Episode 738: Josh and Jen Rollins, LDS Parents of 3 LGBTQ children

Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Richard Ostler

Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 839 Ratings

🗓️ 22 February 2024

⏱️ 99 minutes

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Summary

My friends Josh and Jen Rollins (married for 26 years, parents of 5, live in Riverton Utah, active LDS) share their story of their middle child Aiden coming out as gay, then their oldest children Jace coming out as gay and later transgender, and then their second-oldest Chelsea coming out as bisexual. Josh (who was serving as Bishop during much of this time) and Jen share how their family went from fitting the perfect Latter-day Saint mold to where they are today—a beautiful family united in their love for each other and creating space for the lived experiences of each family member. Jen and Josh are honest that their journey has been difficult as their LGBTQ kids didn’t find it possible to find a place in the Church—and how they needed to reconstruct their hopes/dreams. Jen and Josh talk about their constant reliance of prayer and direction from Heavenly Parents. Jen and Josh talk about how having LGBTQ kids isn’t a “trial”—because their kids are great human beings doing much good in the world—that there is nothing wrong or that needs to be fixed with their sexual orientation/gender identity—but rather the “trial” is for their LGBTQ kids to find a place in the Church full of hope, support and understanding. I was so moved listening to Jen and Josh—two wonderful parents who have been on this road for 5+ years. If you are a new to the blessing of being a parent (or family member/ally) to a LGBTQ child, please listen to this episode—it will give you insights to walk your road and love your LGBTQ loved one. Jen and Josh conclude on why they stay members of the Church. Thank you, Jen and Josh, for being on the podcast. Your story will help so many. Links: Jan 2024 Leading Saints Story: leadingsaints.org/the-portrait-of-an-lbgtq-family-he-is-at-the-helm/ April 2021 Lift and Love Profile: www.instagram.com/p/COQIkF3h2ku/?img_index=1 Nov 2020 Human Stories Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/77-human-stories-jessica-and-josh-rollins/id1468623842?i=1000500809211 Ministering to LGBTQ Latter-Day Saint FB Group: www.facebook.com/groups/1433556613672143

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome listeners to another episode of Listen, Learn, and Love hosted by Richard Osler.
0:09.5	I'm joined on the podcast today with my friends Jen and Josh Rollins.
0:15.8	Welcome to the podcast.
0:18.5	Hello.
0:19.2	Thanks for having us, Richard.
0:25.6	Jen and Josh Rollins are someone I've been familiar with for a while. They're an LDS family of five, well, five kids.
0:31.6	So that makes an LDS family of seven.
0:34.6	They live in Salt Lake County and Riverton, if you're familiar with Utah.
0:39.2	They have three LGBTQ kids. And they've been on this road for about five years since their
0:45.9	son, Aden, came out as gay, why Josh was serving as an LDS Bishop. And I just felt impressed
0:53.4	to reach out to them and ask them to be on the podcast.
0:57.1	And our joint prayer is that if you're new to this space, if you're a parent or a local leader,
1:02.2	or even if you're LGBTQ, the things that Jen and Josh will share with you will be helpful
1:08.8	for your journey. They've shared their journey on Lift and Love and an Instagram post back in April of 2021.
1:16.4	We'll link to that.
1:17.9	And we'll also link to a recent January 2024 leading saints.
1:21.8	And you can tell a difference between those two stories three years apart, just in their family story. And they'll talk
1:29.9	about that during the podcast. Jen currently serves an award. I think you're the activities leader
1:37.1	for your ward, the activities chair. And Josh is a gospel doctrine teacher. And they're just really thoughtful LDS couple, but also dealing with going kind of from the perfect mold where their LDS family, them and their kids fit in really well to having a very different family.
1:59.0	And that's really helpful for all of us to build understanding empathy and perspective for
2:05.2	parents raising LGBTQ kids.
2:08.5	Is that okay for an introduction?
	...

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