Hi I’m Hannah.
I’m a 20 year old lesbian and trying to find happiness away from family. I was a mormon.
About me
I grew up on the church. My parents grew up in the church. Everything I did from the ages 0-16 was church. Finally found out I liked girls in 8th grade and almost took my life several times. Got broken up with by my first love, she was also Mormon and scared of her feelings but broke me instead of seeing it. I haven’t been to church in a few years but still find my brain wired to Mormon lifestyle sometimes.
On my shelf
On the Mormon Spectrum
# Why I left More stories of 'Why I left' the Mormon church
The thing that’s messed up about the church when you are raised in it is that everyone and everything in your life has to deal with the church somehow. When I came out I thought I had received a good feedback from all of my Mormon peers. Turns out everyone was just discussing it behind my back and spreading it before I told everyone. I left before this happened but was still forced to go to seminary and church activities. Some weren’t bad, but most were. My mother told me I would be grounded and have my car and phone taken away if I didn’t attend seminary. What made it worse was the fact that my mom was the seminary teacher. I hated life but kept my head down waiting till I could move away for college. I worked 50+ hours a week while still going to school full time during my junior and senior year of high school so I could pay for my way out. My mother told me she would not support me in college (she paid for most of my older siblings educations) because I wasn’t going to BYU. But I’m happy where I am at today. Junior year in college with no student debt. Still have thoughts that I struggle to get past sometimes which led me to find this website.
Questions about Mormons My Answers to Questions about Mormonism
#Link to this answer of 'Any suggestions about how to deal with my still-Mormon family?' by Anonymous Any suggestions about how to deal with my still-Mormon family? See more answers about 'Any suggestions about how to deal with my still-Mormon family?'
I’m still struggling with this and I think I always will. My entire family, including extended, is Mormon. However, I distance myself. I still talk to my cousins, siblings, and parents but I keep to myself. This gets hard as I continue to succeed, all I want to do is tell my family but I have to remember that I made all of my accomplishments happen. They had little to no help in my success. In doing so of keeping most of my life private, they keep theirs too. It’s not like I don’t know their same old routine anyways. I just try to remember that them knowing the important stuff is enough. Keeping contact to a minimum allows me to live my life freely. On how to deal with their backwards beliefs? I ah e no idea. What I have learned is that it’s not fair of me to attack them and ask them to change. Although I wish they would change their minds about the church, I know how it feels coming from them telling me that I need to change. Going back and forth won’t help. Instead, I throw out my opinion and make sure it’s not too forceful in attacking their beliefs and hope it doesn’t turn into an argument. Or I ask them questions on why they believe certain things. This could be harmful if you ask questions that could be personal to you. I had the mistake of asking my family if they would support gay marriage (I’m a lesbian) if it was up for debate on becoming illegal to do. Their answer didn’t surprise me but still hurt me deeply. My best advice though is to get a support system. One or two friends is enough. Just people to vent and complain to. Maybe even an ex Mormon that you know.