Remembering Bruce
This weekend we lost my Uncle Bruce. Uncle Bruce, who did not appreciate the term granduncle, was my Grandmother’s baby brother. His passing, much like hers, is too soon.
I imagine there will be a lot written and said about Bruce and his incredible legacy. As the cofounder of Word Perfect, the first mainstream word processor, he literally changed the workplace for millions of people. I hope more will be written about his advocacy. He dedicated his life to further the acceptance of LGBTQ people, especially through his work with the Human Rights Campaign.
I’ll leave it to others to write about the impact he had on the world. I’d like to share a little of the impact he had on me.
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Why the Book of Mormon isn't what it claims to be.
Since I was a child learning how to read, I have been reading the Book of Mormon. I still open it and read it. But I have never studied it harder than when I was a missionary in California. It was in the last 6 months of my mission that I really started to look deep at it, and when I did, I kept finding things that didn’t belong. This bothered me... My initial doubts in the book started as a missionary because I was bothered by the persistent realization that the contents of the Book of Mormon served its author, Joseph Smith, and his 19th Century audience more than they served the characters in the text.
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My Garden Haven
I work on my garden every day. Every day. It needs to be watered daily--twice daily during those awful 90 degree days. The weeds never end. They always come up and need to be pulled, and just when I think I've pulled every last one, twelve more appear. But every day something is different. A new flower has bloomed. Another one doubled in size over night. Something I planted didn't like the summer heat and now its gone. A cat dug up something I need to fix. I've had to learn to work hard and be patient, because the payoff is delayed from the initial labor. I have to deal with disappointments. Sometimes something doesn't grow or doesn't turn into the flower that I wanted, but the garden is still beautiful. Really, these are the lessons that I needed.
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LDS Press Conference on Nondiscrimination Feels Like a Slap in the Face
Earlier today several key leaders of the LDS Church called a press conference to discuss religious freedom and nondiscrimination legislation for the LGBT community. I have to commend the Church generally for a tone and policy that is radically improved from even just 5 or 6 years ago when I was a student at BYU. But as a whole, I found their statements lacking and ultimately hypocritical.
Having experienced anti-gay bullying at the hands and mouths of LDS members, leaders, and official publications, statements implying they have always been against such persecution, feels more like a slap in the face than a sincere change of heart.
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