Bad Mormon: A Memoir

by Heather Gay

didn’t even know that we were religious. I just thought that we were better than everyone else.

“I’d rather you be funny and brave and occasionally look obnoxious than for you to think you have to be small and quiet and nice in order to be good.”

The beliefs aren’t reinforced by strangers, they’re reinforced by the people who love you most.

And it’s in that moment that you don’t really have a choice. You believe. You fall in line. You commit.

It can be a hit to the ego when you realize that a bunch of older church leaders have better gaydar than you do.

There’s something to be said about preaching eternal life while slowly dying inside. As it turns out, saving souls can be soulless work. It was painful. It was hard. It wore us down. It more than pulled on our heartstrings, it strung us out wholeheartedly.

Do what you want, but make sure dinner is on the table by five.