Tag Archives: wonder-how

Utah leads the nation in male youth suicides, and there was a tragic reminder of that fact yesterday. On July 19th, Todd Ransom, a young gay man from Salt Lake City, committed suicide. It is unclear why exactly Todd took his life, but his friends report that he faced disapproval from his family and struggled to reconcile his sexual orientation with his Mormon upbringing. I never knew Todd, despite sharing several mutual friends with him. But his death has greatly saddened me and countless others. There will be candle-light vigil held in memory of Todd tonight at 9:00 PM outside the state capitol building. In response to this and other recent gay Mormon suicides, my friend Isaac shared his own personal struggle as a gay Mormon on Facebook. With his permission, I’m posting the full note here. When I was a little boy, my beautiful mother would take me in her arms and together we would sing the words of the LDS primary song: I am a Child of God And he has sent me here Has given me an earthly home With parents kind and dear. There was no qualifier of “unless I grow up to be gay.” And yet nearly twenty years later things seemed to come full circle as I sat sobbing on the bathroom floor of a dirty missionary apartment where, after taking a knife from my hands and calling for help, my mission companion took me in his arms and began singing in a soft trembling voice “I am a Child of God”. I had struggled since childhood to combat what I felt was my true nature in favor of what my church taught was the plan of God. Weary, beaten, and worn I couldn’t fight anymore. I was lucky. I failed. But sadly there are those we love who do not fail. Tearfully we learn of and mourn those who we cannot judge for being weary of the fight and succumbing to the constant barrage of lashes coming from Utah’s predominant religion and dominant political party; their invariable actions declaring that we are not worthy of the same treatment as everyone else—that we are less than. When will we learn that this is not a game? The harsh rhetoric is not something to be used to score political points or to climb the rungs on the ladder of piety. When the stripping of legal status and protections from gay relationships is celebrated like a Super Bowl victory, what does the gay person feel? When a state senator tells gay adolescents they shouldn’t come together to talk about their struggles in accepting their sexuality, what message does that send? When a bishop stands at the pulpit and preaches that loving committed gay relationships will destroy their family and asks for time and money to ‘defeat’ them, what unimaginable fear shakes the soul of the gay child in the pews? We MUST normalize gay relationships. Every day that passes where being gay is viewed as undesirable and gay relations viewed as abnormal, is one more day that pushes our loved ones one step closer to the edge—to the point of no return. I’ve said it before and I reaffirm it now: This is a fight for life! As an LDS missionary I was taught that my purpose was to “Invite others to come unto Christ.” The LDS Church has admittedly done much good and provided legitimate hope and peace to many, but my dear Latter-Day Saints, your actions as members and the actions of your church organization when it comes to your LGBT children, brothers, sisters, and friends has done anything but invite me to come unto Christ. Gandhi put it beautifully: “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Your message on LGBT related issues is a message of intolerance, of hatred (both external and internal self loathing), torment, and of death. And regrettably, too many children of God are hearing that message loud and clear. added by: toyotabedzrock