Yeah, sure. Let's do a podcast.

When you hear that Lauren Huff grew up in a cult or a sex cult even, I think it's easy

to think, oh my God, I can't possibly imagine what that must have been like.

And that is where you're wrong.

As Lauren points out in her new book called Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing.

What takes place in a cult was and is happening in our country and the rest of the world

right now.

I'm talking about believing in certain things that other people don't, and I'm also talking

about child abuse, sexual violence.

These things happen all the time.

And as Lauren says, in the cult, they just did the quiet parts out loud.

Lauren's book also touches on her time in the Air Force during Don't Ask, Don't Tell,

and the many different professions and identities she's had along the way,

including delivering pizzas, being a bouncer at a gay bar, and perhaps

most famously, thanks to a now viral essay.

She worked for many years as a cableman.

So today we're going to hear about it all.

I'm Jeffrey Masters, and this is LGBTQ&A with Lauren Huff.

Author of Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing.

I want to start with your childhood. You grew up in the family, which is also known as the

family of love, which is also known as children of God, and it was a cult.

You know, reading the book, I discovered that I didn't actually know what that meant and, like, everything that that entailed.

...