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Blog Category: LGBTQ personal narratives

Two hands hold a sword
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The Perfect Queer Mormon

The perfect Mormon queer is born stained. Most Mormons don’t become sinners until the age of accountability, but the perfect Mormon queer is queer from the beginning, must apologize from infancy for being what it is.
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Guest Post: Living in Silence

By Blaire Ostler I’ve never shared this experience publicly before, but with the most recent changes to the Handbook, also called the Policy of Silence (PoS), I feel compelled to write once again. The recent changes that explicitly and implicitly suggest that queer folks should be silent and blend into a cisnormative, heteronormative illusion will have significant and damaging consequences. I know because this is not the first time my church has asked me to live in silence. Five years ago, in the fall of 2014, I was called into my bishop’s office. I was serving as the YW Personal Progress...
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A Tale of Two Coming Outs

Once upon a time (16 years ago) I came out. I was 18, in my freshman year of a woman’s college, and I had my first real girlfriend. I had a boyfriend in high school because I was a Mormon girl and that’s what you do. Though even then, I was pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable and expected. He was a different religion and from a different ethnic background, both of which caused grief for our families. But once I was safely on the opposite side of the country, I broke up with that boy and came out,...
What is Exponent II?

Exponent II provides Mormon feminist forums for women and gender minorities across the Mormon spectrum to share their diverse life experiences in an atmosphere of trust and acceptance. Through these exchanges, we strive to create a community to better understand and support each other.

Exponent II was founded in 1974 by a group of Mormon women in Cambridge, Massachusetts. These women were inspired by the original periodical, “The Woman’s Exponent,” to create a forum “posed on the dual platforms of Mormonism and Feminism.”

For 50+ years, Exponent II has shared women’s voices in its quarterly magazine, and members of the community have convened at an annual retreat. Our reach has expanded as technology has advanced: the blog, founded in January 2006, has reached millions. As we look to the future, we are focused on growth and building a more inclusive community.