Worthy: The Memoir of an Ex-Mormon Lesbian
At age thirty-two, Chris Davis had everything she was told that she wanted: a husband, two children, and a townhouse in the suburbs. The plan had been laid out for her and compliance was expected. A devout Mormon with a stellar reputation in her community, Davis spent a lifetime listening to rhetoric from church leaders that queer people were sinners and needed to repent of their wickedness. She had sworn faithfulness and obedience to God and the church but was faced with an impossible equation. How could she earn blessings from God and eternal life in heaven when she knew she was gay? She decided the only way out was a 17-year plan to raise her children and then take her own life.
In Worthy: The Memoir of an Ex-Mormon Lesbian, Davis tells her story of growing up in a Mormon household in Maine. Her nostalgic and sometimes humorous childhood memories of family and friends provide life lessons that influence her during the traumatic experiences she has as a woman and as a closeted queer person in the church. It isn't until one of her children comes out that Davis is forced to choose between religion and family. She chooses love.
Davis shares her brave journey from the depths of despair to hope and possibility. She shines a light on the tragedy of exclusion in our churches, in families, and in society, which takes such a toll on youth who struggle with their identities. Her inspiring account shows that it takes courage and fortitude to change one's beliefs and live an authentic life, but the rewards are immense.
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Chris Davis was a lifelong devout Mormon who checked all the expected boxes of wife, mother, teacher, leader, follower, and believer until 2020 when she left her family and her church to fulfill her own personal destiny as a gay woman and independent thinker. She remains close with her two adult children, one of whom is a believing member of the church and the other who is a transgender man who has also left the church.
Chris’s other works include contributing the essay "Five Stories on Why I Don't Belong", about her experience of being queer in the LDS church in an anthology called I Spoke to You with Silence: Essays from Queer Mormons of Marginalized Genders, published in 2022 by the University of Utah Press. And a newly-released anthology called Rivers of Ink: Literary Reflections on the Penobscot, which features her essay called Follow the River Home in which she relates a nostalgic story from her childhood in Bangor, Maine, in 1978.
She lives quite happily in her home state of Maine.
"Chris Davis shares her story of realizing that the life she was living, that she was born into, wasn't her own. In this awakening, Chris was called to unravel everything she'd ever known, everything her community told her she should ever know or desire. In daring to dismantle her life and rebuild it in a way that felt like 'hers, ' Chris reaches out to people all over the world who feel lost, broken, misunderstood, or unseen. She gives voice to all that's possible-if you're willing to look past what's fed to you since birth-to challenge the status quo and be your unapologetic self at all costs." Heather Vickery, Transformational Success Coach, Best-Selling Author of F*ck Fearless, Podcast Producer and Host of The Brave Files and Was It Chance.
"Chris is an incredibly gifted writer and storyteller. She beautifully weaves happy memories with painful ones to paint a picture of her reality that is tender and heartbreaking and just so real. The story unfolds in such a natural, compelling way that it's engaging, full of wit, and utterly un-put-downable. Her voice unabashedly shines through so authentically all throughout. And, despite the pain of her past, she fills the narrative with hope in a bright future. Chris is a fighter-a beautiful, kind, soul-and I feel so privileged to have been allowed this glimpse into her life. The depth with which the reader is invited to experience her story is just powerful. I laughed and I cried, and I want to do better for future generations of LGBTQIA+ people. The rhetoric that shaped Chris's childhood is maddening and highlights the problems in the system. It's only by listening to stories like Chris's that we can make the future a better, safer, more validating and inclusive space." Teresa Richards, Louisville, Kentucky; Author of young adult fiction
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