Being Prepared to Love LGBT Latter-day Saints | A Conversation With 4 Latter-day Saint Bishops

Interview Transcript Available Below Scott Mackintosh and his wife Becky live in Lehi, Utah and are the parents of seven children, including their son Xian, who came out as gay at age 24. Scott is currently a bishop in a YSA ward at BYU, and Becky is on the board at North Star International. Chris and his wife of 18 years live in Overland Park, Kansas  with their four sons, ages 7 through 17. He experiences same-gender attraction and began to talk about it after serving as a bishop. Travis Steward and his wife Margaret have been married 32 years and have six children and grandchildren. Travis is a former bishop, mission president (Houston, Texas), and has served in stake presidencies. He has experienced same-gender attraction throughout his life and finally began to talk about it a few years ago. In this podcast, we talk about how we can be better leaders week-to-week for the LGBT members in our wards and communities. Episode Highlights * 7:30 Chris' introduction and how he became involved with North Star through coming to terms with his same-gender attraction * 12:00 Scott Mackintosh’s story of his son coming out, and how that led to a change of heart for him and a conversion to love and empathy for everyone * 18:00 Travis Steward’s introduction and his experience as a man who experiences same-gender attraction but buried it for most of his life and struggled through shame and his own inner stories * 26:45 How Travis came out to his wife and openly acknowledged his same-sex attraction and began to deal with what he had held inside for so many years * 30:55 Chris’s experience coming out to his wife and church leaders after he had served as a bishop * 35:35 Scott’s realization that he needed to look at the experience of others instead of focusing on himself, how his son’s experience helped him realize how much shame is involved, and how it changed how he leads * 42:40 Proactively creating an open, safe, compassionate space to have these conversations and diminish shame * 48:00 What am I doing as a bishop to make sure that people would trust me and be willing to share the most personal, painful issues in their life? * 51:00 Bishops don’t have to know everything * 53:00 We need to be prepared so that when someone comes to us we can get it right the first time * 1:04:00 What to say or not say as a leader * 1:17:25 These are principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ that are applicable to everyone Links North Star Conference leadership session registration Scott's story mormonandgay.lds.org Interview Transcript   LS: Today I'm sitting down [00:05:30] with, both in person and through the magic of the Internet with a Travis Steward, Scott Mackintosh and Chris. How are you, Travis? Travis: Good, Scott, how are you doing? LS: Excellent. I have all sorts of names going through my head and Chris, you're joining us from, uh, from Kansas City. Is that, right? Chris: Right. LS: The reason for this gathering here is to hopefully promote a message of love and also make leaders out there [00:06:00] more aware of resources that are available to them as they strive to enhance their leadership ability, especially in the context of our LGBT brothers and sisters that, hopefully are finding a place in, in our congregations and our wards and in a place that they feel comfortable and they can worship with us there. It's, uh,