Living In The Mix

***LONG POST ALERT*** So, I've been wanting to write this post for a long time, but I haven't been able to get around to it for a few reasons: 1.) Life happens 2.) Work happens 3.) Health issues happen 4.) I had to wait for certain parts to be made public before I could talk about the experience, because it is important to the context of the full story and seeing as they were confidential it would not have been appropriate for me to share before the dates that information would be announced.  The reason this post will be so long is because it includes many events and things I've already brought up, but have to bring up again as they play a key part in the entirety of the story. The whole story spans from December 2018 to October of this year.  So, buckle up, take a deep breath, and read on! A MUSIC VIDEO In December last year Emma told me that North Star International was partnering with the More Good Foundation to create a special mus...

Two weeks ago, the Elders Quorum in my ward held it's monthly game night. This is an activity that our quorum started doing several months ago. This was my second time going to the activity, and I had a great time. It was a room of guys playing a geeky space conquest board game while eating junk food on a Saturday night. No big deal, right? For the other men there that night it may have been just a regular night out with other guys, but for me it meant a bit more. You see, I was the only (openly and known) gay man there that night, and it was the first time in my life that I walked into a social situation with straight guys and felt comfortable and like I was part of the group.  32 years old, and I was finally able to experience that connection.   I didn't realize it or think about it until after the night had ended and I had returned home. I went into the bedroom, and when Emma woke up I talked to her about how the evening went. I apologized to her...

This last weekend was the 189th Semi-Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All I have to say is WOW! It was a beautiful conference. It's probably my favorite to date. So much to think about and apply into my own life.  Last week I spoke on the topic of how those within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, despite coming from a place of genuine love, can cause hurt and pain from the things they say and do.  This part 2 will address this same topic, but from the other end of the spectrum, from those of the LGBTQ+ community.  I have come to appreciate the PRIDE flag. For me, it means that there's a lot about human sexuality, gender identity, and love that we don't know or understand. There are all different kinds of love. Love is diverse. To me, the flag is taking PRIDE in diversity of love. Even if a type of love doesn't fit within the bounds of your own personal beliefs, you still honor and respect tha...

The last few weeks have been a crazy whirlwind for me and my wife. If you had told me a year ago that I'd be doing the things I am today I would not have believed you. A year ago I was not out to the general public nor to most of our family. Now, Emma and I have participated in a music video with North Star, we've come out to all of our family, we have come out to our church leaders and are working closely with them to help them learn how to help LGBTQ+ Church members and providing them with resources to learn and help (that is an ongoing process and I will probably write a blog post about that when we've gotten farther into it), I've come out to the general public and started this blog and a Facebook page to go with it, and just this last week we have officially become part of the Voices of Hope Project with our videos and essays being launched.  It is a surreal feeling to see all of this happen in such a short time when it took me and us as a couple so long to b...