Abuse Survivor Stories

A troubled kid who I went to church with touched me inside my pants. I felt the effects of it for years. He was held back I was 6 he was 7. My mom told his mom but she didn’t escalate it because his dad was in a position of…

I was raped by a Mormon priesthood holder. I was in the Police Academy at the time. I had a past relationship with my abuser and due to its violent nature I ended it. My abuser refused to accept I’d had enough and when I went into the Academy he’d…

3 years ago a family friend asked my parents if they could come over and talk to them about something that happened years and years earlier. When they came over we learned that when I was 5 their 12 year old son came into my room while I was asleep…

I was not a victim, but know of someone who turned out to be an abuser. Curtis Crittenden He is an elder from my mission Guatemala ’93-’95 I was never his companion, but he was frequently in my Zone. When I replaced him in an area, I thought it strange…

When I was 4 my sisters encountered a boy whom converted and was baptized into the LDS Church. I will refer to him as Charlie to protect his real name. At this point I was 5, Charlie was about aged 10 or 11. If I recall correctly, Charlie’s parents were…

When I was 13 I was sexually molested by this guy in our ward (Washington state). I wasn’t the only one. When I told my friend about what happened, she had told me it happened to her and her sister too. Talking to more girls, a total of 8 of…

My brother is currently serving time (up to 25 years) for sexual assault of a child. He pled guilty in 2019. He has been inactive his entire adult life and this particular incident was never reported to any church authorities. However, when we were children (late 90s-00s), he also sexually…

Unfortunately this is not my story but I know it well. My brother was charged (and those charges were later dropped in a court) with abusing his 1yr old daughter. He was not wed to the girls mother. In court the church helped him with men who would attest to…

My earliest recollection of being sexually abused and assaulted by my father was when I was five years old. The abuse continued until I left home to attend university. When I reached puberty, my father stopped the penetrative assaults and resorted to molestation only. Can’t get his daughter pregnant, right?…

From the age of 2 to 9 I was sexually abused in nursery, Sunbeams, and primary. Several teachers, both sisters and brothers. During my Baptism interview, I admitted I was being sexual (I wasn’t taught it was sexual assault/ being abused because I wasn’t taught about it at all) and…

I was 30 years old and I finally realized why I didn’t want to stay in the church. I was sexually abused as a child and no one believed or helped me. I always felt an immense sense of guilt and shame for not being “worthy” because that part was…

I am 47 years old now and when I was 21 I went on a date with someone I worked with at Franklin Covey and he also was in a position of leadership in the mormon church. He said we were meeting with a group, but it ended up being…

Was sexually abused in Mount Hood, Oregon by a prominent stake member at 7 yrs old who ‘generously’ allowed our family to live in his house when we were on hard times. I told my bishop a few years later but was told it happened too long ago and that…

I was good friends with a boy in 8th grade. He confessed to liking me in December and I was so excited because I thought I was disgusting. To have someone tell me they liked me was crazy to me (even tho I had plenty friends). I told him I…

I might never speak this publicly, and anonymous or friends is as far as it might go. We were both born into Mormon households. My spouse was raped by one of the stepdads, and sexually verbally harassed by the biological Mom their whole childhood and adulthood. The Mom, as Grandma,…

Before I share the details of my experience, I would like to note the primary thoughts and comments made to me that led me to believe that my experience was “all in my head” or somehow my fault. I do this that you might understand or reflect on your own…

This happened to my mom when she was a child. Possibly my aunts. Her family has been in the religion since the 1880’s and my great-uncle was a member of the church. She said how he raped her, another sister, and other cousins. This was in the 1960’s to 1970’s…

In 2002 I was instructed to get naked and was inappropriately touched without my consent in the Columbia River Temple in Richland, Washington. I had arranged to go through the Temple for the first time in order to be sealed to my wife. To members of the Church of Jesus…

I was forced to describe, in detail, my sexual relationship with my boyfriend of 16, when I was 16 to my bishop at the time. I felt dirty, and like I was being put in the spotlight for something that’s completely natural. Most humans experiment with their sensuality around that…

September 28 1996 Salt Lake Temple. We went to the temple and checked in. When they explained the washing and anointing in very generalized terms (something NOT included in the temple prep class that I took) and had me change into just the open shield, my dad looked at me…