Episode 512: Meghan Decker, New Book: Tender Leaves of Hope

Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Richard Ostler

Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 839 Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2022

⏱️ 84 minutes

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Summary

My friend Meghan Decker joins to talk about her new book (released on April 10, 2022) called “Tender Leaves of Hope. Finding Belonging as a LGBTQ Latter-day Saint Women.” The book is at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/1462143288/ (paper-back and kindle with audiobook coming soon). Meghan (my friend from High School) shared her story as a gay Latter-day Saint in Episode 473. Meghan and her husband David (who recently moved to Provo, Utah) are the parents of 5 daughters and 15 grandchildren. In this podcast, Meghan talks about why she wrote the book, why it includes the stories of many other LGBTQ women on their respective paths, and how to honor and support people on their respective paths. Meghan, who is the mother of a queer daughter in a same-sex marriage, shares gospel parenting principles to support LGBTQ children as they make their way forward and to learn to “let go of my agenda for my child.” Meghan also has wonderful and practical insights to help LGBTQ Latter-day Saints feel welcome and a sense of belonging in our congregations. The book is for every Latter-day Saint. It will help you as a parent, as a local leader, if you are LGBTQ and if you want to do better at “gathering Israel”. You are also invited to attend an event on April 12th at 7 pm in Provo Utah where Meghan will be speaking about her new book (see for complete details: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tender-leaves-of-hope-tickets-267902572807) You can contact Meghan at www.meghandecker.com Thank you, Meghan for being on the podcast. You are doing great and needed work to bring us together. I encourage everyone to read your book!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome listeners to another episode of Listen, Learn, and Love hosted by Richard Osler.
0:09.8	With me on today's podcast is my friend Megan Decker. Welcome to the podcast.
0:15.0	Thank you, Richard.
0:16.5	Megan is going to talk about her new book. It's called Tender Leaves of Hope. Finding
0:22.3	Belonging is an LGBTQ Ladder de Saint Woman. This book will be out on Amazon on April
0:30.1	10th. This podcast is coming out before April 10th and we'll put the Amazon link in the podcast
0:36.8	so you can pre-order on Kindle or the paperback
0:40.3	version. If you're listening to this podcast on April 10th or later, you can go to Amazon
0:45.7	and get the book. An audiobook version is coming out. It may be there by the time you make
0:51.7	it to Amazon. I'll just read listeners what's been written about the book
0:56.7	that I just printed off Amazon so you can get a feeling for Megan, what the book's about,
1:01.4	and what we're going to talk about in this podcast. Megan Decker is a woman who's attracted to
1:06.2	woman. She is also married to an amazing man, and together they are each committed to their faith, their covenants, and their testimony of the testimony of Jesus Christ and his church.
1:17.2	Growing up, Megan could see how her deep spiritual faith and her attraction to women could, I'm misreading this listeners, could not see how her deep spiritual faith and her tract
1:29.5	to women could coexist. But after decades of shame, denial, and hiding, Megan came to accept
1:36.8	this part of herself. She realized that while she can't decide to change her sexual orientation,
1:43.1	she can decide how to respond to the circumstances
1:45.9	of her life. And as she felt the tender love of the Lord, her faith deepened. Her experience
1:52.1	will help church leaders, friends, and family understand how to support their LGBTQ loved ones.
1:58.5	Now Megan is sharing her story along with insights from dozens of other
2:03.6	LGBTQ Latter-day Saint women. Through their open experience, you will come to understand that
2:09.6	you are not broken and you are not alone. Shame is the real enemy. Your path forward begins with reaching out to God.
	...

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