I'm going by AdmiralHoldo here - doesn't really mean anything beyond the fact that I love Star Wars and wish I had purple hair. I do post under my real name elsewhere on the Bloggernacle, and I've spent several years on StayLDS - unfortunately the heavy-handed moderation at the latter has rendered it pretty much useless as a resource for someone who is actually struggling to StayLDS. I describe myself as a heterodox/progressive Mormon, but I find that I increasingly Just. Don't. Care. about whatever stupid or downright evil thing the uninspired "prophets" of our church are going to try and blame on God.
I've lived my entire life outside the Jello Belt, do NOT come from pioneer stock, and have been married for nearly two decades to a box-checking TBM from Idaho. He is emotionally and spiritually abusive (he doesn't hit me, thank God) and when we first started dating, I thought I was so lucky that someone so outwardly righteous would 'choose' the likes of ME. I now see (thanks to books like The Gift Of Fear and Why Does He Do That) that that was exactly his plan - create a false sense of indebtedness in me due to the fact that he graduated seminary and has ancestors that crossed the plains, etc. I do have to use incognito browser windows on my phone so he won't know that I'm going on what he calls 'those anti-Mormon websites where bitter people go to vent about how much they hate the church' - places like BCC, W&T, FMH, or The Exponent, all of which are run by active participating Mormons. Basically, he uses the Church as a stick to hit me with, and then wonders why I have bad feelings towards A) him and B) the stick. I'm currently taking a professional licensing program in order to get back into the workforce - I have a STEM degree from a d@mn good school but stayed home with the kids like a good Mormon woman. Once I get done with that, I'm giving myself 5 years to save up for a divorce (we are pretty much destitute; turns out the prosperity gospel is a load of hogwash). We also have 3 kids in their teens/preteens and I can pretty much guarantee at least 2 of them are going to part ways with the Church over social issues. I'm proud that my kids don't hate gay people as much as Oaks would like them to but of course in my husband's eyes, it's going to be my fault when they leave.
I'll post as much as I can during General Conference, I promise I'll try to be funny
