Community with Covenant-Keeping LGBT Saints | An Interview with Jenn Curtis
Leading Saints Podcast
Leading Saints
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 23 November 2025
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jenn Curtis is the president of North Star, an organization dedicated to supporting LGBT Latter-day Saints. With a lifelong commitment to the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jenn has navigated her own journey of self-discovery and faith, advocating for understanding and compassion within the Church community. She has been actively involved in creating resources and spaces for dialogue around LGBT issues and faith, helping individuals reconcile their identities with their beliefs.
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Links
NorthStarSaints.org
Transcript available with the video in the Zion Lab community
Highlights
This podcast conversation centers on Jenn’s personal journey with same-sex attraction, her experiences within the church, and the importance of community and understanding in navigating these complex issues.
Key Insights
Personal Journey: Jenn shares her experience of coming to terms with her same-sex attraction while married, emphasizing the internal struggles and the process of self-discovery.
Community Support: The North Star community provides a safe space for LGBT individuals and their families, fostering open dialogue and understanding about faith and sexuality.
Curiosity Over Judgment: Jenn highlights the importance of curiosity in conversations about LGBT issues, suggesting that church leaders should ask questions and seek to understand rather than make assumptions.
Covenant Path: The discussion emphasizes that North Star promotes a gospel-centered approach, encouraging members to strive to keep their covenants while navigating their identities.
Tension in Faith: Jenn acknowledges the tension many LGBT individuals feel between their faith and their sexual orientation, advocating for a compassionate and understanding approach from church leaders.
Leadership Applications
Foster Open Dialogue: Leaders can create environments where members feel safe to discuss their struggles and questions about faith and sexuality without fear of judgment.
Encourage Curiosity: Leaders should practice curiosity by asking open-ended questions to better understand the experiences of LGBT members, which can help reduce fear and stigma.
Promote Inclusivity: By recognizing the diverse experiences within their congregations, leaders can work towards creating a more inclusive community that supports all members in their faith journeys.
00:04:48 – Jenn’s Personal Story and Journey
00:08:36 – Discovering Same-Sex Attraction
00:10:39 – Navigating Marriage and Self-Discovery
00:12:07 – Initial Reactions to Self-Discovery
00:14:18 – The Dual Existence of Living with Same-Sex Attraction
00:16:22 – Conversations with Her Husband
00:20:42 – Coming Out to Her Husband
00:22:27 – Finding Community in North Star
00:24:21 – Advice for Attending North Star Conference
00:26:15 – The Transformational Experience of North Star
00:28:14 – Creating a Welcoming Church Environment
00:30:46 – The Role of Curiosity in Understanding
00:32:20 – The Importance of Being Open and Listening
00:34:20 – North Star’s Unique Approach to LGBT Issues
00:36:04 – Striving to Keep Covenants in the LGBT Community
00:39:35 – Navigating Tension in Faith and Sexuality
00:41:49 – Addressing Negative Experiences with North Star
00:47:10 – The Importance of Giving North Star Another Chance
The award-winning Leading Saints Podcast is one of the top independent Latter-day Saints podcasts as part of nonprofit Leading Saints’ mission to help Latter-day Saints be better prepared to lead. Find Leadership Tools, Courses, and Community for Latter-day Saint leaders in the Zion Lab community. Learn more and listen to any of the past episodes for free at LeadingSaints.org.
Past guests include Emily Belle Freeman, David Butler, Hank Smith, John Bytheway, Reyna and Elena Aburto, Liz Wiseman, Stephen M. R. Covey, Benjamin Hardy, Elder Alvin F. Meredith III, Julie Beck, Brad Wilcox, Jody Moore, Tony Overbay, John H. Groberg, Elaine Dalton, Tad R. Callister, Lynn G. Robbins, J. Devn Cornish, Bonnie Oscarson, Dennis B. Neuenschwander, Kirby Heyborne, Taysom Hill, Coaches Jennifer Rockwood and Brandon Doman, Anthony Sweat, John Hilton III, Barbara Morgan Gardner, Blair Hodges, Whitney Johnson, Ryan Gottfredson, Greg McKeown, Ganel-Lyn Condie, Michael Goodman, Wendy Ulrich, Richard Ostler, and many more in over 800 episodes.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All right, here's our goal, folks. Leading Saints is no longer a podcast. Well, obviously we are a podcast. |
| 0:07.6 | We will continue to podcast, but we're really shifting our focus over to Zion Lab, which is an online |
| 0:13.5 | community put on and developed by leading saints. And this is where we want to go and gather the masses |
| 0:19.8 | and share ideas about leadership, |
| 0:22.2 | share ideas about different calling, share ideas about building Zion. |
| 0:26.3 | And this is the place that we want to make online where all things are discussed, |
| 0:30.3 | great ideas are shared, and that we can help one another in whatever calling we're in |
| 0:34.8 | or what calling we're not in to feel like, you know, I've got purpose |
| 0:38.1 | here. I can really make a difference in shifting culture in a better way or developing Zion in my |
| 0:42.7 | own corner of the kingdom. So join us over at Zion Lab at LeadingSaints.org slash Zion. And there you can |
| 0:49.8 | just jump in. It's free to join and create a profile and jump in and look around and answer |
| 0:55.3 | some questions, leave a comment, pose a question. I think you'll benefit from the things we're |
| 0:59.3 | doing over at Zion Lab. So join us. Before we jump into the content of this episode, I kind of feel |
| 1:06.7 | it's important that I introduce myself. Now, many of you've been around a long time. |
| 1:16.8 | You're well familiar with my voice and with Leading Saints as an organization. But if you're not, |
| 1:22.0 | well, my name is Kurt Frankum and I am the executive director of Leading Saints and the podcast host. |
| 1:28.0 | Now, Leading Saints is a nonprofit organization dedicated helping Latterday Saints be better prepared to lead. |
| 1:32.4 | And we do that through, well, content creation like this podcast and many other resources at leading saints.org. |
| 1:34.0 | And we don't act like we have all the answers or know exactly what a leader should do or not do. |
| 1:40.1 | But we like to explore the concepts of leadership, the science of leadership, what people are |
| 1:44.8 | researching about leadership, and see how we can apply them to a Latter-day Saint world. So here we go. |
| 1:53.2 | If I haven't done so yet, I want to introduce you to one of my favorite organizations in the |
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