The Lift+Love podcast is rooted in faith, family, and the conviction that all are alike unto God and that loving LGBTQ+ people is a calling to be embraced—not feared. Produced by the Lift+Love team, this podcast features topics relevant to Latter-day Saint LGBTQ+ individuals and their parents, relatives, friends, and others who are navigating this space with faith.
Across episodes, hosts from the Lift+Love team and their guests will address a variety of current topics, offer practical support, and share experiences related to LGBTQ+ issues in faith communities. Each conversation is grounded in compassion, honesty, and a commitment to keeping families connected to each other and Jesus Christ.
Learn more and access free support and resources at www.liftandlove.org
Episodes
Tuesday Feb 03, 2026
Tuesday Feb 03, 2026
Episode 55- "But Jesus"
Episode Hosts: Allison Dayton (Founder of the Lift+Love organization, original Lift+Love podcast co-host, parent of LGBTQ+ child) and Darice Auston (Lift+Love Director of Getting Stuff Done, Gather Director, Lift+Love Store Manager, parent of a trans child)
This episode features a deeply moving conversation that episode hosts Allison Dayton and Darice Auston share with special guest storyteller Autumn McAlpin about her book, "But Jesus, A Conversation" a collection of poetic vignettes born from her experience as a mother when her teenage son came out as gay. Autumn shares how the book emerged through late-night prayers, conversations, memories, and moments of grief, love, and faith, and how it became a way to tell her family’s story. The discussion explores the spiritual and emotional impact on parents of LGBTQ+ children and the profound compassion, sensitivity, and gifts these children bring to the world. Woven throughout is a testimony of choosing both faith and family, following an inner spiritual compass, and discovering a deeper, more personal relationship with God grounded in unconditional love, inclusion, and the example of Jesus.
"At 3a.m. one night during the quiet shade of the pandemic, a 17-year-old boy entered his parents’ bedroom to reveal a truth he’d been navigating alone for years. In his confession, he not only came out as gay, but also conveyed the depths of the mental health struggles he’d been battling as a result of conflicting messaging he’d endured in the religious institution in which he'd been raised. Autumn McAlpin’s haunting literary memoir, But Jesus: A Conversation replays the various conversations that emerge during one family’s coming out story—interchanges with loved ones who lean in and those who pull away, the back-and-forth with various LDS church authorities, and the quiet (and not so quiet) pleas of a mother as she petitions the higher power she believes in—one who offers unconditional love and hope for all. But Jesus: A Conversation takes us on a journey of a family deconstructing with the use of a compass and their conscience, and reconstructing with the salve that will help bind them most of all: love. With stunning cover art by J. Kirk Richards, this book is intended to offer an open shoulder for all families who find themselves at the intersection of the LDS and LGBTQ+ conflict, and for the loved ones trying to understand the complex choices they face."
You can find Autumn's book "But, Jesus - A Conversation" for sale in the Lift+Love online store here: www.liftandlove.org/books/p/but-jesus-a-conversation
Learn more about artist J. Kirk Richards here: https://www.jkirkrichards.com/
Learn more about the resources and support available to LGBTQ+ youth and adults, parents, relatives, friends, allies, and church leaders on the Lift+Love website here: www.liftandlove.org
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