Episode 423: Karim Lazarus, Convert, Gay, Out of the Church for 15+ Years, Returned in 2020

Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Richard Ostler

Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 839 Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2021

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

My friend Karim Lazarus (age 50, living in Baltimore) vulnerably shares his life story. Karim shares growing up in a single-parent home, being sexually abused (which he shares did not make him gay), finding his home in a military high school in Virginia and attending the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs where he joined the Church. That led to Karim, after one year in the Church, courageously serving a mission in the France Bordeaux Mission under President Neil L. Anderson which was a great experience. After his mission, Karim returned to Academy but had some difficult church experiences that ultimately led to him step away. From 2003 through 2019, Karim was not active in the Church and was in relationships with men—including a deeply fulfilling relationship that ended a couple years ago. Karim always maintained an excellent relationship with Heavenly Father and our Savior and felt their love and acceptance. Karim, even while out of the Church, read conference talks and was aware of general Church direction---especially on LGBTQ issues. Over the past few years, Karim sensed a better tone from the Church towards its LGBTQ members and felt a desire to return to the Church. He eventually reached out to his Bishop in Baltimore and told him his life story. His Bishop responded with no shame--but rather with love, compassion and acceptance. Karim now holds a temple recommend and has Stake and Ward callings. Thank you Karim for the being on the podcast and sharing your story. Respect for being so vulnerable and honest. Thanks for your military service. Your story will help so many. ** Please Check Out My New Book At: ** Deseret Book: www.deseretbook.com/p/listen-learn-and-love-embracing-lgbtq-latter-day-saints Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/1462135773

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome listeners to another episode of Listen, Learn, and Love hosted by Richard Osler.
0:09.3	My guest on my podcast is in my home.
0:13.6	He's actually flown from Baltimore where he lives to be on the podcast.
0:17.8	Is my friend Kareem Lazarus.
0:19.5	Welcome to the podcast.
0:20.8	Thank you. Will you tell our
0:22.6	listeners how to spell your name? It's K-A-R-I-M-L-A-Z-A-R-U-S. And Kareem has been listening to the podcast
0:33.7	and reached out to me and let me just give you an overview. This is a podcast that
0:39.0	should be four hours, and we're going to do our best to put it in an hour, and we both prayed
0:43.7	that we can do that. This is a podcast. Karim's 50 years old. He's a conver of the church. He's gay.
0:51.5	He's been out of the church following his mission for about 15 years,
0:55.5	but in the last year or two has returned to the church and full activity. And so we're going to
1:01.4	talk about this journey of his. We're going to talk the first segment of the podcast, maybe the
1:05.7	first 30 minutes, is all the time from growing up in a home without a father moving around to then finding
1:15.2	the church to then deciding to serve a mission in France, trying to figure out if he's gay or just
1:21.4	a survival of sexual abuse, then going on a mission to France, and then coming home and eventually stepping away from
1:30.1	the church. That'll be the first segment. The second segment will be roughly from 2003 to
1:35.9	2019, a period of time where Kareem was out of the church, was in a same-sex relationship,
1:42.7	maybe a couple, and just talk about that time out of the
1:45.9	church and why he was still connected to the church, even though he wasn't actively participating.
1:50.8	And then he'll talk in the last segment about what had led him to come back to the church,
1:55.9	where he is now, and kind of this long view at 50, what he'd say to his younger self, which is kind of Kareem talking to you.
	...

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