This week’s feature looks a little bit different. We had a family lined up – a real live family with real live people and pictures. And we were really excited about this one. The mother is a force – a fierce ally with a successful podcast you’ve likely heard of. She works tirelessly to make the LDS space safer for all those on the margins, including our LGBTQ+ kiddos. She was eager to share. Only at the last minute, her own queer kiddo pulled out. Shut down the story. Said they don’t want to feel like the “token gay child” of someone else’s agenda. And we 1000% get it…

I am a Child of God,

Their promises are sure;

Queer kids are precious in Their site

If they can but endure.

Seth Marchek was a happy baby. While his mom recalls he was slow to talk, he was good at following directions and loved to be at home. As he grew, Jen says her youngest child was a “super easy child -- very obedient. He easily played by himself, and would sometimes get left behind at places because he was so low maintenance.” Seth loved to sing and dance, making a showtime out of his family’s FHE. Highly coordinated at a young age, he was also skilled at soccer.

Like many mothers of LGBTQ kids, Carey Baldwin’s path to allyship was prompted long before her daughter, Millie, ever raised the topic of her own sexual orientation. When she first met Lift & Love founder (and now friend, Allison Dayton), Carey had to agree with her notion: “Isn’t it amazing how God gives you a runway?”

Looking back, there were several incidents over the years that prepared Jason and Natalie Conforto for that late night just before their oldest son Jamison’s 18th birthday in which he would come into their room and reveal that he was gay. But nothing prepared them for his subsequent admission that he had packed his bags and was prepared to leave their home if they felt it was necessary. “That just broke our hearts -- that he would think that his being gay would make it so he didn’t have a place in our family. It was painful,” says Jason…

“Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly, too” and “Kindness begins with me” are the lyrics Primary President Kendra Wilde of West Jordan, UT hopes her ward members both big and small lead with when it comes to how they treat LGBTQ people. She has been happy to see this has largely been the case in her ward, where people have embraced her youngest son, Devin Wilde, since he came out as gay after he returned from his mission in 2020…

Sometimes it’s not what we say, but what we don’t, that makes the most lasting impression on our children when they come to us with important news. This was the case for Mandy Davis, who’s now grateful she held her tongue to just listen about a year ago when her daughter, Ella (then 14), joined her on an after-dinner walk…