Temple insights for all from LGBTQ folks
Baton Rouge Temple, Marci’s water bottle with a sticker matching the cover of Charlie Bird’s book, Expanding the Borders of Zion.
The temple is a complicated place: a blessed refuge of divine peace and holy ancestor service for some; a painful place for others, reinforcing a gendered world with barriers and restrictions.
I didn’t expect to find brilliant temple insights for myself (a cishet woman) from two of my favorite gay LDS men, Charlie Bird and Ben Schilaty, in their podcast episode, “How can I Find Joy in the Temple as an LGBTQ Individual?” For example, Ben shared surprising ideas about what it means to “be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth” (Gen 1:28) as a gay man with no plans to have children. Many people who likewise have no plans to have children, or who already have children like me and thought of that as a checked box, may find new ideas of how to grow and improve.
Both Ben and Charlie point out that there are many ways to experience the temple, including from the outside.
That being said, I wear my rainbow sheep pin to church and into the temple. Every. Single. Time. In addition to signaling that I am a safe person, and making it clear where I stand, I wear it to bring my LGBTQ friends into the temple with me, especially those who yearn for the temple but are barred from entry as they live authentic lives and follow personal revelation. I see you, I love you, and I bring you into the temple with me in this small way, if you want to be there with me.
-Marci
Photo of rainbow sheep pin courtesy of Brynley Lazar