Why Would a Gay 🏳️‍🌈 Man Become a Latter-day Saint Mormon?

Who is Dennis? Why Would a Gay 🏳️‍🌈Man Become a Latter-day Saint?
I am an openly gay man who feels nothing but love from members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was told my entire life-God rejected me. And was going to hell-merely for my sexual orientation. I needed to change my entire persona-become straight.

This left such a bad taste in my mouth about organized religion in general. I refused to attend any church for many, many years. It was Latter-day Saints who taught me that Heavenly Father loves ALL of His children. Regardless of their sexual orientation. We are all children of God, and we should leave judgment to the Savior. It is not our place.

I am “Elders Quorum First Counselor, Ward Mission Leader,” with only 11 convert baptisms. Fireside and devotional speaker, who is humbly grateful to be a full temple recommend holder.
Working as an LDS Literary Agent 🖊 representing authors. 📚

 

Dennis Schleicher on the Sally Jessy Raphael Show

    30 years today I appeared on my first of many national 🎞🎥🎙 and international talk shows. 📽At that time, I never thought or couldn’t imagine the path He would put me on. You may not know the path He has for YOU. It is with great faith and love for Him that we all must trust. Trust that He will guide us all down a path of faith, hope, and love for all. 

🎤I had no idea how many people actually watch Sally Jessy Raphael.  Nor did I think about that new invention called the VCR. 📼

I was naive enough to genuinely believe that nobody I knew in real life would ever find out. 

It went viral without the internet. ☎️📞🖥

I’ll never forget the guest who appeared at my side as I told my story. She was Mary Griffith, the mother of Bobby Griffith, who was an all-American boy…and he was gay. 🏳️‍🌈 He was faced with an irresolvable conflict in that his mother and her faith taught him that to be gay was wrong and he couldn’t accept who he was. 

His mother, who had been very militant in her faith and had prayed hat her son would be “healed” from homosexuality, was traumatized by his suicide.

🎤 By the time we appeared on TV 📺 together.  She had transformed herself into a national crusader on behalf of gay and lesbian youth. 

Then, my parents did not speak to me because I’m gay. Now conversations are turbulent as their biggest concern is I will come home with multiple husbands. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Loving My Friends as They Are

20130323_134149_thumb.jpg
Sister Lloyd, me & Sister Johnson

I remember the nervousness that overcame me not long after I felt the impression to seek out and listen to the Missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They talk a lot about “being in the world, but not of the world,” but all of my friends were “of the world,” none of my family were members of The Church (except my granddaughters) and most of my friends had “alternative lifestyles.” When I decided I wanted and needed to be Baptized, I prayed constantly about the situation with my friends. How could I tell my friends I was now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, would they want to be my friends anymore? Did that matter?

During my repentance process in the weeks before my Baptism, I was relatively quiet on Facebook, a social media outlet where I had spent an inordinate amount of time during the previous 5 years accumulating an audience for my writing. At times I had been known to make a spectacle out of myself, becoming rather dramatic about loves and losses and pain and pleasures. I had been known for “letting it all hang out.” How could I reconcile my previous behavior with the life I wanted, no, needed to create and begin to live? I prayed more.

The answers came gradually, but they came. I was impressed to read “The Articles of Faith.” They all rang so true in my heart that not only did my “bosom begin to burn” but I also wept with joy several times. Then I came to the 11th:

“We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.”

The second part of that statement, “and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may [emphasis added]” caused me to completely lose my cool. I broke down and cried loudly; I bawled. Why? Because it was an answer to my prayers. There was NOTHING in the church Doctrine that said I had to exclude those who worshiped differently from myself from my life, ABSOLUTELY the opposite!!!

Articles of Faith Library Copy

Relief filled my soul. But what about all of the people who followed my social media? Now that I no longer practiced alternative beliefs, should I even be “out there” in the public? What about all of my photos and the things I posted?

As I began to hint about my baptism on social media some people I thought were my friends were quick to delete me from their connections, I cried but continued to pray about it. I didn’t want to lose friends, but those people who had “unfriended” me weren’t acting like friends. My prayers to my Heavenly Father continued, so did my tears.

I deleted hundreds of photos of myself that embarrassed me from my social media accounts and  I prayed to know if I should continue with an online presence. After all, it would have been easier just to delete the accounts.

The impression I felt from the Holy Ghost was persistent: I needed to be LOUDER about my conversion than I was my sins.

I was at a loss how to accomplish that. The year before my Baptism was quite humiliating as I looked back upon my own inequity to others in addition to myself. I continued to pray and study my scriptures.

Then came the answer: Start a blog about your conversion to The Church. Share your feelings about God and your faith and be honest with those who follow you. 

My unease continued even after I started the FIRST iteration of Slightely Mormon on Blogger. Then, in June 2013, came a directive in video conference form to ALL the Missionaries and the Missionary Members of The Church. This was the answer I had been awaiting. It was a confirmation of the personal revelation I had received from the Holy Spirit.

In a few weeks, it will have been 4 years since I sought out Missionaries to receive the lessons leading to my Baptism. In the subsequent years I have “cleaned up my act” on Facebook and other social media outlets, but I am louder than ever! I want the world (including my friends) to know HOW being a Mormon has changed my life!

In the last six years, I have worked hard not to alienate my friends and family. It’s difficult to convey to them how much I love ALL of them and I respect what they chose to believe in, all of that is part of them and I love them. img_20170204_093448_445.jpg

I had an opportunity to travel with a very dear friend of mine recently. Cub, as he likes to be called, is a professional photographer and acted as my assistant on a recent trip. In our travels across the country, we incurred our number of odd looks at us, but he helped me to see my world through different eyes. I saw judgment from my fellow church members when they watched him light a cigarette, I felt their stares and disapproval in both of our directions. That made me incredibly sad.

We visited the Ft. Lauderdale Temple towards the end of our time together. I asked Cub to take some photos of me when I was done with my session; he enthusiastically complied. When we were finished with our pictures another temple patron asked him to take her photo. Cub graciously agreed to do so.

wp-1487445328246.png
The first share on Instagram

While he was doing that act of service, I took a few snapshots myself for social media. I shared it first on Instagram as “Cubby doing service at the Temple,” then, after talking it over with Cub, I shared it again on my Facebook page and to a group called Facebook group focusing on members of The Church with an additional introduction:

wp-1487445332888.png
The second photo, captioned for Facebook

For a while, I almost felt like I was exploiting my friend and his service. Although he had given his consent for both photos to be shared on the internet inclusive of my comment about his lifestyle, he had not asked for the photo to be taken.

While Cub probably wished I had allowed him to continue his nap in the car, I felt it was important. There was a lesson here for not only me. I am not ashamed of my friends. I love each and every one of them. Not in spite of their beliefs or their actions, but as WHOLE people with different ideas about life and different understandings of the universe.

We read in John 13:34 that Jesus Christ himself told us:

 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

I believe that His love is unconditional. That is something I try to work towards each and
every day.  I am so grateful to ALL of my diverse friends, like Cub, who help me to remember what my Heavenly Father commanded me to do.

(This article was previously published on Sister Maggie)

 

I’m A Gay Mormon LGBTQ Convert – WHAT? That’s what they say!

Who feels nothing but love from the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

I’m A Gay Mormon Convert – WHAT? That’s what they say!

Yep, who knew? On Aug 19th, 2017 I chose to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an openly gay convert. Am I nuts? 

Why What, How could you do that to the LGBT community? 

This is the story of my search for God’s love in my life, and how I found it with and through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Despite a reputation that says otherwise, members of The #ChurchOfJesusChrist of #Latter-daySaints or #LDS, they do in fact love and accept all people just as Christ would, regardless of their sexual orientation. 

I am an openly gay man who feels nothing but love from members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was told my entire life that God rejected me and I was going to Hell merely for my sexual orientation. I needed to change my entire persona and become straight. This left such a bad taste in my mouth about organized religion in general, that I refused to attend any church, for many, many years.

It was Latter-day Saints who taught me that Heavenly Father loves ALL of His children, regardless of their sexual orientation. We are all children of God, and we should leave judgment to the Savior. It is not our place. We are asked only to love. #TurnUpTheLove 

My goals in writing this blog are to convey that we need more love in this world, more acceptance of all, and we need more happiness. I challenge you to choose love, no matter what race, nationality, whether you’re heterosexual, or someone like myself, who is 100% gay and a member of the LGBT+ Community and also a full temple recommend holder in good standing with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’m serving as a Ward Mission Leader helping sisters and elder missionaries all over the world sharing the gospel of Christ as he does love each and every one of us despite our imperfections, as no one’s perfect. 

I’m not nuts or crazy for joining the church. After all, isn’t everyone a little nuts? Choose love, choose kindness, and most importantly, we all need to #TurnUpTheLove. 

Just Pray,

Love, Dennis Schleicher

Gay Man Become Mormon? by Dennis Schleicher