Laurie Lee Hall was excommunicated from the Mormon church for being a woman.
At least, that's how Hall sees it.
The former LDS stake president, who oversaw a group of Mormon congregations in Tooele for eight years and worked as an architect on her faith's most sacred spaces, faced, in her mind, an impossible choice: Either return to living as a man or resign her membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Giving up her female identity would cause grave damage to her physical and mental health, Hall says. "And it was not in my heart to resign my membership."
http://www.sltrib.com/home/5522210-155/ ... -designing
Living her truth • When Hall's LDS leaders learned of her gender-identity issues in 2012, she was quietly released as stake president. She had served for eight years so it didn't raise any suspicions.
But she had felt herself evolving during her years of in the all-male Mormon priesthood leadership.
Hall had assigned herself to work with the all-women Relief Society officers, she notes, and "they were quite delighted with the attention they got from a senior leader in the stake."
As she got in touch with her feminine side, she says, "I was changing my attitude and heart, and the way I treated people and problems. [I discovered] aspects of my male persona that I just really didn't like."
Four years after being released from that post, Hall no longer could endure the dissonance. She came out to her LDS bishop in the same ward she had once led. The new bishop was open and accepting. Together, Hall says, they hatched a plan to tell the ward.
In July 2016 — on the first Sunday during a service Mormons usually dedicate to impromptu speeches by fellow members — the bishop arose and addressed the crowd. He spoke about support and affirmation for those who are different, including transgender believers.
Next up came Hall, dressed as the man her ward members thought she was. She strode confidently to the podium and told her story, she says, echoing the bishop's call for compassion and understanding.
"I enjoyed the long walk back to the sixth row," she says with some sarcasm. She wondered how many of her listeners would come to the adult Sunday school class she was teaching.
"Some did, some didn't, and some came who had not come before," Hall reports. "Some told me it was the most spiritual meeting they had ever attended."
I applaud that Bishop.
All was well until last month, when she was stripped of her Mormon membership.
LDS Church spokesman Eric Hawkins declined to comment on the case, noting that disciplinary actions are local decisions and confidential.
What happened last month?
So, on June 4, many of the same men who had served in Tooele's lay leadership with her convened a disciplinary council and deemed her no longer a member of the religion she still loves.
For what reason?
About two months ago Laurie Lee was excommunicated stemming from her decision to transition gender presentation while living in her home ward/stake.
http://www.mormonstories.org/laurie-lee-hall/
