Mormon and gay

As a gay Mormon, I create my home in the borderlands. In a theology that says every man must be married to a woman in arrange to be with God and progress in heaven, gay Mormons are anomalies. No one quite knows what to do with us.

For a while, the acknowledge was to serve a full-time mission, marry a woman, inform no one, and let things work themselves out.

When that approach led to tragedy and broken families, the answer became celibacy, which is less of an answer and more of a holding pattern in a religion that declares the family to be “the most vital unit in time and in eternity.”

Every question, from “How can I be happy with no possibility of finding a companion?” to “Will I still be gay after this life?” seems to be met with official answers amounting to “Have faith. It will work out in the end.” And, yet, despite these difficult and unanswered questions, I choose to continue to participate in my Latter-day Saint congregation and community.

So if I don’t belong, why stay? There are plenty of affirming faith communities where queer people and their families have a place at the table as equals. But Mormonism is part of me