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Transformed by Christ: How the Church’s Teachings Guided Joshua Johanson Toward Marriage and Family
Joshua Johanson’s story is a powerful example of what can happen when someone decides that Jesus Christ and the teachings of His Church will guide his life more than labels, impulses, or expectations from the world.
Joshua has spoken openly about experiencing same-sex attraction. He said that before meeting Alyssa, he had never been attracted to women. Then, through a life increasingly centered on the gospel, something happened that he never expected.
Edit: Joshua reached out to us on Facebook to let us know that he no longer identifies with the lifestyle described in the article below and now identifies as bisexual. To our understanding he has left his callings as Sunday School Teacher and the Church altogether. That was important information for us to receive, especially because the public stories and interviews we had reviewed focused heavily on his journey through the Church, finding love, temple marriage, family, and the transformation he described at the time. We have seen the interviews and read the articles. It was beautiful.
Because his circumstances and how he describes his story have since changed again, we believe the responsible thing to do is archive this article. We originally wrote it with great care, respect, and love and made every effort to verify the information available to us based on his public interviews. Unfortunately, we were unaware of this more recent change. Had we known, we would not have presented his story in the way we did or covered it as a current transformation story. Best of luck to you, Josh. I removed the public yet personal photo as you requested and replaced it with a still frame from a publicly available interview you gave to a news publication on YouTube.
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Watch more of Joshua’s story here:
He met a woman.
He fell in love.
He became attracted to her.
And eventually, they were married in the Oakland California Temple and began building a family together.
Joshua described it plainly: “I was never attracted to girls, until Alyssa came into my life.” As their relationship deepened, so did a physical attraction he said he had never experienced toward another woman. He later described their marriage as extraordinarily happy and sexually fulfilling.
But Joshua’s transformation was not simply about changing a label from “gay” to “straight.” His own story is deeper than that.
He continued to acknowledge that he experienced same-sex attraction. What changed was the direction of his life, the desires he chose to cultivate, and the authority he allowed to guide his decisions.
For Joshua, that authority became Jesus Christ and the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Church taught him that attraction and action are not the same thing. It taught him that temptation does not determine identity. It taught him that every person has moral agency and that discipleship means learning to submit our will to God.
Joshua explained that while he did not choose the attractions he experienced, he did choose what he wanted his life to become. His desire was to be faithful to his wife, his family, and his covenants. In his words, “We may not choose our attractions, but do choose our behaviors.”
That distinction became central to his spiritual transformation.
Joshua described sexual orientation as the direction from which temptation came, but he described desire as something different: what he ultimately wanted to do with his life.
His desire became faithfulness.
His desire became marriage.
His desire became fatherhood.
His desire became obedience to God.
And those desires were strengthened by the teachings he found in the Church.
Joshua explained that his will belonged to him and could therefore be placed before God. He said, “I am here to act, and not to be acted upon.”
That is where Christ enters this story so powerfully.
Christianity does not teach that discipleship means every temptation instantly disappears. It teaches that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, a person can become stronger than temptation. Joshua repeatedly described that process as overcoming the “natural man” through Christ.
He wrote that when people submit themselves to God, Christ can lift them beyond the limitations of the flesh and give them peace.
Joshua believed the Church gave him something he desperately needed: a framework that told him he was not trapped by his attractions.
He did not have to build his entire identity around them.
He did not have to accept the idea that his sexual feelings dictated the kind of relationships he was capable of having.
He could choose obedience.
He could choose chastity.
He could choose Christ.
And if marriage eventually became possible, he could choose that too.
Importantly, Joshua never claimed that marriage should be used as a treatment for same-sex attraction. Before meeting Alyssa, he accepted that following the Church’s teachings might mean remaining celibate for the rest of his life. He was willing to make that sacrifice because he believed the peace he found through the gospel mattered more.
Then Alyssa entered his life.
They met at a dance and immediately connected. The more time they spent together, the more Joshua fell in love with her. Eventually, feelings developed that he had never experienced toward another woman.
They married in the temple.
They became husband and wife.
They welcomed a son.
And Joshua began living the family life that he once may have thought impossible.
For Joshua, this was not a rejection of who he was.
It was becoming who he believed God wanted him to be.
The Church’s teachings gave him the spiritual foundation for that transformation. Rather than defining himself primarily through sexuality, Joshua learned to define himself through discipleship, covenant, marriage, and his relationship with God.
The Church’s own teaching materials today emphasize that same-sex attraction is real while also teaching that our deepest identity is as beloved children of Heavenly Parents and disciples of Jesus Christ. The Church teaches members to approach those who experience same-sex attraction with love, compassion, understanding, and respect while remaining faithful to the commandments of God.
Read the Church’s lesson, “Seeking to Understand Same-Sex Attraction and Loving Our LGBT Brothers and Sisters”:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/the-eternal-family-teacher-material-2022/lesson-8-class-preparation-material
Joshua found strength in exactly that combination: compassion without abandoning doctrine, love without surrendering commandments, and an identity centered first and foremost on God.
He did not want a church that simply told him every feeling must be followed. He wanted a church that challenged him to become something more through Jesus Christ.
Joshua openly said that he wanted a church that would help him overcome desires he believed were inconsistent with the gospel and remain anchored in revelation rather than shifting cultural expectations.
And Joshua believed that the gospel delivered.
Christ did not simply erase his past.
Christ gave his life a different direction.
The Church did not promise him that every same-sex attraction would disappear. Instead, its teachings showed him that those attractions did not have to control his future.
Joshua chose to place Jesus Christ first.
Then came Alyssa.
Then came love.
Then came an attraction to a woman that Joshua himself said had never existed before.
Then came the temple.
Then came marriage.
Then came fatherhood.
That is the transformation at the heart of Joshua Johanson’s story.
A man who experienced same-sex attraction embraced the teachings of Jesus Christ, allowed those teachings to reshape the direction of his life, and ultimately found love, marriage, family, and a life centered on God.
His story does not mean that every person experiencing same-sex attraction will have the same experience. Joshua himself never claimed that.
But his life demonstrates something the gospel has taught from the beginning:
Our strongest feelings do not have to become our identity.
We are children of God.
We have agency.
We can choose whom we will follow.
And Joshua Johanson chose Jesus Christ.
Through the teachings of His Church, Joshua found the path he wanted to walk—and on that path he found a wife, a family, and a life he once may never have imagined possible.
