edvantageous

Thanks for taking the time to share your perspective, @BlueDreams. It is much appreciated!

Thanks for sharing that @california boy, and I'm glad you're still here in the mormon community (we're a little disjointed on here but it still feels like a little community). I'm sorry for the hurt and rejection you've experienced. I hope we can all learn to be more loving and kind -- where anyone feels alone or in pain, we all feel it.

I appreciate these individual efforts to live and respond in love, and Charlie's response to Elder Holland's (publicly critical) words is exemplary. I've learned a lot about the lgbtq+ experience from Ben & Charlie, and others and their example to participate in greater empathy and love.

I'm sorry for your experience (and others) feeling othered. I hope you feel loved in your church family and able to extend love to others, as well.

Red herring. Charlie Bird can address that, just like he can explain why he chooses to continue to actively participate in his ward (without being "automatically excommunicated"). That statement of yours is not true.

It is anecdotal -- so is your statement -- but Charlie Bird (former Cosmo Cougar mascot) and his husband attend their ward actively (briefly discussed in one of their recent podcasts: https://questionsfromthecloset.com/episode/?s=6&e=11). I'm not suggesting this works for everyone or that the church has suddenly shifted its position around same-sex marriage, but it's also not true that gay married couples are automatically excommunicated.

I love this thought. Thanks for sharing it!

Bassil, To find a meeting house or where you could attend church services near you, you can do a search here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/requests/church/find-a-church/results?location=GEOLOCATE I would recommend you read the Book of Mormon, another witness or testament of Jesus Christ. Maybe start in the Third Book of Nephi with the account of Christ visiting people on the American continent: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe/book-of-mormon/jesus-in-the-book-of-mormon Welcome to the mormon dialogue board. I hope you feel accepted here as a start.