Episode 872: Laurie Reese, LDS Mother of Two Gay Children

Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Richard Ostler

Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 855 Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2026

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

My friend Laurie Reese (married mother of five, one grandchild, active LDS) joins us to share her story based on a recent talk she gave in her Ward: * Story of her son Landon and her daughter Hallee coming out as gay * Hallee’s marriage ended. Mother of one. Now engaged to her girlfriend * Laurie’s support for her gay children * Loneliness as some people pull away and don’t know what to say * Melissa Inouye’s book “Sacred Struggle” and sitting in the back seat on the road to Piha * Teaching of Jesus to love those on the margins “Easier to put others in a group and then label them in a certain way and set them aside and dismiss their pain and needs” * We don’t need to use Satan’s tactics (take away agency) to accomplish God’s plan * Questions I ask myself as I better try to follow Jesus * Landon’s difficult seminary experience—how we can do better * Church leader quotes about diversity and doing better * Story of selling a home and heart dropped as a gay couple came to look at the home—and now hoping her gay children will be loved as they move into their own homes This is a super powerful episode with Laurie being honest about the pain and challenges of raising gay children—not because they are gay—but because of the lack of support and understanding for these wonderful children. If you have queer children (or want to be better prepared to raise your future queer kiddos), please listen and share this episode. And if you want better tools to love our queer friends and their families, please listen/share this episode. Thank you Laurie for being on the podcast. I was so moved with your story and spiritual insights. Thanks for all you are doing to build Zion and help everyone feel loved and a sense of belonging. Links: https://www.facebook.com/laurie.v.reese Laurie.v.reese@gmail.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, welcome listeners to another episode of Listen, Learn, and Love, hosted by Richard Osler.
0:09.9	My guest on today's podcast is my new friend joining us from Utah County via Zoom,
0:16.3	Larry Reese. Welcome to the podcast, Laurie.
0:19.5	Thank you so much, Richard. It's so good to be here.
0:22.7	And Reese is the last name that spelled several different ways. Tell our listeners how you,
0:27.7	the correct way to spell Reese. R-E-E-E-E-S-E, which is, as we all know, the Reese's peanut
0:34.0	butter cup way. So it's got it good. We should get this podcast sponsored by
0:39.0	Reese's peanut butter cups because I love them. Lorry gave a great talk in church a month or so
0:46.7	ago about so. And through the correspondence we've had, she's now willing to give that talk on the
0:53.9	podcast, an it's expanded
0:55.2	version of the talk. And let me just introduce Laurie a little bit. She's a married mother of
1:00.5	five, has one grandchild. She has kids between the ages of roughly 16 and 28. She is two
1:08.8	gay children, and that will be a focus of her talk. She's a son and a daughter.
1:13.6	Her husband was recently released as Bishop of the Ward. That's kind of both of you being
1:18.7	released because you have a real assignment as part of that. And if you're, this is one of the most prepared podcast guests I've ever had as I've read her talk.
1:34.0	And our hope is that if you're a parent of a queer kid, this will help you.
1:38.1	If you're queer, this will help you.
1:40.4	If you're a local leader or a friend, just wanting to better support LGBTQ Latter-day Saints, what Laurie shares will help you if you're a local leader or a friend just wanting to better support LGBTQ Latter-day
1:45.4	Saints that what Laurie shares will help you. If you're looking for personal revelation and just
1:51.2	scripture stories or quotes or insights that how to navigate this space, this is also
1:57.1	Laurie's really personal story to navigate this space and navigate the complexities of that and the role of the temple and her journey to receive personal revelation.
2:09.1	And also, Laurie's really honest on how difficult this space is.
	...

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