When I was 16, I was dating my first real boyfriend. We would make out often and each time got more intense. When we began touching under our clothing my boyfriend decided we needed to go talk to our bishop (we were in the same ward). We went together and our Bishop reacted surprisingly appropriate.…
Growing up, I was not talked to about my sexuality in what I would consider a healthy way. I don’t fully blame my parents, because I was not an easy child to have serious or deep conversation with. I was the oldest and always felt it was my responsibility to be the example my family…
I was asked by my bishop, since age twelve, if I masturbated, looked at porn, or broke the law of chastity in any other manner. At twelve, I didn’t even know what masturbation was and I became very uncomfortable when the bishop explained the definition. I lied to my bishop every yearly interview. These interviews…
My son went in for his interview with the bishop in order to obtain the office of a teacher. He was asked if he kept the law of chastiy, he answered yes. The bishop then looked at him and said “This means masturbation too.” My son said without shame, “ Oh, I’ve done that. I…
I was a new Convert and I had just turned 18. In my home ward all of the Moms had it planned out which boys from the Ward their Daughter’s were going to marry. It was my first introduction to the meat market. My first Sunday my Mom stood up and introduced me in relief…
I’m a Mormon male who grew up in a small Mormon town in Idaho. The first time I confessed was when I was 13. After a Deacon’s Quorum lesson about “self-abuse”, I spent a lot of time considering the things they had talked about and I really internalized the teachings that masturbation was very awful.…
I am writing on behalf of someone close to me who told me that he gets asked specific, vile questions regarding sexual behavior by the bishop of his church. Whenever his parents think he’s depressed, they send him to the bishop. He said he told his mother he doesn’t want to see him anymore and…
When I was 12, I had a bishop in the Centerville Utah ward named _____. He interviewed me on several occasions. He asked me personal questions about masturbation, if, when and how often, and how and where, I did it. He made me come in to his office repeatedly and asked me if I had…
So I was always kind of a weird child(at least, in my mind) I can remember sneaking into our family’s computer room in the middle of the night when I was 9 to google pictures of naked women. Keep in mind that my parents had never had the sex talk with me. At this time,…
I converted to the LDS Church in Utah when I was 16. I had known since about age 5 that I was attracted to other boys, but it wasn’t until I bought my first set of scriptures just before joining the Church that I realized that my feelings were called “homosexuality,” which was the same…