Voices in Exile: Stories of Lesbian Mormons

Idaho News/March 16, 2004
By Hailie Brook

Boise State -- A new made-in-Idaho documentary showed at Boise State Tuesday. It's called Voices in Exile: Stories of Lesbian Mormons.

The movies tells the story of LDS women, all with deep roots in the church. All dealing with coming out to the world and to the church they know and once loved.

[Ms. B.] says she did everything the church asked of her. She served a mission. When she got home, even fell in love with a return missionary. "The only problem was she was a return missionary," laughed [Ms. B.].

[Ms. B.] is one of eight Eastern Idaho women, telling stories of love, but not the kind they'd been taught to fall into. "At some point all of us realized we were lesbian," said [Ms. B.], "then we had this big dilemma, do I stay in the church do I leave the church?"

The documentary tells their stories. Filled with tears, laughter and religious realizations. "They do face excommunication," said film maker, Susan Randall, "they do face exile from their families and communities and these eight women are brave enough to talk about it." Shot entirely in Eastern Idaho, the film took Randall nearly five years to finish. "For every woman I asked to be in the film, one agreed and one didn't agree because it's very frightening."

Sue Randall says she hopes the church eventually adopts the movies to show at church functions. LDS spokesperson, Gary Walker, says the church does not comment on commercially produced films.