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Mormon Stories Podcast

212: Dr. William Bradshaw Part 4 - Homosexuality and the LDS Church

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.55.7K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2010

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, John Dehlin interviews one of his former professors and mentors, Dr. William Bradshaw, on a wide variety of topics. Dr. Bradshaw has just recently retired from a rich and fulfilling career as a microbiology professor at BYU in which he influenced thousands of students to continually be open to the best thinking of the sciences while still nurturing a robust, mature faith and spiritual life. Many report Dr. Bradshaw’s classes and their various interactions with him as pivotal to their finding a way to value the wisdom generated in both their heads and their hearts. In this far-ranging discussion, Dr. Bradshaw takes us through the arc of his life, including his mission, experiences at Harvard, the circumstances of his career choice, and the surprise call he and his wife Marge received to serve as very young mission presidents in Hong Kong, during which service they had to wrestle with opening and closing missionary work in Vietnam. Dr. Bradshaw relates stories from his career at BYU, talks about science and religion issues, and reveals the way he faces challenges to his faith from Mormon history and scriptural studies. Many Mormon Stories podcast listeners will already be familiar with one aspect of Dr. Bradshaw’s life from Episode 191, which featured a recording of the most recent lecture he gave at BYU on the biological origins of homosexuality--a lecture he has arranged and given every year for the past several years. Dr. Bradshaw first became prompted to study the research on this subject when his son Brett came out about his homosexuality. Since that time, the Bradshaws have been active members in various LDS groups for families working to support their GLBT children. They are currently serving as the presidents of LDS Family Fellowship. Brett and his partner are married and living in California, where they are raising an adopted daughter.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Mormon Stories Podcast is made possible through the financial contributions of its listeners.

0:06.0

To keep it alive and available to future generations, please consider a donation today at MormonStories.org.

0:14.0

You have a gay son? Yes.

0:17.0

Would you mind sharing with us your earliest recollections of Brett as it relates to his development in this issue?

0:30.0

Well, Brett's always been an extraordinary son.

0:38.0

As a youngster, Miss Chiffus, he and his friend Danny used to drive their grade school teachers

0:48.0

to the brink of exasperation because they were so smart and so clever and so

0:56.0

incorrigible to some extent.

1:04.0

Brett's an extraordinary handsome man.

1:07.0

He's six, two, and very good looking.

1:11.0

He was the seminary president at warm high school.

1:15.0

He was the most preferred man more than once.

1:21.0

We had girls in this living room, friends with Brett on all kinds of occasions during his high school years.

1:33.0

Brett went to the University of Chicago.

1:38.0

In the middle of his University of Education, he served a mission in Brazil and came back and graduated in public policy.

1:50.0

I'm not sure exactly when Brett determined his homosexual identity.

2:03.0

I think there was a period of acceptance and reconciliation of that during his early college years.

2:22.0

Brett may be somewhat of an exception among Gay Latter-day Saints because

2:34.0

there was relatively little angst as he accepted who he was.

2:42.0

Now, I may not know the full extent of that.

2:46.0

I know there was angst in coming out.

2:50.0

I know how difficult it was for him to come and tell his parents about it.

...

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