Mormon and Gay

Gay Mormons And Homophobia
By: CHRISTOPHER MURRAY
05/17/2007

Mormon author and playwright Carol Lynn Pearson is working to educate and enlighten those of her faith that coming to terms with homosexuality is a family affair.

Facing EastPlan-B Theatre CompanyAtlantic Stage Two330 W. 16th St.May 25-Jun. 17$40; 212-279-4200

Mormon writer Carol Lynn Pearson's new play, "Facing East," beginning performances in New York following a sold out run in Salt Lake City, takes as its subject a married couple's graveside encounter with their dead son's partner. The searing family confrontation concerning the gay son's suicide would make compelling drama on its own merits, but has a particular resonance given Pearson's personal background.In 1978, Pearson and her husband Gerald divorced, after a decade of trying as a devout Mormons to manage and come to terms with his homosexuality.

Six years later, she would nurse him on her couch as he lay dying of AIDS. Her writing career was initially championed by Gerald - on their honeymoon he suggested publishing her first book of poems and their $2,000 investment would lead to sales of more than 150,000 copies - and later it became her way of processing his death.Her book, "Goodbye, I Love You" (Random House) became a bestseller. Since that time, in addition to more than 40 books of poetry, on women's issues and spirituality, Pearson, 68, has been a tireless advocate for religious families struggling to deal with homosexuality. Without every breaking ties to the Mormon Church, she has sounded a clarion call for a reevaluation by the Latter Day Saints on gay issues. Her most recent book, "No More Goodbyes: Circling the Wagons Around Our Gay Loved Ones," is a collection of stories about gay Mormons and their families.

CHRISTOPHER MURRAY: Why did you feel compelled to write this play, "Facing East?"

CAROL LYNN PEARSON: I seem to have a calling in my life to address this subject. I was married to a gay man for 12 years and it was a wonderful experience for both of us and terrible, too, as we were struggling to figure out why and what to do. Gerald, my husband, said, "We are in this thing to do something really important and I'm sorry it's so difficult for us both."In the 20 years now since I published "Goodbye, I Love You," about our relationship, I've been privileged to be the repository of hundred of stories, especially those of Mormon gay people and their families.We know that the intersection of religion and especially conservative religions and homosexuality is one of the huge painful arenas that has to be addressed. As Gerald was going through his enormous struggle, the anguish was between his love of the Church and what he felt was the Church's condemnation of him. For his own sanity, he withdrew from the Church, which is the case with most gay Mormon men I know of.

CM: You remain part of the Mormon Church now?

CP: Yes, in fact I'm fourth generation. My grandmother, Sara, walked across the Plains as an eight-year-old girl. My friends have been extraordinarily loyal, as has my family. It brings up enormous questions about my relationship to the Church, but I have no complaints about how I've been treated by the Church. My ecclesiastical leaders have been nothing but kind to me.

CM: How have you remained such a passionate advocate about this for such a long time?

CP: In the current political climate, tensions have increased. The issue of homosexuality is central to so many of the dominant political points of view right now.But, in the stories that come to me, there's a lot of enlightenment going on. Sadly, Utah has the highest rate of suicides among young men between 15 and 24. That's unacceptable. It should no longer be business as usual for the state or the Church until we find out how to do better.

CM: So as in movies like "Ordinary People" or plays like "Angels in America" or "Facing East" now, the moms get hit pretty hard as characters reluctant to change their views about their children.

CP: For a playwright there's no subject matter more fraught than this confrontation between one's belief system and a family's love for a person they feel they must protect by insisting they be what they are not. But actually, in most families I've encountered, it seems the mom is one who is least willing to reject a child.In my play, the mother really struggles and I don't know if I was deliberately working against stereotypes, but there was something appealing to me about this father who has a high status position in the Church being the one to have a breakthrough on this issue.With Mormon women, though, it's true that in some ways their whole existence is getting their families back to God. They will do it by hook or by crook. Not that men don't feel that, but women feel it singularly.

CM: What was the reception to the play in Salt Lake City?

CP: We sold out every night. Our director said 'Who would have thought this would create such a commotion?' But I knew that if I built this, play people would come. I knew the pain that exists among Mormons around these issues. I watched the audience with such emotion in my heart knowing that few of them came just to go to a night in the theater. Most had a story that brought them there. Honestly, you could hear a pin drop.

CM: What change do you want to see in the Mormon Church around homosexuality?

CP: I'd like to all of us to say, wait, we seem not to be doing this right. What are we missing here? Let us look again at scripture, at our own personal history. Let us invite in gay people and their families to tell us their stories. Let's open up new avenues of thinking on this, because there is still so much pain and we aren't where we need to be.We're still not in the Promised Land.

©GayCityNews 2007