Josh Morris was raised in a very small, rural Utah community. Living as a closeted gay teen, in a predominately Mormon town leaves a lot to be desired. The community isn't rich with diversity or opportunity when it comes to understanding your sexuality. In this episode Josh candidly shares his story. He opens up about the good, the bad, the mistakes, and eventually--the successes. How do you come out (and thrive) to your Mormon family, who believes in religious and organizational...

Melinda Hannah is no stranger to pain or trauma. She battled her own traumas while simultaneously watching other’s experience their own. Melinda is an artist. She used her talent and brush to paint to tell the stories of the marginalized people among us. While meeting with members of the LGBTQ community who were dying of AIDS, she visioned an art project that would show the world the love and beauty that encompassed these men and women who had been rejected by their families. In time,...

Latter-day leaders have often warned that happiness, truth, and spiritual experiences are only found within the framework of Mormonism—Colter's story defies that narrative. Shortly after coming out to his "Provo Mormon" family, Colter began to navigate his own course of spirituality, connection, and mindfulness. Outside of the church, he was able to find all the things his former Mormon leaders told him he wouldn't. Colter is a Galactic Shaman who has found success as a spiritual...

The LatterGayStories podcast has been following over a dozen same-gender couples that are facing excommunication (membership councils) from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their offense: being legally and lawfully married. In April of 2019, the Church publicly announced that same-sex couples would no longer be considered apostates and subjected to mandatory excommunication. Instead, the Church proclaimed that “immoral conduct in heterosexual and homosexual...

In less than one year, five students at Brigham Young University have amassed a social media following of nearly 1,000,000 people. The group, calling themselves the Black Menaces, create videos online that have been liked and shared more than 25 million times and messages supported by celebrities and influencers around the globe. So, what are these BYU college students doing to create such a buzz? Using a cell phone camera and microphone, the BlackMenaces are exposing the candid reactions of...

For the Packer’s, love and connection brought them together—and it was honesty and authenticity that helped their love and connection flourish. In this fascinating story of love and transformation, Kay and Kris share their early dating experiences—and marriage as a lesbian couple. It was later in that marriage that Kris transitioned as a transgender male. As the couple loved, they learned—and as they learned, they lived. This is the third and final episode in the Packer series. Kay shared...

Kris Packer has a long Mormon history. His father, Lynn is a Mormon historian, and Kris’ great-uncle is apostle Boyd K. Packer.   What happens when you come out to your family as a lesbian, but as life progresses, your journey through love and connection helps you to connect the dots and come to understand that you are also transgender?   Kris had great family support through his life and even through the learning, bumpy stages, found connection and love in even the least-likely...

Kaylene Packer was a very normal Mormon girl. She went to church, she prayed, and she tried to hide an important part of her identity...she was really, really into girls. Growing up Latter-day Saint, you quickly learn that there isn’t a road map designed to help you thrive as a closeted lesbian girl. But Kay tried. Ultimately, her journey led her to embracing who she was, to coming out, to finding love in a relationship, and then—familiar to many Latter-day Saints: breaking off that...

Ashley was born male into a Lutheran home in Texas. At a young age, Ashley knew she was different. Not having language for what that "difference” was, she navigated her journey the best she could. It was finally an Oprah episode featuring a transgender story that gave her the WORD that described how she felt. Well after puberty, high school, dating –and while in college, she finally felt the power to lean into her truth. Currently a stand-up comedian, and a casting director for reality...

In a surprising move, BYU-Provo administrators dismissed three transgender clients from the BYU Clinic on 2/7/2022, and informed their student/faculty clinicians that transgender patients needed to be transferred to providers OUTSIDE of BYU. The patients were being seen at the on-campus BYU Speech and Language Clinic for speech therapy. BYU administrators informed the clinic and faculty that service to transgender patients is a violation of the LDS Church Policy (as found in the LDS Handbook)...

From an early age, Duane felt drawn to better understanding life from two perspectives: science and spirituality. His desire for knowledge and the human understanding led him to better understand empathy and opportunity. Shortly after returning home from his Mormon mission to South Africa, Duane realized that his life was best lived in authenticity and honesty. The author of Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones shares his personal story and how embracing his identity made all the difference....

Page knew she was different, but Mormonism has a way of convincing you to keep those “different” feelings buried deep inside. Those feelings and natural connections can only stay hidden for so long—and eventually they blossom. After coming out, Page shares her journey of finding happiness, understanding her divine worth, and thriving in affirmative spaces. She talks about her family, about no longer fearing her sexuality, and learning that happiness does exist where religion told her it didn’t.

They're back! Cole Rasmussen (episode 145) and Kent Carollo (episode 142) sit down together—as a couple to share their story of dating, connection, and engagement.  Where do gay Latter-day Saints learn to date? Where do they learn how to navigate the world of feelings, connection, and the very real desire to be loved? In this episode Kent and Cole describe their experience coming out, accepting and honoring their divine creation, and finding each other in the process.

There isn’t a manual or Sunday school lesson that teaches us how to prepare for our child’s coming out experience. For parents you often feel wholly unprepared for the news. For many Latter-day Saints avoid this topic because we are convinced it isn’t relevant to us—because something like this doesn’t happen to families like ours. Right? In this candid and honest episode, Glen and Sandee share their mistakes, their successes, and the experiences they’ve learned as they navigate this jou

In this special outdoor episode, we sit down with James Kent in the beautiful Iao Valley on the island of Maui, Hawaii. James shares a stunning history of Hawai'i including the native Hawai'ian’s respect to the topics of sexual orientation (aikāne) and gender identity (māhū). He also shares a tender story of his own journey. His is a message of coming out, joining Affirmation, watching his friends succumb to the AIDS epidemic, and how he has found aloha in his journey. Aloha ia O'Koa Pa'ulo

As a convert to the church, Tommy Francesco wanted to do what was right. He studied with the missionaries, obeyed the word of wisdom, served a mission and generously gave of his time and talents—but Tommy was gay and that reality met him at every intersection in Mormonism. One weekend at BYU, a kiss with another man changed Tommy’s life forever. That kiss was a violation of BYU’s Honor Code. Within days, Tommy had been stripped of his academic credits and expelled as a student at BYU.

Brandon Spevak's life was familiar to many Latter-day Saints. He served in LDS leadership callings, he married his wife in the temple, and together they started to raise their young family. In the midst of that journey, feelings within Brandon’s heart and soul began to expand. As he reached into the darkness his world opened up into beautiful rays of light. It led to an increase of happiness and a brand-new future. This is a story about doing what is right and letting the consequences follow.

Latter-day Saint leaders encouraged mixed orientation marriages as the only best option available to gay Mormons. Many gay Latter-day Saints used these types of marriages to diffuse their feelings of same-gender attraction. Tate and Kara share their experience in a mixed orientation marriage. They discuss the four essential characteristics that help to make a marriage like theirs successful: open communication, a high level of personal commitment, adaptability, and a nuanced religious position.

In an office at the Church Office Building—overlooking the angel Moroni atop the Salt Lake Temple, Cole received a blessing from Elder Cook. In that blessing Cole was promised that he would be able to marry a woman, have children, and eventually serve a mission with his wife. Unfortunately for Elder Cook, the priesthood power of a general authority could not make Cole straight. After years of navigating, Cole has found joy in his journey, and love in his life.

ONE WEEK after Jeremy Adriano and Randy Wellbaum were legally married, their church leaders terminated their membership by excommunication. The couple was told that if they dissolved their marriage, they could remain members of the Mormon church. In this episode Randy and Jeremy and discuss why they remain active in their faith and why they CHOOSE to worship with a Church that considers them apostates. Randy and Jeremy were excommunicated for falling in love.

Three fathers, all with different backgrounds share their candid experience raising sons who identify as gay. They talk about the coming out process, where they made mistakes, what they learned, religious issues, telling friends and family—and so much more. Let's face it, no parent expects (or can adequately prepare) for their child to come out. With few social and religious resources available to help parents navigate this journey, where do you turn when your child needs you the most?

“I never missed general conference, I held leadership positions, I served a mission, I studied at a church school, I got married—you reach a point where you do all the things you believe are best and true, but when there are no more boxes left to check, and you still feel a certain way, you have to start to ask yourself some really significant and often difficult questions.” Kent Carollo shares his journey from the closet, to coming out and navigating a new and healthy path.

In April of 2021, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held a disciplinary council for Natasha Helfer. Natasha has been a personal ally and friend to the LGBTQ+ community. In her professional career. In this special episode, Natasha interviews Kyle Ashworth of LatterGayStories about his experience attending her disciplinary council held in Derby, Kansas. They discuss LGBTQ/Mormon relations, a little history on the topic and what the future looks like for LGBTQ Latter-day Saints.

Uprooting your life and making a course correction is never an easy experience. In this episode, Tanner Jones shares his experience coming out to himself, his family and his young family. He describes his experience trying to do his very best and his path to happiness—even if it meant divorce and leaving his lifelong faith tradition. Tanner’s story is a candid look into the lengths many gay men will go to “do what is right” in the face of doing what is honest.