Short comments on No More Goodbyes

    We Need This Book.  [Regarding a gay family member and partner coming home for the holidays] To put it mildly, I am panic stricken at the prospect of all of us meeting here, without having "sorted out" our emotions and reactions beforehand. We need your book. We need it as soon as humanly possible.  -International

     I am so excited for the release of your book. I believe that you are engaged in a work that is so exalted -- in letting others know not only of the pain and suffering that others experience in this unique challenge, but also that there is a higher way in dealing with other people, a more Christ-like way than most people a willing to give, but one which, if they do rise to the occasion, lift those who are suffering and ennoble their own purpose in life. 
-Salt Lake City, Utah

     Thanks for the book, "No More Goodbyes", I can't get anything done, I was up late last night and am trying to get all my chores done so I can read the rest of the day.  It is wonderful as only Carol Lynn can be.   -Utah

      Love the book and eagerly look forward to seeing the play. Your work is such a gift of healing in a cruel and unkind world.  -T, California

     I'm almost done with No More Goodbyes...It has brought tears to my eyes a few  times!  A call for love.  A call for understanding.  A call for authenticity.  You are reminding all of us, on whichever side or corner of the issue we are on, to forgive, love, and heal.  -Hawaii

     Carol Lynn is the unofficial "Poet Laureate" of the Mormon Church (in my opinion, anyway!); her love and compassion for GLBTI folks has been an inspiration to thousands over the past twenty years and her new book is a loud and loving call to action, to help heal families and prevent alienation, estrangement, and worse, which have been so destructive in the past.  -C, California

     I believe so strongly in the work you are doing. The world is shifting and transforming, even the world of religion.  Your work stretches and challenges, opening doors that have been firmly locked for decades (millenia!).  May God's blessings continue to be with you.  -S.

     I finished the book.  It was not an easy read. It is uncomfortable, to say the least, to be reminded of the painful realities many people are living in this life. It is even more difficult to read about how much harm is done in the name of religion, and how many people would rather be righteous than Christ-like.
     I hope your call for compassion and understanding, and if not understanding, at least lack of judgment, is heeded far and wide.  I suppose that is where I stand on the matter of homosexuality. I don't assume I will ever understand, in this life, its place in the eternal plan...but there are a lot of mysteries of the Universe I don't understand, and that is not required of me. I know it is required of me, because I have taken upon me the name of Christ, to love and not judge. So that's that.  Florida

 

        I was up all night reading your wonderful book.  Are we there Yet?  No, but we are on our way!!! I so enjoyed the play, the discussions, the awakenings, the laughter, the power, and being a recipient of your "Calling."  Thank you so much.
     I taught theatre...for thirty years.  I have been to too many funerals of my theatre "kids".  The Doug's, the Tony's, the Brad's.  I knew their talents, their generous hearts, their sorrows, their sad "leaving too soon".  I blanch at those who demean and shun such great children of our Heavenly Father.  Keep swimming up stream.  Bless you for your wisdom, insight, and willingness to share in all things.  -M.

 
      I wrote to you in 1989, right after reading Goodbye, I Love You. it really moved me.   A few years ago my oldest sisters daughter got married and she didn't invite me. When my mom asked why, her response was that I brought in the "presence of evil"....
    My mom has a hard time going to church, though, since so many  people say so many bad things about gays and lesbians. She always says, show me  someone who doesn't know or isn't related to a gay or lesbian and I'll show you  someone who is living in a vacuum. Well anyway, thank you so much for helping me out on this and I can't wait to read my new book.  -A.

 

     I ordered a case of 32 copies of "No More Goodbyes" just a few days ago. Some we are going to sell in our shop and others I am gifting to friends and family.
     I just finished reading the book a few days ago. It is so loving. It brought back so many old memories, good ones and very painful ones too. I also loved the play "Facing East" . So many people going through so much, and like myself so many stories to tell. It is so hard to go through all that and then so very hard when you have fought so hard for your well-being and friends and family are understanding and you would so love the love you have been seeking, but instead you get to work on the lesson of being alone and loneliness - year after year... ugg.. oh well chin up and onward...  Thanks so much for all you do.  -T.


    Regarding your book, I don't have enough superlatives for it. I think your incredible generosity of spirit blazes warmly from it's pages. Those few hundred pages are working miracles upon miracles. It's truly God/dess working through you. I'm already recommending it left and right and will continue to do so.  -M. New York

   The words in your book have given a voice to feelings I've never been able to express on my own. Thank you for helping me understand myself, giving me new direction, and giving me a hope I wouldn't have dared to dream of  before. God bless you.  -J

    [An acquaintance] implored me to get your book, which I was happy to know about.   I bawled through almost every chapter…. Please accept my heartfelt thanks for the work you have dedicated so much time and emotional energy to accomplish.  May God sustain and bless you as you save lives and help us all remember what living our religion is really about.  As I spread the word about your book, I pray that I will live to see a day when our circles are drawn with wagons of love rather than wagons of prejudice.   –B.  California

     I just want to express my thanks for all that you have done over the years to promote a loving and Christ-like approach in dealing with the challenges of these issues in our lives, our families, and the church.  I am thankful not have had to deal with this within our immediate family (but have 3 cousins who are homosexual, all of whom are now in their 60s and 70s and continue to be accepted in the family as who they are), but during my time as a bishop 20 years ago, I was brought face to face with this situation on several occasions.  At that time I read Goodbye, I Love You and shed buckets of tears as I gained new perspectives, understanding, and empathy.  I am very much at peace with my decision to counsel in love…  -D.

     I not for sure what to say except thank you for being such a pioneer.  I read your book, "Goodbye, I Love You" a couple years after I came out (1999).  I actually read it 3-4 times in a couple days and seemed to pick something new out each time I read it.  A friend just told me about your new book today and so I visited the website and will be reading that one soon.
     Your strength and love comes through in your writing and in the impact you have on others.  Thank you for sharing that with us. Your writings are like a ship in the storm, a beacon of light in the dark, or more aptly put by you, a wagon train to gather round in time of need.  Bless you … for making an impact on me as a gay man, as a Mormon, and just as a person.   -R

          I gave her [my mom] No More Goodbyes.  She read it in a day, and again throughout the week then called to thank me for sharing it with her.  I know the stories and personal experiences in the book helped her relate  to other parents and not feel so alone and unusual.  My biggest fear was that she felt like a failure as a mother, since she seemed to think that only bad parents could raise gay children, which is so far from the truth.  She has made a few references to the book as well, saying that more people in the church should read it because a little understanding and compassion would go a long way.
          Thank you for what you have done.  -S.

          Next to the Book of Mormon, and serious drugs, "No More Goodbyes" is the most mind-altering, thought provoking, attitude changing piece of literature in 20 years. I have given out 15 copies. Whether it be my conservative super religious son, or authorities high up in the State Office of Education, they all devour you book. They tell me how they perceive things differently, even question their prior beliefs. I have watched people's physical countenance soften, their eyes expressing a new compassion. LDS Gay men are totally "trashed" emotionally by the painful familiarity of each account. It took my brother a month to read it. Sometime only getting through a paragraph and then sobbing uncontrollably.
          Your "calling" is a noble one. You are loved. -Utah

      We have known that we were to love and stay close to our [gay] daughter, which we have, but the whole thing is so hard to understand and resolve with the church.  Your book helped me to understand things better.

      I think it is amazing how hard it is to talk about openly, and being able to read, really helped. I hope that our two sons and their wives will read your book, because they struggle with their sister and her partner.

      I just wanted to say thank you for helping and sharing.  You do much good in this world.  -M

 

I am nearly finished with your book No More Goodbyes.  I am 22,  male, Mormon, and gay.  As you know, that combination is not a simple one. Earlier this morning I had a very special moment as I was finally able to relate to Lehi when he wrote "behold, the Lord has redeemed my soul from hell, I have beheld his face and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of His love." That has always been one of my favorite scriptures, yet it has also been the source of despair. For so long I have wanted nothing more than to feel wrapped in His love. As I was reading today of some of the positive accounts of families rallying around their gay loved ones, I finally felt hope and I finally felt the Lord's love for me in maybe the most powerful way I ever have.

            Again thank you so much for what you do. To me you are a living angel on earth. I have never met you but I consider you my friend.  Thank you so much for your love.  -W.

 

          I received your book on Friday and it came at a well needed time in my life Carol Lynn…. I have cried and related to it in so many ways, but more important for me right now, I feel understood.  I am going to order it for many family members.   -S

 

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