Answer

Can I Serve a Mission If I Experience Same-Sex Attraction?

You want to serve, and you are afraid that saying the true thing in an interview will end it before it starts. You may have already decided not to ask, because a no you never heard is easier to live with than one you did.

Yes, you can serve. Experiencing same-sex attraction is not a sin and does not by itself make you unworthy, and the feelings do not have to disappear first. Missionary service asks of you exactly what it asks of everyone: that you are keeping the law of chastity and are honest with the Lord and with your leaders.

Eternal Truths

Worthiness is about what you do, not what you experience. The Church’s teaching on same-sex attraction is explicit: experiencing same-sex attraction or identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual “is not a sin and does not prohibit one from participating in the Church, holding callings, or attending the temple.” What it asks of you is the law of chastity, which is the same standard asked of every unmarried missionary in the field.

The Lord’s stated qualification for missionary service is desire. “If ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work,” He said, and then named faith, hope, charity, love and an eye single to His glory (Doctrine and Covenants 4:3-5). There is no additional clause about feelings you did not choose.

Your identity is not the thing you are afraid of. President Russell M. Nelson taught in “Choices for Eternity” that child of God, child of the covenant and disciple of Jesus Christ come first, and that other labels sit underneath rather than replacing them. A missionary who has had to work that out is better placed than most to teach it.

What Can Make This Confusing?

Shame usually answers this question before the handbook gets a chance. It decides you are disqualified, spares you the interview, and calls itself humility. Fear of telling a bishop is the most common version of it and the least founded. He is not looking for a reason to say no. He is trying to help you serve well, and being able to say the true thing out loud to one person before you leave usually makes the mission easier rather than harder.

Questions to Think About

• Am I answering this question myself so that nobody else gets to?
• What would change if one trusted leader already knew?
• What do I actually need to find out, and who can tell me?

What You Can Do

Make the appointment. One conversation with your bishop will tell you more about your real standing in ten minutes than months of turning it over alone will. Write your specific questions down first and take the list with you. The essay behind this Answer also covers gender dysphoria and mission service, if that is part of your situation.

Jesus Christ accepts the offer of your time from you as you are, and He can make your service the very thing that settles the question you have been afraid to ask.