I didn’t quit the LDS church, I was unofficially excommunicated for being born intersex and having a puberty not consistent with my assigned gender.
I have both sets of genitals. Both are small, deformed, and non-functional. The bishop at the time told my parents to keep it a secret and to raise me as a boy. Then puberty came along and I physically filled in as female.
It scared the ward members, it scared the bishop (different bishop than before), ajd it scared me. I didn’t know what was happening, nor did anyone else in the church. From their POV, a boy just physically changed into a girl.
The common sense thing to do was to consult a qualified and competent doctor about this, yet no one in the church did that. Not even my parents. The bishop gave my parents an ultimatum. Choose between God or your child abomination.
They chose God and my parents disowned & kicked me out. The church quietly turned their backs on me. They all wanted me to just go away.
I’m older now, wiser, and in a far more stable life. I’m an ordained Satanic minister now, and am happy. Our congregation welcomes those who are cast out.
I’m an exmo. Gender and sex is doctrinally binary, I always wondered how intersex children would be treated. Thanks for sharing. There were lots of things that made me leave, but I always disagreed with the church’s stance on LGBTQI+ issues.
I probably would have been ordained by now, but I left when the new CoC came out (2000, I think?) that–among other things–forbade members from speaking publicly as members about their own experiences within TST. The summary and capricious expulsion of numerous ministers that were agitating for change within the org confirmed to me that if congregations had autonomy, it was only because Doug and Cevin allowed it.
I didn’t quit the LDS church, I was unofficially excommunicated for being born intersex and having a puberty not consistent with my assigned gender.
I have both sets of genitals. Both are small, deformed, and non-functional. The bishop at the time told my parents to keep it a secret and to raise me as a boy. Then puberty came along and I physically filled in as female.
It scared the ward members, it scared the bishop (different bishop than before), ajd it scared me. I didn’t know what was happening, nor did anyone else in the church. From their POV, a boy just physically changed into a girl.
The common sense thing to do was to consult a qualified and competent doctor about this, yet no one in the church did that. Not even my parents. The bishop gave my parents an ultimatum. Choose between God or your child abomination.
They chose God and my parents disowned & kicked me out. The church quietly turned their backs on me. They all wanted me to just go away.
I’m older now, wiser, and in a far more stable life. I’m an ordained Satanic minister now, and am happy. Our congregation welcomes those who are cast out.
I’m an exmo. Gender and sex is doctrinally binary, I always wondered how intersex children would be treated. Thanks for sharing. There were lots of things that made me leave, but I always disagreed with the church’s stance on LGBTQI+ issues.
Hello, fellow exmo.
I probably would have been ordained by now, but I left when the new CoC came out (2000, I think?) that–among other things–forbade members from speaking publicly as members about their own experiences within TST. The summary and capricious expulsion of numerous ministers that were agitating for change within the org confirmed to me that if congregations had autonomy, it was only because Doug and Cevin allowed it.