Human Stories with Jill Hazard Rowe

Dustin is the current mayor of Midvale City, Ut. He joins Jill in studio to discuss his childhood in Pennsylvania, how he got involved in local politics and the importance of our personal involvement within our own communities. 

Daniel Parkinson is a medical doctor and a psychiatrist. He has been involved in helping organize and educate parents of LGBTQ children for the past 12 years. His activities included organizing the ‘I’ll Walk With You’ Youtube video project and along with Jill Rowe formed the ‘I’ll Walk With You’ Facebook support group for LDS parents of LGBTQ children. He recently published a book called ‘Gender Revealed: Becoming Male or Female’. This is a book that explains how we develop our masculine and feminine features and explains why some people are gay, straight, cis, trans etc.

 Jenni Gracesun shares her reflections of growing up in a family where the Mormon religion is more important than love. Through her determination, she learned to listen to her body and appreciate her sexual orientation. Through self love, Jenni has created three power phrases - “I am safe”, “I am worthy”, and “I am aware” - that help her receive peace and joy. She is married to Bree and lives in Draper Utah with their 3 children and two doodles. She enjoys hiking in corner canyon and doing yoga at the Draper Rec Center. 

In this amazing comeback episode, Jill sits down with Laurie Lee Hall, a transgender woman, who goes through her experience with gender dysmorphia and how that has created conflict within the confines of faith and the LDS chruch. 

Benji Schwimmer, dancer, choreographer, and artist, shares his ongoing story of discovering self love and authenticity. Benji graciously and vulnerably shares his experience as a gay man navigating the world and membership in the LDS church.

Mandi graciously shares her coming out story and her journey through a mixed-orientation marriage, motherhood, and finding her own pleasure.

Join us for a heartfelt discussion about healing, authenticity, and pursuing passion. Maxwell, nominated Teacher of the Year 2023, shares his coming out journey this week.

We are honored to hear about both Eliza Hill and Nicole LaRue's experience with family, marriage, coming out, relationships, and self-lo

Mary Anna Southey is with Jill to dedicate a special episode to her dad, Trevor Southey. Trevor Southey came out as an older adult and was a beloved artist, friend, parent, and mentor. Tune in to hear Mary Anna share memories of her father. Bright Spark Film:https://www.brightsparkfilm.com/

Join Jill as Stacie Gibbons tenderly and honestly shares her life experiences and coming out journey. Stacie describes her experience in the Mormon church and marriage, and how her perspective shifted as she came out as bisexual, then lesbian. At the end, enjoy a piano composition from Stacie entitled "Finding Myself."

Welcome Kristen Mitchell! Kristen Mitchell BSW, MNPA, is the executive director of Youth Futures, a nonprofit that serves runaway and homeless youth ages 12-22. As an entrepreneur who has independently owned and operated her own businesses for 25 years including a manufacturing company, an art gallery and a nonprofit crisis hotline prior to co-founding Youth Futures, she has a passion for youth services and has been involved with human service-oriented agencies for over 31 years; working in group homes, respite services and volunteer service projects, including those thatserved people experiencing homelessness and LGBTQ youth.https://www.youthfuturesutah.org/

This week, Jared Oaks, Ballet West Music Director, shares his coming out journey. Jared has also shared a composition which you will hear at the end of the episode. From Jared:A Place of MirrorsIII. White Horses of the ShamansRebecca Moench, violinJared Oaks, pianoThe music for my short ballet, A Place of Mirrors is inspired by shamanic tradition, traditional shamanic mirrors, and the idea of reflection.This final movement, “White Horses of the Shamans,” is inspired by Walther Heissig’s 1944 account of a female shaman, who indicated that the mirrors are a vehicle for the shamans.The music is somewhat unified by use of a tone row consisting of 10 pitches, which are played in various ways, such as retrograde, inversion, etc.These ideas came about as a result of my friendship and discussions with dancer and choreographer David Arce. The piece was commissioned by Debra Pearse Rogo, director of Mid-Columbia Ballet.

Join us for Charlsie and Brianna's coming out stories, their love story, and their experience with parenthood.

Sally Gary graciously shares her journey towards self affirmation as a lesbian woman, her relationship with Christ, and how she has learned to cultivate peace and real understanding with her family and the people around her. https://www.centerpeace.net/https://www.audible.com/pd/Affirming-Audiobook/B08Y68YJSN?source_code=GO1GB547041122911G&gclid=CjwKCAjw0ZiiBhBKEiwA4PT9z0ENu6e-GrNnDdTeRuoyUN1GVsdpLaYYkfwtdyGUhRGh5XkQqiaIcBoCohMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Welcome Sam Cahoon! Tune in to hear about Sam's coming out journey and what he has learned about family, friendship, and self-love.

Meet LeGrande Lolo. LeGrande shares his experience growing up in Samoa, coming out as gay, reconciling his faith and religion, and pursuing his passion for dance.

Meet Jack Haden. Jack shares candidly about his journey to understand his own identity, and how that fuels his work as a therapist.

Join Jill and Laurie Lee Hall for the first episode of 2023. Laurie Lee gracously shares her expereince as a transgender woman and her relationship with the LDS church.

Join us for Nathan Kunkel's heartfelt story. Nathan's honesty about his journey for self-acceptance and self-love is a lesson to all.

Join us for Brandon's story! Brandon Checketts shares his experience with faith crisis, sexual identity, marriage, parenthood, and reconciliation.

Tune into an interview with Jill's newest friend, Valerie Nicole Green. Valerie graciously shares her story of discovering and living authentically in her gender identity. Hear about Valerie's life, her passion for tennis, and how her relationship with spirituality has changed.

Join us for Kacey Martin's coming out journey. Kacey graciously shares what she has learned about her identity through friendship, New York City, and growing up in a conservative religious family.

Meet Connor White! This week Jill is in the studio with a new friend, Connor White. Connor candidly shares his coming out journey and what he has learned from living authentically.

Content Warning: hate crimes, violenceWe are honored to sit down in the studio this week with Dr. Randall Bell. Dr. Bell is an expert in real estate damage economics, and has appraised and been witness to the sites of some of the most violent scenes in recent history. Dr Bell shares his personal journey with the LGBTQ+ community as well as his research on trauma healing.

Meet Tyler LeFevor! Tyler is a therapist, researcher, and educator. He specializes in LGBTQ members religions and faiths. Tune in to hear what Tyler has learned through his own experience and research.

Meet Jillian Orr! Jillian generously and openly shares the experiences that have shaped her life and have lead her to her passion for helping other people. You may recognize Jillian's name from the recent social media coverage of her pride flag-lined graduation gown at BYU. Tune in to hear her coming out story and her journey to the person that she is today.

Meet Kimberly! Tune in to hear Kimberly's beautiful coming-out journey, and how she met her wife, Kelli. Kimberly shares what she has learned from choosing to live authentically.

Meet Eli McCann! Tune in to hear Eli's coming out story and what he has learned about living authentically.

Meet Gia Bianca Stephens, crowned drag queen, and host of Utah's Quorum of the Queens. Tune in to hear about Gia's background and early career as well as how she works to promote performance art and positivity in our community.

We are in the studio this week with Cat Palmer, photographer, artist, and activist. Cat tells her coming out story and shares what she has learned from coming out, parenting, making art, and navigating difficult relationships.

Join us for R.J.'s coming out journey! R.J. and Jill discuss what they have learned from queerness, and how they are finding more self-love through listening to and having compassion for other people.

Meet Chad Anderson! Chad draws upon his deep understanding of psychology and therapy to tell his own coming out story and to offer listeners of all sexual and gender orientations advice on how to heal and expand your world-view.

Join Jill, her son, Hunter, and Jill's parents, Don and Barbara, to talk about their reflections since Hunter's coming-out a decade ago. This is an enormously important episode to Jill because her advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community began in her home when Hunter came out. Tune in to hear Hunter's reflections and his thoughts about centering the conversation around change and trans advocacy.

Meet Celeste Carolin! Celeste is the Executive Director of Mama Dragons and a long-time friend of Jill's. Tune in to hear her journey of coming to terms with her sexuality and the lessons that she learned about love, self-acceptance, and community support.

Join us for our 100th episode! Josh Weed generously shares his journey towards authentic self-acceptance and advice for Mormon family members and friends of LGBTQ+ people.

CW: assault, rape, murderThis week we are in the studio with Chad Anderson and Jason Conforto to talk about their recent film, Dog Valley. Chad and Jason share their experience creating this potent film about the 1988 murder of gay college student, Gordon Church. This episode is also about how we all can create joyful, safe spaces for all people to live authentically and about how to raise inclusive families. We strongly suggest our listeners check out this film, Dog Valley.

Meet Rae Garrison, organizer and leader of the National LGBTQ+ School Leaders Network with the NASSP. She networks with LGBTQ+ school principals and leaders across the country. Tune in to hear her coming out story and how she is working to create more inclusivity at her school.

Content warning: Suicide Join us this week as we celebrate and learn from Allison Phillips Belnap! Allison shares her experience of coming out, her career as a professor and dean at BYU, and what she has learned about faith, relationships, and loving herself.

Meet A Todd Jones! Tune in to hear his incredible coming out journey, his career as an educator, and most recently, his beautiful art.

This week we are joined by Candice, and her mother, Glenda! Tune in to hear how Candice learned to visualize her future and future family as a lesbian woman. Candice and Glenda share the joys of motherhood and how they have learned to create their own narrative outside of the heteronormativity of the Mormon church.

Meet Katherine Herrman! Katherine bravely shares her experience as a transgender woman within the LDS or Mormon Church. Tune in as Katherine shares the most challenging and joyous parts of her transition.

Meet Masen Brandon! Mason generously shares his experience as a young transgender man. Masen shares his coming out story, his experience in high school, and some of the resources that helped him the most. This is an incredible episode for other lgbtq+ youth who are looking for stories from their peers.

We welcome Kent Frogley to the studio this week! Tune in to hear how Kent learned to love and live his own authenticity.

Remember when BYU's 'Y' was lit up with rainbow lights this last winter? Well, this week Jill is having a conversation with the mastermind behind the lighting of the Y and Rainbow Day on Mormon church university campuses. Join Bradley Talbot as he shares his coming out story, his process of learning self acceptance and love, and how he is sharing that love with his community through activism today.

Tune in this week to hear Ryan's story of both his own and his father's lives. Ryan's father, Michael, was a gay man in the Mormon church and a mixed-orientation marriage. Ryan tells about the joyful and challenging aspects of his father's life and how it affected his own.

Join Kristin Roberts as she shares her journey towards self-acceptance and coming out. Jill and Kristin reflect on the role of the Mormon church in their spirituality and lives. This is a vulnerable and tender conversation that you will not want to miss.

We welcome Emmet Preciado to the studio this week! Tune in to hear Emmett's experience as a trans man: his coming out journey, his strategies for self-love, and his emerging Hollywood career.

Welcome Cody Swenson to the Human Stories Podcast! Cody bravely shares his coming out story and his journey towards self-love and self-discovery.

We are back in the studio with Matthew this week! Tune in to listen to our conversation about healing, taking accountability, and imagining the future.

And we're back with Jessica Wojciechowski for a special episode with the newly-elected, 1st all-female student body presidency at The University of Utah. This episode is part of our initiative to celebrate and amplify the voices of women in our community for Women's History Month this march. In this episode Jess is joined by vice presidents, Tiffany Chan and Maryan Shale, to talk about their plans for a more accessible, affordable, and safe campus.