Alienated by their church's treatment of LGBTQ members, these believers found belonging in a different Mormon sect
After years of soul-searching and discontentment, Nancy Ross knew she had to leave.
She had wrestled with her beliefs before as a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but 2015 felt different.
That was the year the church in which she was raised changed its rules, barring the baptism of children with same-sex parents and defining gay marriage as an act of apostasy. And Ross, who had long been uncomfortable with her church’s stance on gay rights, decided she simply couldn’t take it anymore.
Yet the 35-year-old still longed for the sense of tradition her church once provided. And she found what she was looking for in the Community of Christ, which shares much of the LDS church's history and doctrine, and which has experienced an influx of new members who have fled the LDS church over LGTBQ issues.
The two churches share a common original prophet in Joseph Smith, but the church Smith founded in 1830 split into multiple branches after his death in 1844. Over time, those branches have diverged on many issues. The Independence, Missouri-based CoC has always permitted members of all races to be ordained; the Salt Lake City-based LDS church did not make that change until 1978. CoC began allowing women to hold its priesthood in 1984; the LDS church has not followed suit. And in 2013, CoC voted to allow gay members to hold the priesthood; the LDS church has not made such a move.
CoC apostle Robin Linkhart said the church initially noticed an influx of Latter-day Saints exploring CoC in 2008, when the LDS church endorsed California’s Proposition 8, which sought to ban same-sex marriage. Since then, she said there has been a steady stream of inquiries from Latter-day Saints, with the occasional rush of interest in response to events within the LDS church. CoC has endearingly named these inquiring individuals “Latter-day Seekers.”
In search of affirmation
At roughly 250,000 members, CoC is much smaller than the LDS church, which claims that many new adherents each year. But the smaller church is growing, if slowly, adding thousands of members since 2013.
How much of that growth is attributable to Latter-day Seekers isn’t clear, but Linkhart said the LDS church’s 2015 rule change — which some former members call the “exclusion policy” — left many Latter-day Saints like Ross “crushed.”
“Their understanding of the love of God is such that they just don’t know how they can co-exist with a ban,” she said.
After leaving the LDS church, Ross said she knew she wanted to find a church that was affirming of LGBTQ people and that let women lead. With the help of Linkhart and a few of Ross’ interested friends, she formed a CoC congregation in St. George, Utah. Now, she is an ordained elder and pastor of her small congregation, composed entirely of former Latter-day Saints.
Though the LDS church rescinded the controversial baptism and expulsion policy in 2019, it continues to preach that marriage is only proper between a man and a woman and calls gay marriage “a serious transgression.” But even if the LDS church had taken greater steps toward righting what she views as past wrongs, Ross would still feel discontent with her former church.
“When a church leader declares a policy to be revelation, as with the exclusion policy,” she said, “it never really goes away.”
A congregation of pride
As a teacher for her LDS congregation’s children’s program, Brittany Mangelson said she felt guilty for the messages the children were learning.
“I just had this insane realization that there were gay kids in this room right now and here I am, actively participating in this belief system that is going to tell them that they are worth less than their straight peers,” she said. “I just had this overwhelming feeling of like, what if it's your kid? What if it's the kid who's sitting next to you?”
Having grown up in the LDS church, Mangelson said she wanted to find a similar social framework for her children. Since childhood, she had always been interested in CoC’s history, and in mid-2014, she decided to attend a meeting. By 2015, she and her husband were baptized. Today, she is an ordained elder.
Mangelson’s Salt Lake City, Utah, congregation was founded in 1860. She said when she joined, there were about 10 people in attendance. Following the LDS church’s 2015 policy change, Mangelson said her congregation’s attendance boomed, and now has roughly 120 members, more than half of whom she said are LGBTQ or have LGBTQ loved ones.
“We have a rainbow flag over the communion table at the front and draped over the pulpit,” she said. “And this isn’t just for pride month, right? This is us all the time.”
Pushing back
Steve Otteson of Bothell, Washington, also decided to leave the LDS church after the 2015 policy.
“I felt like the only power I had,” he said, “was to vote with my feet and leave.”
Though Otteson left the LDS church, he continued to study the life of Jesus Christ.
“I realized the actual human Jesus was way more interesting — and worth learning about — than the imaginary superhero Jesus that Mormonism had given me,” he said.
Otteson heard about CoC on a Mormon Stories podcast episode featuring John Hamer, a historian and former member of the LDS church. Hamer said CoC had many “non-literal” believers, meaning they do not believe every word of the church’s canon to be literal. Otteson now considers himself a non-literal believer in CoC.
He said joining CoC helped him reclaim his Mormon heritage on his own terms while also being part of a community that affirms LGBTQ individuals.
“I’m a fan of Jesus,” he said, “the guy who pushed back against empires and religious leaders who oppressed people.”
A spiritual home
Katherine Pollock studies religion at Missouri State University. She left the LDS church in 2015 after her then-partner came out as genderfluid. That partner had not felt welcome in LDS congregations before, so Pollock attended a CoC meeting with them, she said. From there, Pollock became increasingly interested in CoC and took part in a summer program at the Kirtland Temple, a site that is sacred to both CoC and LDS church history.
“I had a spiritual experience,” she said, “and I felt like I got what I had been missing in my life.”
Despite the increasing number of Latter-day Saints who are discovering the church he leads, CoC President Steve Veazey emphasized that the church does not target Latter-day Saints for proselyting.
“But we do strive to provide a welcoming, hospitable, pastoral community for anyone searching for a spiritual home,” he said.
Wherever these “Latter-day Seekers” are on their faith journeys, Linkhart said the number one thing she wants them to remember is their worth.
“You are worthy just the way you are,” she said. “And there’s nothing, nothing, that you can do to break that.”