gay to my bishop. His response was to ask me detailed questions about what I liked to think about and imagine while masturbating. I wasn’t even confessing anything about masturbation, rather I was trying to get advice on what to do about my sexual identity. After…
I have my own story of shame and acceptance of abuse instigated by inappropriate questions and shaming from a bishop when I was a teen but, today I’m sharing my adult son’s story. My son is unaware of Sam’s movement as any talk of religion triggers his depression and anxiety. He has dealt with severe…
I was 21 when this happened, so I wasn’t a child except in the sense that my extremely conservative parents kept me purposely “innocent” without teaching me about sex or my body. We didn’t have tv or the internet, so I was really shielded. I went to BYU and attended a field study in Mexico…
For my entire life, I was taught that obedience to counsel was of utmost importance. This teaching alone is dangerous. If the counsel reeks of guilt and shame, there is no reason it should be heeded, at all. Yet, this was the life I lived. That I was raised in. One where questions couldn’t be…
Too much to share… decades of shame due to a couple of choices I made. The very thought of Bishop interviews give me anxiety. I always believed it was a necessary thing to participate in and always would be in tears when I left the room. I considered suicide many times as my sin was…
I was raised LDS and when I was 14 I felt I needed to talk to the bishop about my first sexual experience because I believed that God could only forgive such horrible sins next to murder with the bishop as a tool. I was 14 and got felt up by a 15 year old…
Growing up I had a bishop who was just trying to do his best. I get it, we all want to please the Lord. However he took it across the line a few times. This is one of those times and how it affected me later on. When I turned 16 and was ready to…
I can’t remember exactly how old I was I want to say, 12 or 13… I know is was quite Young. I was called into the bishops office for an interview so I could go do baptisms for the dead on our Temple trip coming up (as my parents wanted). I remember one of the…
I used to live with legal guardian parents Michael and Judy and their two kids, and I only stayed with them because they lived in the area where the school I needed to go. My parents were not well off, they couldn’t move a few hours down, so the Mormon community was more than happy…