My Life As A Gay Mormon - Believe Out Loud

Contents:

• THE GAY MORMON WHO'S HAPPILY MARRIED TO A WOMAN WAS ON VH1 LAST NIGHT
• GAY, MORMON AND HAPPILY MARRIED WH CHILDREN
• GAY MAN REVEALS WHY HE LOV BEG MARRIED TO A WOMAN
• MEET THE GAY MORMON MEN (AND THEIR WIV) BEECHG SCOTUS TO SAVE ‘TRADNAL’ MARRIAGE
• WHEN STRAIGHT WOMEN MARRY GAY MORMON MEN, STGGLE OFTEN ENDS DIVORCE
• GAY MORMON WHO BEME FAMO FOR MIXED-ORIENTATN MARRIAGE IS DIVORCG HIS WIFE
• MY HBAND IS GAY BUT WE’RE MARRIED WH TWO KIDS AND HAVE GREAT SEX
• CLUB UNIRN: I AM A GAY, VOUT MORMON, HAPPILY MARRIED TO A WOMAN, WH THREE CHILDREN
• I'M A GAY MORMON WHO'S BEEN HAPPILY MARRIED FOR 10 YEARS
• GAY MORMON MARRIED TO A WOMAN ANNOUNC THEY ARE TO DIVORCE
• MARRIED. GAY. AND MORMON. (PART 1)
• I’M A GAY MAN — AND HAPPILY MARRIED TO A WOMAN
• GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
• MORMON CHURCH AND GAY RIGHTS

THE GAY MORMON WHO'S HAPPILY MARRIED TO A WOMAN WAS ON VH1 LAST NIGHT

Remember Josh Weed, the Mormon blogger who me out last year as a gay man who's been happily married to a woman for 10 years? Josh and Lolly's love bears endls dissectn for the qutns rais (specifilly those that meet at the unfortable tersectn of sexualy and agency)'s tertg that they feel ostracized equally by their church and by gays, who thk Josh has no claim on the gay label (even though given his life path, he uld obvly float by whout ever acknowledgg ). "So a 6, 000-word postg on Josh's webse, a blog wrten mostly for iends and fay, the Weeds announced to the world that Josh was gay.

ET/PTThis is where a seemgly normal fay turns to a social experiment that challeng what means to be a fahful member of the Mormon church, what means to be gay and live a heterosexual 's announcement has also touched off a bate among other gay Mormons, who see The Church Of Latter Day Sats slowly evolvg on the issue of homosexualy. Some worry that this unorthodox uple is sendg a dangero msage to other fai alg wh gay loved on that livg a "straight" liftyle is OutJosh and Lrel have known each other sce they were 4 years old. They cid that Josh beg gay wouldn't be an obstacle their relatnship and the uple began datg high school.

Josh's blog post quickly went viral -- currently has over 3, 700 ments and has been re-posted by other blogs -- and set off a firtorm of bate wh both the Mormon church and the gay muny. Bee Josh has a private practice as a licensed marriage and fay therapist associate, many crics of his liftyle are ncern that he is tryg to "change" gay men and nvce them that a "straight" liftyle is matas he do not believe tryg to change someone's sexual orientatn, and said he believ tryg to do so n be very damagg. " Josh John Dehl, a fellow Mormon who studi and wr about members of his relign who are facg nflicts and qutns about their fah, warns that the Weeds' story is harmg others stgglg wh homosexualy.

GAY, MORMON AND HAPPILY MARRIED WH CHILDREN

"Dehl, who produc a popular podst that shar stori about Mormons stgglg wh issu of fah, said he has received emails om mothers who have asked their gay sons why they n't live like Josh.

"Usg relign or spirualy as a way to manage your sexual orientatn, by beg extra righteo, or extra fahful, as a way to sort of supprs those feelgs, or ntrol yourself, is the most damagg way to pe wh your same-sex attractn, " he Gorrge said he is livg proof that beg gay and attemptg to marry and live a heterosexual liftyle leads to heartbreak. The Utah man said he was married for 25 years to a woman, raised four children, and was even a member of Evergreen Internatnal, a group that worked to "nvert" Mormons who are gay.

Gorrge said he fally stopped livg a lie 14 years ago when his stggle wh homosexualy beme too much to bear, and he attempted suici durg a fay vatn. He said he thought he uld overe his homosexualy, but after s of stggle, cid he wasn't beg fair to himself or his wife.

GAY MAN REVEALS WHY HE LOV BEG MARRIED TO A WOMAN

""Evolvg" Mormon ChurchThe Weeds story at a time when many believe the Mormon church is slowly evolvg to be more acceptg of the homosexual recently, church lears did not accept the notn that someone uld be gay and still be a fahful member of the church. " Many Mormon lears also enuraged "reparative therapy, " a procs by which patients received an electric shock when shown homosexual after the bisg battle 2008 over California's Proposn 8, and plats om wh the church that Mormons were viewed as too tolerant, church learship has begun to soften s stance. The church now says simply beg gay is no longer nsired a s, though actg on those feelgs still is, as is any sexual relatnship outsi of a tradnal heterosexual Mormon activists say church lears have begun speakg wh them about gay issu.

Earlier this summer, an timated 300 straight Mormons marched Salt Lake Cy's gay pri para. ""I have no doubt my md the next 30, 50 or 100 years that legally married gay men and women are gog to be accepted to the church at a mimum to be able to serve llgs and to be able to participate and worship along si straight members of the church, " he A Lie? Josh Weed said no matter where the Mormon church's stance on homosexualy go om here, he is nfint that he has found the love of his life.

"The Weeds said they're jt another happy Mormon fay and the fact that Josh is gay won't change the full story on "Nightle" tonight at 11:35 p. Gay man reveals why he lov beg married to a womanHe’s gay, she’s straight – but for Skyler and Amanda Sorensen their relatnship nsists of “normal marriage thgs”. A Mormon uple the Uned Stat have opened up about their “mixed orientatn” marriage which gay man Skyler Sorensen is happily married to his wife Utah uple went viral earlier this year when a tweet om Mr Sorensen scribg their unual suatn was wily shared on Twter.

MEET THE GAY MORMON MEN (AND THEIR WIV) BEECHG SCOTUS TO SAVE ‘TRADNAL’ MARRIAGE

“We have our stggl of urse, like every marriage, but me beg gay hasn’t been … the biggt issue our marriage, ” he told the New York Post.

WHEN STRAIGHT WOMEN MARRY GAY MORMON MEN, STGGLE OFTEN ENDS DIVORCE

”In the Mormon fah a “celtial marriage” between a man and a woman (wh the belief that marriage n last to the afterlife) is the path to heaven and no longer nmns LGBT people as “apostat”, do expect gay Mormons to absta om sexual ntact wh someone of the same sex.

GAY MORMON WHO BEME FAMO FOR MIXED-ORIENTATN MARRIAGE IS DIVORCG HIS WIFE

“I’ve always pictured this realisatn of fay my life: Marryg a woman, havg children, raisg those children, ” Mr Sorensen he adms the Mormon church hasn’t had a great rerd on their treatment of gay people, he has been disappoted at the rponse om the LGBT muny to his suatn. Submted advance of the urt’s oral arguments, the brief ntts the nstutnal legalizatn of gay marriage. At issue the pendg Supreme Court lg is whether the 14th Amendment, ratified 1868 to guarantee equal protectns, bans stat om treatg gay and straight upl differently.

Ctng the jtic agast lg favor of gay marriage, the brief Danny and his wife pned their nam to stat: “Rather than expand liberty, such a judgment would not only ignore the eply fulfillg marriag between same-sex-attracted men and women and their spo, but would also nstutnally mean such marriag and fai. So I uld ask the obv qutns: Why would an openly gay man marry a woman, and why would he so vociferoly oppose the rights of other gay men to marry? Bee of that history, Mormons’ loud and public opposn to gay marriage has always rried wh an unniable irony.

Weed beme the subject of ternatnal fascatn when he published a blog post 2012: “Not only am I homosexual, but I’m also a vout and believg Mormon…I’m very happily married to a woman, and have been for ten years now. Wrten as an FAQ, the post revealed Weed’s g-out story: how his father, a lear the church, took the news of his 13-year-old son beg homosexual remarkably well, and how Josh’s wife Lolly, a childhood iend, did too. Anticipatg his dience’s ep skepticism—the skepticism I and nearly everyone who hears of openly gay men married to women shar—he nclud: “All of the thgs are te, whether your md is allowg you to believe them or not.

MY HBAND IS GAY BUT WE’RE MARRIED WH TWO KIDS AND HAVE GREAT SEX

One, he do not practice gay nversn or reparative therapy, as some of his crics acced after his g-out post.

CLUB UNIRN: I AM A GAY, VOUT MORMON, HAPPILY MARRIED TO A WOMAN, WH THREE CHILDREN

Unlike the Caldwells and others who signed the amic brief, Josh and Lolly Weed do not oppose gay marriage. As a stunt at BYU he terned for Gayle Ruzicka, who he lls Utah’s “grand madam of antigay polics.

I'M A GAY MORMON WHO'S BEEN HAPPILY MARRIED FOR 10 YEARS

In 2014, after stts as a filmmaker and the producer and host of the public rad show Now Queer This, Williams was named executive director of Equaly Utah, the leadg gay rights anizatn the state.

He not that Danny Caldwell and many of the others the brief do not refer to themselv as “gay. Derek Kchen, another gay former Mormon I spoke wh Salt Lake Cy, who is nng for cy uncil, says this approach n’t end well.

GAY MORMON MARRIED TO A WOMAN ANNOUNC THEY ARE TO DIVORCE

“When your entire personal worth is your standg wh the church and where you land the afterlife…It’s hard to say ’s okay to be gay. ” If your strategy is to get your fay and iends to accept who you are whout really supportg who you are, he adds, paraphrasg gay activist and thor Dan Savage, “I would not say that gets better.

Kchen attracted natnal attentn when he, his partner and two other upl sued Utah for the right to marry, leadg a feral judge to overturn the state’s 10-year antigay marriage law December 2013. “I’d see gay upl all the time, ” he says, “and that really started stirrg some stuff up for me. Unable to shake the prsn, he turned to the Inter, jog gay chat rooms for pannship, for answers.

When Amendment 3 appeared on the ballot 2004—the measure that ma state law to fe marriage as beg between one man and one woman, the same law for which Derek Kchen later sued the state—Danny voted agast , favor of gay rights. He trad his ername on gay datg s for one on, where he met Er Engebretsen, a Mormon om Delaware attendg nursg school Utah County.

MARRIED. GAY. AND MORMON. (PART 1)

He nfsed his obssn wh gay porn, too, and at first she nvced herself that was the extent of . When he backslis to gay porn, Danny repents, prays, and reads the scriptur—the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and other revelatns by Joseph Smh, who claimed God stcted that marriage should be between a man and several women.

When I prsed them on why they so vehemently opposed gay marriage, Danny leaned on talkg pots: Constutnally legalized gay marriage would force bs to ter to gay upl, regardls of relig belief; private relig schools like BYU would lose tax-ee stat; Danny’s own marriage would feel meangls, tramplg on his nstutnal rights. SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) The Mormon upl profiled on TLC’s “My Hband Is Not Gay” may fd the statistics soberg: Marriag like theirs — same-sex attracted men and straight women —are two to three tim more likely to end divorce than others. Those whose mixed-orientatn marriag end experience “a kd of triple blame by their fay and fah muni — first for beg gay, then for havg ed the liv of their spo and children by … marry(g) the service of tryg to ‘overe’ their homosexualy, and then fally for havg failed the marriage and ‘given up, ’ ” he said.

I’M A GAY MAN — AND HAPPILY MARRIED TO A WOMAN

The survey also nclud that many more LDS gays try “personal righteons” efforts — prayer, fastg, church activy, temple worship and strict observance of the LDS health — as a way to change their orientatn than those who seek psychologil terventns such as the discreded “reparative therapy. Though the LDS Church says beg homosexual is not a s, only actg on is, the Utah-based fah offers s gay members two optns: Rema celibate or marry someone of the oppose sex. A gay Mormon who beme famo for his mixed-orientatn marriage has announced that he’s divorcg his wife and hop to fall love wh a man.

GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT

”A pri flag fli ont of the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats Frey via Getty ImagIn 2012, Josh Weed wrote a viral blog post which he me out as a gay Mormon who was “very happily” married to a straight woman. ” Now, he says his former approach toward queer sexualy was a “maniftatn of lgerg ternalized homophobia.

MORMON CHURCH AND GAY RIGHTS

When they went public wh their story 2012, Josh Weed said that he and his wife had “very ltle exposure” to gay people. At least 10 different members of her church sent to her “as if they had given me the panacea for my gayns, ” she said. The church also rolved that the children of the upl would not be allowed to be baptized until they were 18, at which pot they would need to move out of their parents’ home and disavow their parents’ relatnship to be nsired for membership the church ma s posn on queer sexualy even clearer 2016, when updated a web page meant to serve as a rource for gay and lbian Mormons and their alli.