Married Mormon couple insist ‘life has never been better’ despite husband coming out as gay
Mormon couple Nicholas and Jordan on their wedding day (Facebook/Jordan Renae Applegate)
A newlywed Mormon couple insist they have a “happy and normal marriage” despite the husband coming out as gay three weeks after they started dating.
Nicholas and Jordan Applegate, both 23, were married in the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints in November of last year, just months after Nicolas revealed he’s attracted to men.
That’s not a problem for the couple though, as Nicholas claims he’s no longer “a gay man” but a “child of God”.
“I have known from a young age that I was attracted to men. It was an emotional roller-coaster, something I mentioned to almost no one before I became an adult, and which still was told to very few individuals after,” he explained on Facebook.
“It made me feel different, gross, and mostly embarrassed, and it was hard for me to talk about. It took years for me to process this and accept myself for who I was. However, unlike many that I have heard about in my situation, I had little doubt about my future standing in the Church.”
After a great deal of internal struggle Nicholas says he came to understand that “the only source of true joy in life is Jesus Christ”, and the only way he could fully experience that was to have “a celestial marriage with a worthy daughter of God”.
He married his childhood sweetheart Jordan the moment they returned from Mormon missionary service, and apparently has never looked back.
“I am not denying my true self by living the tenets of the Church,” he insisted. “I would be denying my true self by not living the gospel and leaving the Church to live a gay lifestyle.”
The pair are now expecting a baby together next month, and Jordan claims to have no concerns about her husband’s sexuality.
“My life has never been better than it has been married to Nick,” she said. “He is the sweetest man I have ever known, loves me unconditionally, and is the best partner I could have asked for.
“When we started talking about having children, we both got so excited to think that we would be starting our own little family. With our baby just two months away, we couldn’t be more ecstatic. This is the life we both have prayed for, and it is the one we choose.”
She admits she did have some doubt when he first came out to her – “I remember feeling lost trying to find any stories of others in our similar situation,” she said. “We knew, however, that it was right to get married, despite our opposing sexual orientations.”
The couple, who both attended Mormon college Brigham Young University (BYU), chose to speak out about their unconventional marriage in response to those questioning BYU’s rules against same-sex relationships.
The issue came to the fore last month when BYU’s former president Jeffrey R Holland gave an inflammatory speech to faculty and staff, calling for “more musket fire” to defend Mormonism’s official position against same-sex relationships and marriages.
Nicholas and Jordan Applegate both fully support the university’s strict code of chastity. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Nicholas said.
