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184: Cameron Call | Breaking Out of Mormon Expectation

Posted 3 years ago Tagged coming out Gay Mormon Mixed Orientation Marriage

Cameron Call grew up in Queen Creek, Arizona. He served a mission in Nashville, Tennessee—the same mission as his father. He married a woman in a Mesa Temple and has three children. He came out to his wife in 2018 … Read the rest here

https://lattergaystories.org/episode-player/7300/cameroncall.mp3?dest-id=1047998

From Islam to Mormonism: Does It Matter?

Posted 4 years ago Tagged coming out Gay Mormon LGBTQ Islam

I was born in 1996, in the Moroccan city of Temara. My story isn’t about being Mormon or having any Mormon connections. But our cultures, in many ways are more common than you think. I had a difficult childhood growing … Read the rest here

174: Nate Gardner | Mission, BYU & (gay) Marriage

Posted 4 years ago Tagged BYU Gay Gay Mormon LDS Church LGBT

Born and raised in Utah, Nate Gardner did everything he was supposed to do to be a good Mormon boy. After serving a mission and going to BYU Nate came out of the closet—fearing he would lose his family.

Because … Read the rest here

https://lattergaystories.org/episode-player/7152/nategardner.mp3?dest-id=1047998

171: David Doyle | @NerdyGayMormon

Posted 4 years ago Tagged @NerdyGayMormon Gay Mormon LGBT

David Doyle is a Latter-day Saint from Florida. He is humble, reliable, lovable, nerdy, and gay. He is an active Latter-day Saint with stake leadership callings—and it is through those callings that he is able to fulfill some of his … Read the rest here

https://lattergaystories.org/episode-player/7103/daviddoyle.mp3?dest-id=1047998

Hi, I’m Scott

Posted 4 years ago Tagged family Friends Gay Mormon LGBTQ ally transgender

Hi, I’m Scott. I’m originally from upstate New York (Saugerties). I was raised Catholic until age 8, when my parents joined the Mormon church. At age 10, we moved to the Austin, Texas area and moved every 2-3 years after that. Growing … Read the rest here

165: Paul Bird | Finding My Balance As a Gay Mormon

Posted 4 years ago Tagged Gay Latter-day Saint Gay Mormon

For orthodox Christians, especially Latter-day Saints, Paul Bird’s life doesn’t fit the mold. He admittedly loves the Word of Wisdom, but loathes the Law of Chastity. And that is where his story blossoms.

Paul is from Tucson, Arizona. He grew … Read the rest here

https://lattergaystories.org/episode-player/6979/165-paul-bird-finding-my-balance-as-a-gay-mormon.mp3?dest-id=1047998

163: Melinda Hannah | Painting The Faces of Love

Posted 4 years ago Tagged Gay Latter Day Saints Gay Mormon LGBT Painter LGBTQ Portraits Melinda Hannah

Melinda Hannah is no stranger to pain or trauma. She battled her own traumas while simultaneously watching other’s experience their own.

Melinda is an artist. She used her talent and brush to paint to tell the stories of the marginalized … Read the rest here

https://lattergaystories.org/episode-player/6949/melindahannah.mp3?dest-id=1047998

(re)Building and Fortifying

Posted 5 years ago Tagged Gay Mormon Leaving Mormonism LGBTQ Matt Easton Mormon

This week has been an absolute whirlwind of emotions. On Monday, August 23, my husband and I headed to Mount Lemmon to do a photoshoot with some local photographers. We had so much fun in the tall pine trees that … Read the rest here

Coming Out | My Shameful Stain

Posted 6 years ago Tagged coming out Gay Mormon Guilt LDS Missionary Shame

I am fortunate to have the opportunity to come out in today’s social environment. I cannot imagine how much more difficult it would have been to come out 40, 50 or even 10 years ago. Society has become so much … Read the rest here

An Invitation to Learn

Posted 6 years ago Tagged Boyd K. Packer Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Gay BYU Gay Mormon Gay Mormon History LDS History LGBT LDS History LGBT Timeline Mormon History Oaks LGBT On The Record Spencer W. Kimball

If you are reading this, it is likely that you fit into at least one of two categories: you or someone you know is LGBTQ; or you or someone you know is a Latter-day Saint.

In the spring of 2017 … Read the rest here

Latter Gay Stories
Latter Gay Stories

Latter Gay Stories

43

Real Stories. Real Talk. Real People
IN or OUT of Mormonism.

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Latter Gay Stories
16 hours ago

All three four-year universities owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at or landed near the bottom of a new national ranking measuring LGBTQ+ inclusion on college campuses.

In Erobella’s 2026 Out on Campus LGBTQ+ College Index, which evaluated 1,718 four-year colleges, BYU in Provo and BYU–Idaho both received a score of 0.0 out of 100. BYU–Hawaii scored just 2.3.

BYU–Provo ranked 1,691st nationally. BYU–Idaho ranked 1,709th, placing it among the 15 lowest-ranked schools highlighted. BYU–Hawaii ranked 1,646th.

The index examines documented campus policies and resources, including LGBTQ+ centers, gender-inclusive housing, protections for transgender students, insurance coverage for transition-related care, chosen-name and pronoun policies, the surrounding LGBTQ+ environment and documented institutional penalties.

Both BYU and BYU–Idaho received zero points in the campus-policy category. BYU–Hawaii also received zero campus-policy points, but picked up enough points from its surrounding environment and local LGBTQ+ resources to finish slightly above zero.

All three campuses are governed by the Church Educational System Honor Code, which prohibits “same-sex romantic behavior.” CES guidance specifically identifies same-sex dating, holding hands and kissing as conduct that may result in discipline—including expulsion from the school.

The index also penalized the BYU campuses for documented factors including religious exemptions from federal LGBTQ+ protections. BYU–Provo was additionally flagged for appearing on Campus Pride’s 2024 Worst List and ranking fourth on Princeton Review’s 2026 student-voted list of LGBTQ-unfriendly colleges.

A zero does not mean LGBTQ+ students have no counseling, student groups or individual sources of support. It means the universities earned essentially nothing under the index’s measures of institutional policy, protection and inclusion.

For a church that repeatedly says its LGBTQ+ members are loved, welcomed and valued, its three universities finishing 1,646th, 1,691st and 1,709th out of 1,718 schools presents a considerably harder picture to reconcile.
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Latter Gay Stories
17 hours ago

Leonard Matlovich was exactly the kind of airman the Air Force liked to brag about until he told them he was gay.

He had served for 12 years, completed three tours in Vietnam, earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, and built a nearly perfect military record. He was also a Mormon convert who had joined the church while serving in Vietnam and became a deeply committed member of the faith. To him, Mormonism was a religion that gave him a sense of belonging and he felt needed.

Matlovich knew he was gay. He also knew the Air Force had a policy requiring his discharge if he admitted it. So he did the thing that felt honest: he admitted it.

He handed his commanding officer a letter acknowledging that he was homosexual and asked to remain in the service. When the officer asked what the letter meant, Matlovich answered, “It means Brown v. the Board of Education.”

He wanted to force a legal test of the military’s ban. TIME called him a nearly perfect case because his record left the Air Force with very little to complain about except the fact that he was gay.

On September 8, 1975, exactly 51 years ago today, TIME put Matlovich in uniform on its cover beneath four words that were still dangerous for an American to say publicly: “I Am a Homosexual.” He became the first openly gay person on the cover of a major American newsmagazine.

The country he came out into could fire gay people, evict them, arrest them for private consensual sex and even discharge them from the military. TIME documented much of that discrimination while also repeating some of the era’s ugliest assumptions about homosexuality.

Ultimately, the United States Air Force discharged Matlovich anyway. His church offered no refuge either. After he became publicly out as gay, The Mormon church subjected him to church discipline and eventually excommunicated him—local leaders cited that all the publicity threatened “the good name of the church.”

Matlovich died of AIDS-related complications in 1988. He was 44. Before his death, he designed his own grave marker at Congressional Cemetery, his name does not appear on the front. His headstone only identifies him simply as “A Gay Vietnam Veteran.”

Beneath it are the words he chose for himself:

“When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.”

51 years later, we remember those who blazed the trails that we eventually turned into freeways.
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1 day ago

Allies take arrows. They catch the stones hurled at others. This is advocacy in action. ... See MoreSee Less

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