Mormon Stories Podcast

Latest Episodes:

743: London Flynn - Transitioning from male to female as a post-Mormon teen May 22, 2017

Show notes

Concluding our series on Transgender/Intersex issues within Mormonism, we interview London Flynn. London discusses her transition from male to female as a post-Mormon teen, including:

*Her desires and behaviors she wanted to take part in as a child, but was not free to express

*Achieving the Eagle Scout award as a teen, but feeling disconnected from the other boys

*Her fears of “coming out” when she began to study the methods others were subjected to as a way to “correct” gender confusion

*The different milestones in her transition and how her family, friends, and institutional leaders have responded

*Her hope and vision of the future

Thank you London for sharing your beautiful story and for helping all of us understand more the transgender experience within Mormonism!

742: Healthy Marriage Pt. 2 May 18, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, John, Margi, and Natasha Helfer Parker discuss guiding principles to maintaining successful relationships

741: Healthy Marriage Pt. 1 May 18, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, John, Margi, and Natasha Helfer Parker discuss forming a foundation for marriage that withstands change

740: Alex Autry - Transitioning from female to male as a post-Mormon teen May 16, 2017

Show notes

In this episode of Mormon Stories, we continue our series on Transgender/Intersex education within Mormonism by interviewing Alex Autry. Alex discusses his transition from female to male as a post-Mormon teen, including:

His early feelings and experiences with gender as a child
His upbringing in the LDS Church and feelings of disconnection while involved in Young Women’s activities
The constant desire to receive the Priesthood along with all the other boys
How his strong and orthodox testimony served as a barrier to confronting his gender identity
The feelings of relief when his family and schoolmates accepted his identity
Leaving the LDS Church along with his family
His beliefs now and his vision for the future

We are grateful to Alex for sharing his unique story and for shining a light on the transgender experience within the Mormon context!

739: Mormon Transgender Experiences May 11, 2017

Show notes

In this episode John and Margi interview four individuals who are transgender and either active LDS or former LDS. Our panelists for this interview are Kimberly, Ann, Emmett, and Augustus. We discuss:

*What it was like growing up in the LDS Church
*What effect bullying and life in the “closet” had on them
*How the panelists see transgender people fitting (or not) into LDS Church doctrine
*“Trans-erasure” in the Church where lesbian, gay, and bisexual identities receive more focus and attention; therefore, transgender issues are less understood
*How they were treated when they attended church as their authentic selves
*Things they would like the Church to address with their transgender members

We thank our panelists for sharing each of their unique stories and for bringing light to the Mormon transgender experience!

738: Kimberly Anderson's Journey from Living 45 Years as a Mormon Man to Living Openly as a Woman Pt. 4 May 04, 2017

Show notes

Part 4: Kimberly shares the impact her transition had on her Mormon life, and shares her vision of the future

Kimberly Anderson is a self-actualized woman who has made the change from living for 45 years as a Mormon man to living openly as a woman. Before her transition, she lived, worked, and thrived for decades as a spouse, parent of two children, faithful Mormon, professional photographer, and university professor (BYU, UVU, Snow College).

Kimberly has a BA and an MFA from Utah State University, has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally as a professional photographer, and has work in various collections throughout the Intermountain West. She has taught as an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University, Snow College and Utah Valley University. She is the founder/photographer for the Mama Dragons Story Project which was recently featured on Mormon Stories Podcast.

This interview kicks off a 4-part series on Transgender/Intersex education within Mormonism.

737: Kimberly Anderson's Journey from Living 45 Years as a Mormon Man to Living Openly as a Woman Pt. 3 May 04, 2017

Show notes

Part 3: Kimberly details the sacrifices required when she made the decision to transition

This interview kicks off a 4-part series on Transgender/Intersex education within Mormonism.

736: Kimberly Anderson's Journey from Living 45 Years as a Mormon Man to Living Openly as a Woman Pt. 2 May 04, 2017

Show notes

Part 2: Kimberly tells about her LDS mission experience, her marriage, and having children

This interview kicks off a 4-part series on Transgender/Intersex education within Mormonism.

735: Kimberly Anderson's Journey from Living 45 Years as a Mormon Man to Living Openly as a Woman Pt. 1 May 04, 2017

Show notes

Part 1: Kimberly describes her early life as a child and teen raised in the LDS Church

This interview kicks off a 4-part series on Transgender/Intersex education within Mormonism.

734: When Religions Praise and Protect Abusers Pt. 2 May 02, 2017

Show notes

In this episode we discuss what happens when religions or religious people praise abusers in front of their victims.

In April 2017, Keith Robert Vallejo, a Mormon bishop, was convicted of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape, involving two women – who were both staying at his home at the time of the rape/abuse.

During his sentencing hearing in Provo, Utah, Fourth District judge Thomas Low (who is currently serving as Mormon bishop of the Valley Hills First Ward of the Heber City Utah North Stake), praised Vallejo as a "an extraordinarily good man" in front of his two victims.

You can hear his full statement here: https://soundcloud.com/user-592916436/judge-thomas-low-statement

In today’s Mormon Stories Podcast episode we are interviewing Ashlie. Ashlie currently attends a Mormon ward where a former bishop who has abused two separate victims who were both ward members. He was convicted of rape for the first offense has been fully reintegrated into the ward at the expense of his victims (who also remain in the ward). According to Ashlie:

After the former bishop served time in prison, wealthy ward members pooled a large amount of money to have his name removed from the sex offender’s registry in Florida.
He has been reinstated with full membership status back into the ward, and is currently serving as seminary teacher and as a high priest teacher.
Many ward and stake members have not been informed of his former abuses.
The victims and their families have been marginalized by the ward and stake for not being more “forgiving,” and for not “understanding the atonement.”

Today we will be discussing Ashlie’s perspective on the impact of protecting abusers at the expense of the abused, along with how this has impacted her own faith journey. Ashlie’s stories includes:

Her conversion to the church.
Her temple marriage that ended in divorce
Her inappropriate excommunication for drinking alcohol
Her rebaptism into the church by Bishop Mark McConkie (Colorado Spring)
Her re-marriage (elopement, then temple sealing)
Her experience in a ward where three successive bishops were excommunicated
Her “shelf breakers” and faith transition (which happened only a month ago).

This episode includes a beautiful shout-out to Kristin Marie (Bennion), so check it out!

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