About a year after I excised Mormonism from my life, I received a Facebook invitation from someone I hadn’t thought about in all that time. It was for an event called “Sit With Me Sunday,” organized by a group of self-proclaimed LDS allies to LGBTQ people as an attempt to…
Category: Testimony
Symbolic beliefs can counter cognitive dissonance, but at a cost
Miracle of Forgiveness: from harm to art
Inside the British Museum, there’s a tree made of guns and grenade launchers. It’s a sculpture by four artists from Mozambique in a country moving away from war and exploitation. Citizens could exchange something deadly for ploughs, bicycles, and sewing machines. Thousands of weapons were cut up and soldered into…
Gay Mormon Generations: Stuart Matis and David Archuleta
Twenty two years ago this month, Stuart Matis, a Latter-day Saint in his early 30s who was troubled by his attraction to men, pinned a note reading ‘do not resuscitate’ to his chest and shot himself on the steps of the Mormon stake center in Los Altos, California. Last month,…
Parents Who Believe in Sexual Purity Should Still Vaccinate Their Kids Against HPV
With all the talk about COVID vaccinations, we forget that there are other useful vaccinations out there, too. “My children don’t need to be vaccinated against HPV,” I’ve heard some of my Mormon friends and family say. “They’ll still be virgins when they get married. They’ll never have to worry…
Centering the straight spouse and the route to self
On their wedding night, Kylie’s husband came out to her as bisexual. (He now identifies as gay.) Six months later, as they were moving into a new apartment, he confessed he’d been cheating on her with men. So they did what many devout Mormon couples would do and called their…
It’s Time to Vote for the 2020/2021 Brodie Awards!!!
If you haven’t voted yet for X-Mormon of the Year 2021, you can still vote until January 16, 2022 at this link. And now for the Brodies!! The polls will remain open until Sunday, January 23, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. Switzerland time. Best LDS-Interest Podcast or Video Channel 2020/2021: Exmo…
Time to vote for William Law X-Mormon of the Year 2021!!!
If you have any last nominations for the Brodie Awards, you can continue posting them here until the polls go up on Sunday, January 9, 2022. For X-Mormon of the Year, you can vote here until Sunday, January 16, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. Switzerland time: Here’s a review of what…
Last Call for Nominations (X-MooTY & Brodies)!
We’ve got some great nominations so far — keep ’em coming! I’ll be posting the polls here at Main Street Plaza shortly. The polls for X-Mormon of the Year will be posted on January 2, 2022, and the polls for the Brodie Awards will be posted on January 9, 2022….
what Mormons could learn about love from bell hooks
“A culture of domination is anti-love,” black feminist philosopher bell hooks wrote. Without love, she warned, those fighting one form of domination—imperialism, sexism, racism, classism—would find themselves in service to another. Too many Mormons go one further. They invoke love in the service of domination. Hooks died this month, and…
Should I stay or should I go – and why?
Research project on why people leave the Church should also explore reconciliation My mind began whirling when Jana Reiss announced she and her research partner Benjamin Knoll were launching an in-depth project to see why Mormons leave and have left the Church. (See here for the Kickstarter announcement). It’s an…