Stories from the gay Mormon community

Recently, I’ve come across several stories from the historically reticent minority of homosexuals in the LDS community. Their writing deserves to be read; it has increased my compassion and respect for this misunderstood group.

Here are the stories I’ve found most inspiring:

• Trevor Cook, who came out to his parents only after moving away to college. The post, written by his father: “Coming Out as an LDS Parent of a Gay Child”
• Two gay men who each have a happy heterosexual marriage: Ty Mansfield (“Living with Same-sex Attraction: Our Story”) and Josh Weed (“Club Unicorn: In which I come out of the closet on our ten year anniversary”)

A Brigham Young University group called Understanding Same Gender Attraction created a collection of insightful videos interviewing religious gay and lesbian students about their experiences coming to terms with their sexuality. This is the main video:

BYU hosted a panel discussion in April about homosexuality. Read the Daily Universe article about it or this blog post, which gives more detail about the participants.

I’m pleased to see The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints updating its stance on homosexuality to recognize accepted medical evidence that it is a biological trait, not a misguided choice.