My friend Ben Bernards (lives in Sacramento, RM, current Bishopric member, author, podcaster, EFY speaker, early 40s) joins us to share their family story. This story started with three children β a daughter and then two sons β but now continues with 3 daughters, as both of their sons are transgender. Ben talks about how he and his wife Megan are navigating this road to support their transgender and cisgender children, with powerful insights for anyone looking to support someone who is transgender Ben shares deeply spiritual experiences and powerful insights when each daughter came out at different stages in their lives, and the surprising feelings of calm and peace they felt each time. Ben talks about their goal to preserve the family relationships and walk with their transgender daughtersβand also deeply spiritual experiences on how much our Heavenly Parents love Benβs daughtersβand how everyone is created in their image. Ben talks about how being βsafe personβ for them gave them courage to come out, when they were scared to do so. Ben talks about open ended questions like βhow long have you felt this wayβ and βhow best can I support youβ to keep the conversation going. Ben also talks about grief/loss of changing family expectationsβincluding the lives he once imagined as a father of two sons. Ben talks about the need for community of other LDS parents with transgender children. Ben continues with how the recent handbook changes (Aug 2024) negatively impact transgender Latter-day Saints and how the βborder drawn in a new location and how his transgender daughters are now outsideβ. My heart aches as I see the painful impact of these handbook changes on LDS families with transgender members. Thank you, Ben (and your whole family), for sharing your story. It is a beautiful family love story. Thank you for giving all insights on how to better understand, see, and support our transgender/non-binary friends. Honored to have you on the podcast.
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J Washburn
dyejo
Guest Author
