I realize this is diving straight (pardon the pun) into what some may find deeply controversial, but are there any other LDS/Mormon people on this site? I myself am, and I'm trying to figure a few things out. Okay, a lot of things.
Yeah, I was one. I told a general authority he was full of himself (actually I used an expletive). I was excommunicated shortly thereafter. I moved to CA and separated myself from the problem. But that wasn't the end of it. I was a cultist. I needed the Church. I missed it. I felt a hole that wouldn't go away. I felt damned to misery for eternity. But, I got through it. So, what can I help you with. I can answer questions.
I was raised Mormon, in Salt Lake City actually, and my family is Mormon although I'm not sure I would consider myself Mormon any more. I feel like there are a few more on here--it seems like it's come up several times which sort of surprised me.
Currently, I'm doing my best to live within the moral boundaries suggested by the LDS church. As a high school senior, my family, ward, etc expects me to be putting in mission papers fairly soon. Because of many reasons, I haven't made a definite decision as to whether or not I should. I feel like I'm being pressured into it, and if I'm going to spend two years of the best part of my life doing something like that, I have to be pretty certain it's what I want. And on top of all that's the whole queer mormon thing, which I'm figuring out. There's what the church says about it (wow, a whole paragraph, thanks, that really helps a lot) and there's what the members say, which is of course varied, but generally of a homophobic inclination.
I was raised Mormon and still am technically Mormon, I suppose, as I haven't officially left. But I mostly left a few months ago, so not sure that I count anymore.
The only thing I can add to the discussion is to say that you shouldn't be so firm in assuming you know how people will react. My family is very deeply religious--my parents were both temple workers until my Mother passed away, my Father still is. They've been wonderful--they still love me and, frankly, they adore my partner. When we visit them in Utah it's not awkward and my partner is introduced around just as would be my sisters' husbands. In fact a while back--several years before my Mother passed--they threw a big party for their fiftieth wedding anniversary. All the family attended, plus hundreds of other people--mostly Mormon (their congregation and the people they work at the temple with). There was no attempt to sidestep who my partner was and people couldn't have been warmer. When my Mother passed away a couple years back my partner was a pall bearer and the only comments that were made about our relationship was to comment on how obviously good we were together and how obvious it was that his presence was comforting to me. In my experience Mormons have a lot of general beliefs that are problematic about people who are different from them but when it really comes down to actual people standing in front of them, they're pretty decent.
I have a bisexual friend who came out, and that's what it was like for him. He hasn't decided on the whole church thing, but his parents are very LDS but took it surprisingly well. My parents haven't talked about their views on LGTB issues or even LGTB people, so that makes me a bit nervous. Could be they suspect something and don't want to offend me, but I think that may be too optimistic. I'm the sort of guy who really hates burning his bridges, which is why I've come out to a whole two people IRL, neither of them straight. I feel like coming out, but figuring out who is hard.
