I masturbated and was loving it before I knew what it was. It’s the way God created me, after all. I found out what it was and that the church was against it when I was a deacon. We went to a priesthood session of conference and it was discussed at that meeting. My dad…
As a young child: Setting, Salt Lake City, close to I have NO happy memories of my mother. My first memory of her is being probably two, and calling out, “Mommy, I can’t sleep. The baby (the fourth daughter, 18 months younger than me) is crying.” I was told it was my job to take…
My story is not one of overt sexual abuse by my priesthood leaders, but I feel it represents the sometimes subtle but deep shaming and overall damage that is done to a developing child during one-on-one priesthood interviews. At any rate, the damage done to me is something I’m still working to heal from now…
I was born transgender. I had male parts so that was put on my birth certificate. But I was really female though. In the 2nd grade, I went into the closet to hide from the pain that teachers and students gave me. Baptism came and went. I then went through early male puberty. I hated…
Here is my story: When I was 4 years old, my parents and I traveled from Arizona to Idaho to see family that summer (1983). We saw a number of family members, including one of my aunts and her husband (and their children) who were a “foster” family for a Native American young man (13-14…
The enclosed is one of the chapters in a book I’ve been working on. Until this year (twenty years after leaving) I had remained silent. It’s time to speak. O! My Father! O my Father, thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place, When shall I regain thy presence And again behold thy face?…
One experience I had with being asked completely inappropriate questions in a worthiness interview was just after I had started attending singles ward. I had very recently come to understand, with the help of a friend, that what I had experienced through my high school years was not premarital “sex” but actually rape, in the…
My husband Jon was very well liked by his bishop. He was often called on to give speeches during church. From the outside it appeared my husband had found favour in the eye of his LDS bishop. What people didn’t know is this behavior is a very common grooming process of predators. My husband suppressed…
Sam, there was a discussion on the RFM board the other day about whether sexual abuse always leaves you broken. I felt compelled to finally tell my story but did it anonymously. And even though I know it was easy to tell that I was writing my own story, I had to tell it in…
I grew up as a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints in the UK. I remember the Bishop’s interviews very intrusive and embarrassing and also I felt violated looking back now as an adult. I grew up in a ward that there were many leaders men who were very egotistical and…