HERE’S HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Carol Lynn Pearson is a Mormon woman who has long worked in her church community toward better understanding and loving our gay brothers and sisters. See www.clpearson.com. She tells it this way:
In February of ‘09 I received a phone message from a very faithful LDS woman I’d attended church with for years, Diana Jones. “Hi, Carol Lynn. I wonder if you’d let me come over and visit with you. I’d like for us to talk.” My heart sank. Oh, no, I thought, Diana wants to bear her testimony to me that if we just follow what we’re told on issues of homosexuality, all will be well. I love Diana and I don’t want to have that conversation with her.
So I didn’t return the phone call for several days. Then I thought, This is rude—I’ve got to call her back. So I called. “Hi, Diana! I hear you want to talk with me. I’ll be glad to have a visit, but there are two things I don’t want to talk about. One is the church. The other is proposition 8. I’m guessing that takes away your reason for wanting to talk to me.”
"Well—maybe," she said, "but can I share with you the journey I have been on recently? As you know, I sing in this semi-professional chorale for women. A number of the women are lesbians. They are my friends and I just love them so much. I saw the pain they experienced last fall around prop eight and everything, and I thought —this is not okay—there has to be a better way. Last weekend we had a retreat for the chorus and two of my friends and I sat up in our pajamas half the night just talking, talking, talking. I told them about you and your work and asked if they’d be interested in meeting you. They said, yes, they would love to meet you. So—that’s why I was calling, Carol Lynn, to see if you might be willing to spend an evening with me and my lesbian friends and just talk.”
I had to laugh. “Diana! I would be thrilled to talk with you and your lesbian friends!”
And so on March 5th 2009, five of us met at Diana’s and ate her good chicken soup -- Alison, Michelle, Sherrie, Diana and me. We talked. We listened. There was pain, anger, misunderstanding, tears, trust, learning. We talked and talked and talked.
The evening ended. But our talking has not stopped. More groups holding more suppers...more Mormons and gays and lesbians enjoying conversations...Clark...Linda...Sean...Victor...Dan... John...Huong...the list is now a long one. Our hope is that the list will never end.
