Music

Mormon Stories is a production of the Open Stories Foundation and relies solely upon the support of people like you, its listeners.

To help keep the podcast alive or to become a member of the community, please become a monthly subscriber by visiting MormonStories.org and clicking on the Donate button on the right side of the page under Support.

All contributions to Mormon Stories are completely tax deductible in the United States and go towards producing the podcast and building communities and programs of support for Mormons like you.

Thanks for your support.

Alex, I was up for you. Did coming out to your family.

If you want to share.

I know. Mine is a little more fluid. You know, it's some of the relationships are more complicated. I have siblings that aren't a part of the church anymore.

So it's just not really, I guess, discussed as openly my mom knows. I haven't really come out and talked to my dad about it more because he's intimidating in this way.

I don't know if it'll turn into a debate. I'm not really game for it right now. But I think everyone is just kind of aware of where we stand.

I don't know. It's just, yeah, in my family, it's not as much in the forefront right now. People aren't as active.

So it just is very non-judgmental and feeling a good place. And I think it helps that this has happened. So we went through the transition so long ago that I don't feel like I need, I don't know.

I just don't feel like that wrestling feeling anymore of, I guess, needing to talk about it all the time. I kind of feel like it's pretty zen about it.

And so I think the people around us feel that from us that we are at peace with where we're at and we're not, I don't know, conflicted about it or angry at all. We're just kind of in a good place. And I think our families can read that.

Yeah, I mean, there's still some risk to coming out and talking about stuff because obviously their relationships matter more to me than anything. I don't know if they're even aware of this podcast or my dad Google alerts anything with my name in it.

And so, you know, I'm not sure the reach will have to be honest, but at the end of the day, you know, hopefully beyond my own personal circumstances, this is good for people and that this will help people out there, you know, and I also thought a lot about this. And like as far as history, I feel like there have been a lot of people that have sacrificed a lot more in this pursuit of some kind of truth.

And so I think it's like a soccer team who was essentially killed for corrupting the youth or trying to teach them to think themselves. And Spinoza, the famous philosopher was attacked and shunned by the Jewish community for daring to question the penitok and the teachings of the Bible and trying to embrace some kind of rationality.

And Galileo was put in jail for daring to postulate that we might not be the center of the universe and that we actually orbit the sun.

So I think it should also cause come as a reminder to people that there was a time when religion had a lot more power that has now.

And what times were like and what was like to try and stand up to something, you know, and how religion sort of can come to us now in this sort of in grace, you know, and smiley way because over time, it's had to give so much.

But you know, if we remember what it's like when they had real power, it was a lot harder to come forward with this kind of stuff. So by that comparison, this is a pretty meager, you know, attempt to at least do our part to live our truth.

It's cliche.

...