In today’s special episode, Josh and Lolly Weed talk about how they entered into a Mixed Orientation Marriage thinking their eyes were wide open, thinking they were living in accordance with their faith. They share what happened when they decided to reveal to their community that Josh is a gay man, how their story went viral and was used by religious communities to shame other lesbian and gay people into straight marriages, how they came to decide they needed to divorce in order to live authentically, and where they are with their faith now.

“People in religious communities would use our story as a battering ram against their gay loved ones…like ‘you can do this, see this couple?’” Josh says. “To have a parent with a gay kid [say] ‘Look at this, look at this couple! It seems like they are totally doing this, and you can do it too.’ It was highly pressuring. [Our story] was weaponized. It was devastating.”