About this episode
In this Mormon Stories interview, we meet with Chad Anderson—a licensed clinical social worker in the Salt Lake City area and author of his newly released book, Gay Mormon Dad . In part 1, Chad shares his story of growing up gay in the LDS Church and his quiet struggle to be completely obedient to God in order to change his sexual orientation. Even though he met all of the Mormon milestones including a mission, marriage, and having children, he found himself unhappy as ever. In part 2, Chad says that all changed when he decided to come out to the world and began to accept his whole self, including his sexuality. Part 3 of our interview also includes a conversation between Chad and John about contemporary LGBTQ events in the LDS Church, including the impact of Prop 8, the November 2015 policy, rising suicide rates among youth in Utah, and the new First Presidency’s impact on the LGBTQ community, among other things.