Mormon Stake Counselor Confronts General Authorities - Evan & Weston Smith Pt. 3 | Ep. 1668

In Part 3 of 3 Evan describes getting called as a Stake Counselor, his attempts to be an ally for LGBTQ individuals and his subsequent faith crisis. Evan has a few debates/confrontations with Area Seventy Elder McCune (higher than Stake Presidency in Mormon leadership) over his son. Evan emails Apostles and other leaders on how the Church can change to be more loving and accepting of LGBTQ members resulting in a meeting with General Authority Allen D. Haynie. Evan continues faith deconstruction when his wife begins her faith crisis and they both come to see the issues with sexism in the Church, with biblical scholarship opening up new issues and the family’s ultimate decision to leave the Church.

Gay LDS Crossroads: https://www.gayldscrossroads.org/
This Body of Water: Surviving Mormonism as a Queer Man: https://www.amazon.com/This-Body-Wate...

Chapters:

00:00:00 Beginning
00:05:40 Evan’s call to the Stake Presidency and serving as a progressive leader w/gay son
00:26:45 Realizing the Church is not a safe place for LGBT causes faith crisis
00:50:45 Telling his Stake President he had doubts
00:56:10 Meeting with General Authority Elder John Mccune during Stake Presidency reorganization, getting passed over as Stake President
01:00:00 Debating Elder John McCune
01:15:30 Cheryl finds out Elder McCune has been debating Evan about their gay son Weston
01:18:00 2nd meeting with Elder McCune, McCune apologizes
01:26:35 Evan emails Elder Henry B. Eyring and others about how the church can change
01:29:00 Meeting with GA Elder Allen D. Haynie about LGBT manuscript
01:38:00 How change happens in the Church
01:47:25 More discussion with Elder Haynie about LGBTQ issues
02:02:00 Sealings and the discrimination of women in the temple
02:13:00 Being a progressive Mormon and learning about Biblical Scholarship
02:20:35 The choice to resign the family’s membership
02:26:00 Leaving the Church and feeling liberated

Episode Show Notes:
https://www.mormonstories.org/podcast...

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