"I Died Inside." (Joanna Brooks - Religion Dispatches)

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/joannabrooks/6972/_i_died_inside_/

March 26, 2013 2:09am "I Died Inside." Post by JOANNA BROOKS

Emmett C. is a twenty year-old community college student in the Pacific Northwest. Last year, he applied to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religious obligation he had long prepared for and looked forward to fulfilling. But in the course of preparing his missionary application, Emmett came out to his local LDS Church leaders—not as a gay man, but as a straight Mormon who believes that LGBT people are equal in the sight of God and should treated the same as straight members of the LDS Church. And on these grounds, he was told that he would not be permitted to serve.

You were born and raised in the LDS Church. Did you grow up singing the Mormon children’s song “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission?”

Yes, the whole bit. I raised my hand when they asked our class of six year-olds who was going on a mission. I was always active in Church. And scouting—I received my Eagle Scout. I received the priesthood [all worthy Mormon men are ordained to the lay priesthood at age 12] and served in the leadership of my priesthood quorums. And I was preparing to serve a mission. This was what I was supposed to do: the next step on the ladder.

The ladder? Do you mean, the ladder of lifetime church service expected of Mormon men?

Yes. Exactly.

Growing up a faithful and observant Mormon child, you were also raised in a family that tended to be more open and accepting on LGBT issues.


I come from a family with eleven children. I have one gay brother and one gay sister. My sister came out when I was three or four. Then, my brother—the second oldest in the family—came out a year after he got back from his mission, during his second year at BYU. I was three or four years old. Both said they had always known that they were gay, but it took a long time to come out. At first, it was really hard for the family, but my parents really decided to stand with their children even as they continued as active and faithful Mormons. That’s how I was raised.

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