JOHN DEHLIN is a lifelong Mormon. After a decade-long career in high tech (Bain, Microsoft, M.I.T.) John created Mormon Stories Podcast in an attempt to encourage the open discussion of difficult historical and social issues within Mormonism. Starting with John’s interview of gay Mormon Buckley Jeppson in 2006, John has interviewed many LGBT Mormons and allies over the years including Peter and Mary Danzig, Bruce Bastian, Carol Lynn Pearson, Bill Bradshaw, Kendall Wilcox, D. Michael Quinn, Jim Dabakis, Eldon Kartchner and Benji Schwimmer. In response to the LDS church’s announcement of its support of Proposition 8 in 2008, John created the first online video archive of gay and lesbian stories, and then teamed with Laura Compton and others to co-found Mormons for Marriage Equality, the first Mormon pro-gay-marriage advocacy organization. As a psychology Ph.D. student at Utah State University, John teamed with BYU professor Dr. Bill Bradshaw and USU professor Dr. Renee Galliher to launch a research project to better understand the LGBT Mormon experience. To date, over 1,600 LGBT Mormons have been surveyed, and John is busily writing up the survey results for his dissertation. In 2011 John co-founded the first Circling the Wagons conference in support of LGBT Mormons, and in 2013 co-founded Gay Mormon Stories podcast.
John is married to Margi Dehlin, and is the proud father of four wonderful, LGBT-affirming children. 🙂