435 881-5809 drjohndehlin@gmail.com
  • A few things we learn from the psychology literature:
  • How the 2015 LDS LGBT policy changes impact these factors:
    • Declaring same-sex marriage an act of apostasy (on par with murder, incest, adultery) and rejecting children of SSM’d Mormons seems to:
      • ….lead to: 1) increased family pressure and sometimes increased family rejection by many believing loved ones, and 2) more LDS LGBT youth self-rejection/self-shame – with the added pressure of feeling like God (through his prophets) is rejecting not only who they are, but who they hope to become (happily married Mormon gay men/lesbian women with a family).  The combination of these two factors could contribute to the spike in LGBT Mormon suicides (dozens).
      • …shut down the healthiest relationship pathway for LGBT Mormons (same-sex marriage) and instead continues to elevate the least healthy pathways (celibacy and same-sex marriage).
      • …lead many LGBT Mormons and allies to leave the church, depriving them of an otherwise positive association (e.g., loss of community, spirituality), but has a silver lining in that it is also removing them from a non-affirming, sometimes toxic religious and social environment.