Episode 638: Thomas Auseuga, Gay Australian Latter-day Saint

Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Richard Ostler

Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 839 Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2023

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

My friend Thomas Auseuga joins us from Brisbane, Australia (my first LGBTQ guest from Australia) to share his story. Thomas (who is in his 20's and served a mission in the Philippines) talks about realizing he was different around age 12 and then processing that alone until he came out as gay to his mother at age 16. Thomas talks about believing he was the only Latter-day Saint with these feelings and concluding he was a bad person. He talks about all the gay jokes and rhetoric that led to immense—and deserved—shame. Thomas talks about his young adult years and then coming out again to his mother at age 22 before his mission—including why being gay was not discussed during the six years since coming out at age 16. Thomas talks about how his relationship with Heavenly Father and his Savior is crucial to his journey. Thomas talks about his mission (good experience), returning home, and his efforts to find a girl and get married. Thomas talks about the anxiety of dating and being reminded of not being unable to connect with women—leading to shame, discouragement and feeling broken. Thomas talks about coming out to friends and family and then his brave decision to come out publicly in February 2023—one of the very first openly queer Latter-day Saints in Australia. Thomas, who is still an active Latter-day Saint, talks about what he has learned, how he can help others (he is currently a Student Social Worker at University), what he would say to his younger self, and his hopes for the future. I was so impressed listening to Thomas. He is so brave to be out in a place with few examples or role models. Thank you, Thomas, for being on the podcast and for your example of courage, faith, and hope. You are a remarkable man and doing much good in our Church and beyond. Podcast Links: Ministering to LGBTQ Latter-day Saints Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1433556613672143 Richard Ostler Book: Embracing LGBTQ Latter-day Saints: 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.
0:10.2	I love Zoom because we're doing podcasts with people all over the world.
0:15.0	And it's 4 o'clock in Utah on a Wednesday, and I've got Thomas on Zoom, and it's like 8 a.m. in Brisbane, Australia on
0:23.6	Thursday. Is that right, Thomas? Yeah, it's nice and early now in Brisbane, in Australia.
0:31.6	So Thomas is going to share his story as a gay latter-de-saint. He's the first Australian, I think I've ever had on the podcast.
0:40.2	And I'm grateful that we're bringing forth voices like Thomas's courage to do this as a
0:46.9	Latter-day Saint here in Australia.
0:49.1	And perhaps that resonates with other Australians that need Thomas's example in their lives or people
0:56.1	throughout the whole world. Thomas, how do we say your last name?
1:02.2	It's pronounced Asiunga.
1:04.9	And will you spell that for our listeners?
1:08.5	A-U-S-E-U-G-A. And I'm kind of a guy that likes geography, so I had to figure out the
1:18.1	latitude of Brisbane, which is 27 degrees, and then I had to figure out where that is in relation
1:26.0	to the United States, and it's below Miami.
1:29.4	So you're closer to the equator than Miami is to the equator by a little bit.
1:34.3	Tell us where you are in relation to Sydney, Australia.
1:39.7	Sydney is down south or southeast.
1:45.7	I don't know.
1:46.0	I'm not actually good with maps.
1:48.0	So there's a second of you.
1:49.0	I think it's about a 10-hour drive from here.
1:52.5	So when I went to Sydney once, my wife and I, and I realized you were way north of us,
	...

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