Latter Gay Stories

For the Packer’s, love and connection brought them together—and it was honesty and authenticity that helped their love and connection flourish. In this fascinating story of love and transformation, Kay and Kris share their early dating experiences—and marriage as a lesbian couple. It was later in that marriage that Kris transitioned as a transgender male.

As the couple loved, they learned—and as they learned, they lived.

This is th...

Kris Packer has a long Mormon history. His father, Lynn is a Mormon historian, and Kris’ great-uncle is apostle Boyd K. Packer.   What happens when you come out to your family as a lesbian, but as life progresses, your journey through love and connection helps you to connect the dots and come to understand that you are also transgender?   Kris had great family support through his life and even through the learning, ...

Kaylene Packer was a very normal Mormon girl. She went to church, she prayed, and she tried to hide an important part of her identity...she was really, really into girls. Growing up Latter-day Saint, you quickly learn that there isn’t a road map designed to help you thrive as a closeted lesbian girl.

But Kay tried.

Ultimately, her journey led her to embracing who she was, to coming out, to finding love in a relationship, and then—f...

Ashley was born male into a Lutheran home in Texas. At a young age, Ashley knew she was different. Not having language for what that "difference” was, she navigated her journey the best she could.

It was finally an Oprah episode featuring a transgender story that gave her the WORD that described how she felt. Well after puberty, high school, dating –and while in college, she finally felt the power to lean into her truth.

Curren...

Kray was a remarkably normal Mormon. He knew he was gay, but did everything in his power to deny and hide it. If you bury it, it doesn’t exist, right? He gave everything to the church, served a full-time mission, and then enrolled at BYU. All this to bury what he was (a normal gay man).

As he was leaving his mission, Kray’s mission president made him a promise: if you date and marry a woman, your SSA (same-sex attraction) will disa...

In a surprising move, BYU-Provo administrators dismissed three transgender clients from the BYU Clinic on 2/7/2022, and informed their student/faculty clinicians that transgender patients needed to be transferred to providers OUTSIDE of BYU. The patients were being seen at the on-campus BYU Speech and Language Clinic for speech therapy.

BYU administrators informed the clinic and faculty that service to transgender patients is a vio...

From an early age, Duane felt drawn to better understanding life from two perspectives: science and spirituality. His desire for knowledge and the human understanding led him to better understand empathy and opportunity. Shortly after returning home from his Mormon mission to South Africa, Duane realized that his life was best lived in authenticity and honesty. The author of Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones shares his personal ...

Page knew she was different, but Mormonism has a way of convincing you to keep those “different” feelings buried deep inside. Those feelings and natural connections can only stay hidden for so long—and eventually they blossom.

After coming out later in life, Page Petrucka shares her journey of finding happiness, understanding her divine worth, harnessing the power of good friends, and thriving in affirmative spaces. She shares her...

They're back! Cole Rasmussen (episode 145) and Kent Carollo (episode 142) sit down together—as a couple to share their story of dating, connection, and engagement.    Where do gay Latter-day Saints learn to date? Where do they learn how to navigate the world of feelings, connection, and the very real desire to be loved?   In this episode Kent and Cole describe their experience coming out, accepting and honoring th...

There isn’t a manual or Sunday school lesson that teaches us how to prepare for our child’s coming out experience. For parents (especially Mormon ones,) you often feel wholly unprepared for the news.

For many Latter-day Saints, we aren’t trying to understand this topic because we are convinced it isn’t relevant to us—because something like this doesn’t happen to families like ours. Right?

In this powerfully candid and honest episod...

In this special outdoor episode, we sit down with James Kent in the beautiful Iao Valley on the island of Maui, Hawaii. James shares a stunning history of Hawai'i including the native Hawai'ian’s respect to the topics of sexual orientation (aikāne) and gender identity (māhū).

James also shares a tender story of his own journey. His is a message of coming out, marrying a woman, joining Affirmation, watching his friends succu...

As a convert to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Tommy Francesco wanted to do what was right. He studied with the missionaries, joined the church, obeyed the word of wisdom, served a mission and generously gave of his time and talents—but Tommy was gay and that reality met him at every intersection in Mormonism.

One weekend at BYU, a kiss with another man changed Tommy’s life forever.

That kiss was a violation of B...

Brandon Spevak's life was familiar to many Latter-day Saints. He served in leadership callings, he married his wife in the temple, and together they started to raise their young family.

In the midst of that journey, feelings within Brandon’s heart and soul began to expand. Brandon began to understand more about Brandon. As he reached into the darkness his world opened up into beautiful rays of light. It led to an increase of ha...

Over the last six decades, Latter-day Saint leaders encouraged mixed orientation marriages as the only best option available to gay Mormons. Many gay Latter-day Saints used these types of marriages to diffuse their feelings of same-gender attraction, hoping (and believing) that God would provide a way for them to create a traditional family.

In this episode, Tate and Kara Avey share their experience in a mixed orientation marriage....

In an office at the Church Office Building—overlooking the angel Moroni atop the Salt Lake Temple, Cole received a blessing from Elder Cook. In that blessing Cole was promised that he would be able to marry a woman, have children, and eventually serve a mission with his wife.

Unfortunately for Elder Cook, the priesthood power of a general authority could not make Cole straight.

After years of navigating (and trailblazing) a path of...

As COVID restrictions lift, and Latter-day Saints return to in-person church services, behind the scenes there is a rising desire to purge gay Mormons from membership in the Church. For a growing number of legally married gay couples, Mormon church leaders are actively and fervently excommunicating them from Church membership.   Just ONE WEEK after Jeremy Adriano and Randy Wellbaum were legally married, their church leaders...

Let's face it, no parent expects (or can adequately prepare) for their child to come out. With few social and religious resources available to help parents navigate this journey, where do you turn when your child needs you the most?

Three fathers, all with different backgrounds, share their candid experiences raising sons who identify as gay. They talk about the coming out process, where they made mistakes, what they learned, n...

“I never missed general conference, I held leadership positions, I served a mission, I studied at a church school, I got married—you reach a point where you do all the things you believe are best and true, but when there are no more boxes left to check, and you still feel a certain way, you have to start to ask yourself some really significant and often difficult questions.” 

Kent Carollo sits down with Latter Gay Stories to share ...

In April of 2021, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held a disciplinary council for Natasha Helfer. Natasha has been a personal ally and friend to the LGBTQ+ community. In her professional career, Natasha has opened doors to healing and growth for better mental and sexual health among queer people and their families.   In this special episode, Natasha interviews Kyle Ashworth of LatterGayStories about his ...