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Experiences with Community of Formerly Religious Sapphics: Interviews with Former Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

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Abstract

Religion offers a sense of community and belonging, and while some faiths accept LGBTQ+ individuals, conservative Christian communities continue to largely disapprove and shun these individuals. Little research to date examines how leaving a congregation and the community it offers impacts an LGBTQ+ person. With this as our departure point, we examine how a decision to come out and leave a conservative Christian congregation—here, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely referred to as “Mormons” or “LDS”—impacts Sapphics, which refers to a wide range of identities, including lesbians, queer women, woman-loving-woman, and trans and non-binary people. To understand how these people’s experiences with “community” was impacted as a result of their decision we draw upon the theory of social capital. Our findings include that, depending upon how closely one identified with and participated in the LDS community, these individuals’ experiences and feelings ranged from ambivalence to ongoing feelings of guilt, shame, and anger. Regardless of the experiences, nearly all our participants have elected to have their records removed from the LDS church. Our participants also describe their experiences in seeking out and building a new community, as often they felt bereft of belonging given their separation from the LDS community. In addition to contributing to the growing body of research on social capital and religion as it relates to LGBTQ+ experiences, this study has implications for providing support for individuals in similar situations who struggle with finding a sense of belonging and community.

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  1. Department of Sociology, New Mexico State University, MSC 3WSP, PO Box 30001, Las Cruces, NM, 88003-1230, USA

    Kate Wilson-Burnett & Julie Steinkopf

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  1. Kate Wilson-Burnett
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Correspondence to Julie Steinkopf.

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Both authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection and analysis were performed by Kate Wilson-Burnett, with Dr. Julie Steinkopf contributing to the analysis. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Kate Wilson-Burnett. Dr. Julie Steinkopf edited this first draft and contributed to writing on additional drafts. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript. Approval from New Mexico State University’s Institutional Review Board was received prior to data collection.

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Wilson-Burnett, K., Steinkopf, J. Experiences with Community of Formerly Religious Sapphics: Interviews with Former Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Sexuality & Culture 28, 381–399 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-023-10122-x

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