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 just the two of us and at the end of the night I was date raped.
It took me a few weeks to wrap my head around it before I told my mom who lived out of town.
She encouraged me to talk to my childhood friend who was in my ward at the time in Provo and was the Elders Quorum president.
His mom was in the Behavioral dept of the hospital and had been hearing of these type of events with sex offenders in positions of leadership in the church continuing to perpetrate.
After embarrassingly speaking with her son, my friend about it, he recommended talking to our bishop.
I made an appointment with the bishop and he was too busy to meet in his office so he asked me to come to his house.
Upon arrival and in obvious emotional distress, he invited me in and his wife handed me their grandbaby to hold.
It was extremely uncomfortable already.
After dredging through the awful details of the event, he asked me, “Are you sure it was full penetration?”
I was mortified.
I had been married for 2 years and divorced about 6 months.
I knew the difference, but his immediate doubt was shocking and unexpected.
He said he would take care of it and nothing happened.
I moved less than a year after and tried again with the next bishop who also claimed he would handle it and I heard nothing from either nor was I informed of what I needed to do or what my rights were.
They were mostly interested in protecting him and the church.
I never felt heard, seen, or protected and believed.