A Mormon drag queen in the Queen City
(RNS) — Being a drag queen is “freedom,” said Michael Wilson, a Cincinnati-area human resources administrator who entertains and raises money for charity as Molly Mormen. “When you’re in drag, you get to be who you are and just have fun. You’re going to poke fun at people in the audience and engage with them, you’re going to tell stories.” Wilson, 40, said some of those stories relate to growing up as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in suburban Salt Lake City. Wilson had all the Mormon bona fides: He was “born in the covenant” to parents who’d been sealed for eternity in an LDS temple. As a young adult he went to the church’s flagship school, Brigham Young University, and served a full-time mission for two years. He was particularly hoping such faithful missionary service would bring an answer to prayer: that God would “fix” him and make him not gay anymore. Though he wasn’t yet out to anyone, he had long understood that he was different. He …
