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Show 225 traditional Mormon upbringing stressing self-sacrifice and adhering to the "script," psychologist Paul Larson advised local gays to keep their own counsel: "Don't live up to the expectations of others. As a native Utahn and ex-Mormon, I feel I have weathered the worst possible social environment for gays. I have nevertheless come out for my own values and the choices I've made."?' Another ex-Mormon advised her gay readers, "If you only would take the time to stop using 'Listening to men' as an excuse and start talking and listening to God you'd be amazed at how much 'He' has to say to you."n However, while The Open Door's masthead proffered "an alternative lifestyle," many LDS gays steadfastly adhered to Mormon beliefs" if not to the church. Even when the church's anti gay stance became overtly political, The Open Door's editors faced accusations of antiMormon bias from LDS gays who disagreed with church leaders, yet retained their faith. For example, the author of "A Gay Mormon Remembers" explained that he "could no longer live with the social pressures of being a good, upright, church- going Latter-Day Saint" and had since found genuine happiness with his lover often years. However, he still accepted the "basics" of LDS doctrine while disagreeing with how people interpreted them." Like participants in Lynda Brzezinski's more recent study of homosexual men raised in the Mormon faith, gay men in the 1970s often preserved their LDS beliefs by distinguishing "Mormon people" from "Mormon culture," or the 71Glenn Greene, "A Quiet Strength," The Open Door, June 1977, p. 6. nThe Open Door, November 1978, p. 4. 73The Open Door, March 1978, p. 10; April 1978, p. 4; "A Gay Mormon Remembers," The Open Door, May 1979, p. 5-7, 10. |
