Gay man who married a straight woman to prove his “dedication to God” announces divorce

Gay man who married a straight woman to prove his “dedication to God” announces divorce

A gay Mormon and a straight woman who married to provide their commitment to the Mormon church have announced that they are getting a divorce.

Josh and Lolly Weed made headlines back in 2012 when they revealed that Mr Weed identified as gay, something his wife knew long before their marriage, according to The Independent.

Despite their differing sexualities, the pair said at the time that they enjoyed an “extremely healthy and robust sex life” and that they got married because it was what God expected of them.

However, after 15 years of marriage, the couple have written a new post explaining their divorce.

The couple revealed it was their “love for the LGBT community” and Mr Weed’s acceptance of himself as a gay man that contributed to their decision to divorce.

“Our marriage was absolutely beautiful but it contained an undercurrent of pain that we were not able to see clearly or acknowledge for many years, which made continuing it impossible,” Mr Weed wrote.

“I have spent my entire life conforming to every standard of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) faith because I believed it was what God wanted me to do.

“I believed this because every mentor, every exemplar, every religious teacher, every therapist, every leader I ever grew up listening to and trusting told me that it was the only way I could return to live with God.

“There was an emphasis on ‘perfect obedience’ and yet, over the course of my lifetime, the list of things said by these trusted leaders about my sexual orientation was profoundly inconsistent and confusing.”

Mr Weed also wrote that he lied to himself about his romantic and physical attraction to his wife.

“When I held Lolly’s hand and casually liked it, or kissed her and had a vague sexual stirring [because] two human bodies were doing the kissing thing, it was very easy to believe that those tiny stirrings were romantic or sexual feelings, or at least were some lesser approximation of those things,” he wrote.

The couple said they plan to remain in the Mormon faith, and remain living as a family and raising their four daughters together, but eventually hope to buy a plot of land to act as a “homestead” for their family and any future partners.

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