Elder Holland held a Face to Face event yesterday evening (for background on previous Face to Face events, see my recent post), during which he responded to a series of questions, including a final two-part question about same-gender attraction. This is a transcript I made of the question(s) and response. I make no guarantees about the accuracy of the transcript, but you can check my work by viewing the video yourself here. This question begins around the 1:13:24 mark. Continue reading
My Dad taught me a very important principle in my youth. If one of your friends, or family members is dating/marrying someone you think is an absolute creep, and you tell them this, you will not likely change their decision. More likely they will continue on with the decision, even if they themselves start to feel other wise, and you will ruin your relationship with that person.
I saw the wisdom in my dad’s words, and over the years there have been many times I strongly disagreed with friends and family members dating choices, and bit my tongue and saved our relationship. However, in the past year, I learned that I had been approaching this all wrong, and even though I had managed to not burn any bridges by taking my dad’s advice, there were things I could yet learn that would not only just preserve friendships when people made choices I disagreed with, but deepen the relationship, despite our disagreement.
Its strange, but not strange at the same time, that the things we most feel inclined to want to correct others on, to “save them from themselves” and their bad decisions, are probably the most personal choices that we really have no business at all making for anyone but ourselves. I am as guilty of doing this as anyone, and I am trying to change. Things like religion/spirituality/faith, dating/marriage relationships, and politics often become things that can divide the closest of friends and drive a wedge between them. These are areas we feel often morally obligated to help someone else not make a “wrong” choice. Continue reading
Over the last two years, the church has produced a series of “Face to Face” events for youth, consisting of conversations with Mormon celebrities or ecclesiastical leaders. The first one was with David Archuleta in June 2014, and so far there have been a total of five, with a sixth coming up next week. This is the full list:
From event page for Face to Face with Jeffrey Holland
During each event, part of the discussion is used to respond to questions that have been submitted from around the world, either on the official event page or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using #LDSface2face. The questions submitted through the official event page are posted for public viewing, and they make for fascinating reading. My focus here is on the questions submitted to ecclesiastical leaders related to homosexuality. Continue reading
Much has been said over the last few days about Elder Bednar’s recent comments regarding homosexual members of the Mormon church. I will not re-post the original footage here, but I would like to pass on some timely thoughts, shared by an anonymous friend, that I particularly appreciate. Whether or not you agree with every word, I hope you will appreciate as I do the thoughtfulness with which my friend addressed the issue.
It is certainly essential to identify irresponsible or harmful ideas. It is also important to develop the ability to process difficult moments, which will inevitably always be a part of life, in a way that enables us maintain inner peace. We must take the time to recognize the simultaneous humanity and divinity in all people, and to hold to what is good and let go of what is not. There is no “right” way of addressing these moments, and each of us with our own temperaments must respond as best we know how. This is one response. Continue reading
In case you didn’t subject yourself to the Oscars, Lady Gaga and Joe Biden took the national stage to speak out against campus sexual assault.¹
I feel compelled to post on Biden’s final statement regarding victims of sexual assault–“They did nothing wrong!”
I believe the majority agrees that sexual assault is a crime against humanity. However, there is debate on the issue of responsibility around sexual assault–who is at fault? Was the victim drinking? Were they wearing revealing clothing? Were they walking in a dark, secluded area? Continue reading
I remember when you kissed my hand Like softly pouring rain There's not a single fracture in my soul That dared to stay the same I still feel your fingers laced in mine Trying not to change the past And this everything you left with me Is endless. It is vast. My head is filled with could-have-beens And houses by the sea While Gods of grey remind me That we do not love for free I will never touch your hand again We are finite, laced with pain But on nights when whispers haunt me I'll pretend you're in the rain I'll pretend you paint the sunsets And the shapes inside the clouds I'll pretend that I'd have no regrets If I'd dared to love out loud
Giving us a moment to rest in the shade on an oppressively hot August afternoon, our Cambodian tour guide began to recount one of his favorite childhood stories. A practicing Buddhist, he was raised on a body of scripture and myth I had never heard. His religious beliefs are different from mine, with ideas about afterlife(s), ritual, and ethics that strike me as foreign. He is one of the kindest, most genuine people I have known, and I think his character has a lot to do with his foundational stories, like the following one he shared with four exhausted white Americans in the middle of an ancient Buddhist temple complex: Continue reading
The latter part of this month I have been greatly affected by the continual data coming to light concerning Mormon youth and young adult LGBT suicide.
I felt extreme pressure and discomfort as a gay teen in the 80s. But I cannot begin to imagine the added pressures to the LGBTQIA+ youth of today in our church in a post policy world. Continue reading
I saw you and my soul lit up
God said, “No”
The Church said, “No”
But my heart said, “Yes”
Hearts are notorious liars
Weaving dangerous fantasies that
Burn too hot and fierce in the
Dim light of the lone and dreary world Continue reading
After the mob of school children passed my house on their way home I saw a little girl walking in the opposite direction, crying. I went out, as a mother would, and asked if she was okay. She had lost her little brother, who she usually helps get home from school. I asked if she wanted to call her mother and she said, “No, she’s working, she won’t know where he is.”
She was beyond distressed, and began to run down the sidewalk calling out his name. I was a stranger, and she wasn’t going to engage me. When I returned home I gathered my little children around and told them her story, and we said a prayer for her and her little brother.
Out of Obscurity 
