Conference Weekend

I've been out to my family for almost two years now. It's been sort of weird. The day I told them, it was amazing. Probably one of the most relieving days of my life-- I went to bed that night with part of the void in my life filled. I had always had the love of my family, and we're all really close. But before I had "come out" to them, I wondered if the love would falter or change? I went to bed that night knowing it hadn't.

This weekend was Conference. Every time conference comes around my dad, my brothers and I go to the priesthood session together. Ever since, probably, the first priesthood session I had ever gone to I have prayed and asked and hoped that one of those wise men, being broadcasted to every corner of the world, would talk about what I was going through. Selfish? Yeah, I guess so. But I craved it. I still crave it. Every year I've gone away disappointed.

As I've grown older I've found my own way. I'm starting to find out what I believe is right and wrong. Now, what I want more than anything is for younger people to have the help and comfort that I craved so much when I was their age. So every time conference comes around I ask, pray and hope that conference will be used to educate and comfort those who are going through this, those who know someone who are going through this, and those who will someday know somebody going through this.

Today in the morning session of conference President Packer spoke about relationships. "Elder Packer discussed how unrighteous relationships are of the devil, why we need to stand up against same-sex marriage laws, and stances I felt were dated concerning what it means to be gay." This is not the kind of talk that is going to persuade a 12 year old out of ending their life. This is not the kind of talk that would have comforted me when I was young. This talk would make me want to never tell anyone about what I go through, thus leaving me feeling alone and unloved.

Surely, the "wise men" referenced earlier in this post know that this talk wasn't constructive. Surely, they know how hurtful it was to many.
Surely, they know there are better ways to word things.
Surely, this talk will setback progress for many young kids in the church.