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‘Mormon Land’: What it means for the church that rising numbers of young members are queer

A researcher and a BYU student discuss the “surprising” U.S. results from a recent survey and how those findings may affect the faith now and in the future.

(Demetrius Freeman | Special to The Tribune) Current and former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the LGBTQ+ community and supporters protest at Lincoln Square across from the LDS temple in Manhattan on Saturday, March 7, 2020. A recent survey shows more than a fifth of Gen Z Latter-day Saints identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or other.

A recent U.S. survey found that rising numbers of Gen Zers who self-identify as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or other.

The latest figure is almost double what researchers Jana Riess and Benjamin Knoll found in their 2016 Next Mormons Survey.

On this week’s show, Knoll, an associate professor of politics at Centre College in Kentucky, and Calvin Burke, an openly gay senior majoring in English at Brigham Young University and a media manager for Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, discuss these latest findings and their implications for the Utah-based faith now and into the future.

Listen here: