“When I was a kid, it was not uncommon to find my mom playing the piano at our house and my dad standing next to her singing ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ from Les Miserables.”
So recounts a Redditor by the name of TheBrotherofTyler, writing of the slow realization that his Mormon father was gay; a fact that didn’t dawn on him until long after his parents had divorced and his father died of a drug overdose.
Related: This Guy Needs Advice On How To Handle His Closeted Mormon Boyfriend
“He would modify the words of the song to sing it from a straight male perspective,” he writes, “rather than a female perspective…. (i.e., he changed it to “she slept a summer by my side” from “he slept a summer by my side.”
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About a decade ago, he heard the song for the first time in ages, and “all of a sudden a feeling came over me” and he came to realize why his dad loved the song so much.
“It truly expressed how he felt as a straight LDS (Latter-day saint) man living secretly as a gay man,” he writes. “It was touching and heartbreaking at the same time. It made me feel a tremendous amount of love for him. And it made me sad that he had to switch the lyrics to continue hiding his true self.”
https://youtu.be/3uFww9a3D4E
The community has been quick to respond to his story.
“It is going to be hard to top this post in terms of substance,” writes daveescaped. “Thanks for sharing something so personal to give us all a larger perspective on what TSCC (The So-Called Church) does to people.
Related: Things my Mormon parents have said to me, their gay son
“This breaks my heart for your father and I can relate so much,” says ShatteredGlassWindow.
I’m gay and when I was TBM (a “true-Believing Mormon”) I would sing the lyrics to “She’s got a way” by Billy Joel, but with male pronouns. It sometimes made me cry. Now that I’ve left, I’m looking for the love of my life. I wish all gay and lesbian Mormons could have that. Or that they could see the truth about TSCC and realize they could have that.
“What’s sad beyond measure is that the Mormon church is so palpably false, but people refuse to see it and go on making themselves and others miserable,” writes LucindaMorgan.
Heywood Jablowme
“Their homophobia is based on obscure scripture created by Bronze Age, semi-nomadic goatherders who give no rationale for the proscription.”
Or with the Mormons, obscure scripture created by a 19th century American goatherder – oh I mean the scripture was written on mysterious golden plates, and loaned to him by a Moronic angel so he could “translate” the “reformed ancient Egyptian” writing on them, but then he needed to give the golden plates BACK to the angel (i.e. the angelic library books were overdue)… it’s all very believable!
ChrisK
Trash us all you want but at least I know when I die I’ll be on Planet Kolob playing my harp and shit. Where will you be. Oh that’s right. You’ll be in hell.
Heywood Jablowme
lol Chris – I forgot about Planet Kolob. (Great name!) Well if Kolob is nicer than Utah, naturally it’s something to look forward to.
jkthsnk
Wait. I thought you all got your own planet? In any case, for once a reddit story that doesn’t reek of bs.
He BGB
I remember changing pronouns and words in songs especially if I thought anybody was listening! But got over it. A song by Melissa Manchester I particularly remember because she says “a man like you will always find the long way home” and Jane Olivor san in her version, “someone like you will always” which made me sing along with her version more!
He BGB
Regarding religion, it irks me that scientology and Mormons get to pay NO TAXES because they are religions. I think LRon Hubbard was smart to invent a BUSINESS that was a religion to make tons of money and not have to pay a penny of tax. Mormons inventing their religion about 200 years ago probably were thinking the same thing. They have a gold covered church and millions to throw at anti gay causes like prop 8. We should all be inventing religions.
sfbeast
Being mormon is a choice, maybe not a very good one, being gay isn’t. But it’s hard to feel sympathetic for someone who hung on to some superstitious fiction that made him unhappy.
DCguy
And just think, The LDS church spent over 100 million dollars illegally to fight against lgbt rights illegally and the IRS will NEVER do anything because Mormons and other religious folks in Congress prevent them from doing so.
And now Trump wants to remove even THAT weak law and allow these non-taxes religions to just be another Super Pac funneling money into politics.
ChrisK
Religion is mass mental illness. Scary that they wield such power still.