Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons

Survivor's Gay LDS Rafe Judkins

Rafe Judkins Talks about His Mormon Boyfriend
“I knew when I got back that we'd be together, pretty much forever”

In a recent interview with gay.com, Survivor: Guatemala's Rafe Judkins of Survivor: Guatemala talks about coming out to his family, the gay marriage controversy, and reveals that his boyfriend is—yes, you guessed it—also LDS. Here's an excerpt from the interview posted at www.gay.com:

You're Mormon.

Right.

Can you relate that to the experience of coming out to your family?

Coming out to people who you're not sure what their reaction is going to be is always incredibly difficult and I had to come out to my extended family because I was going on "Survivor." They didn't know beforehand. So I was nervous. I didn't know if they were going to be proud of me for being on the show or upset that I was "out" on national television. But as soon as the first episode aired, they all called and they are like, "We are so proud of you. You are representing yourself and us so well. And we're proud that you're a member of our family."

That's great! You had just started a relationship with Stephen just prior to going on "Survivor." Is that correct?

Yeah, we met in April. So we've been dating for about seven months now. And he's Mormon as well.

And the two of you are obviously still together.

Yeah, we're moving in together in L.A.

Is he from L.A. or is he moving there with you?

He's moving there with me.

[…]

Was it difficult to leave Stephen so early in the relationship and go on "Survivor"?

It was really tough, because we had only been together a couple of months and I was like, "I'm going to be on this reality show and I have to leave for 40 days and I'm not going to talk to you at all." We were in like the "honeymoon" stage at that point, like we were talking every day for a few hours and spending all our time together. It was incredibly difficult to leave him, but I think it was a great experience because it's nice that early in a relationship to spend that time away and just know . . . I knew when I was in Guatemala, that was forever, because I just missed him so much and so truly . . . I knew when I got back that we'd be together, pretty much forever.

It's nice that gay couples have that feeling of being together forever and hearing that voiced. Speaking of that, what is your take on the whole gay marriage controversy?

I definitely support gay marriage completely. I think it's something . . . I've a lot of experience with really conservative people because of my family and I think it's something that, once people get to know a gay person and get to know me and understand who I am, that maybe they will be a little more favorable toward gay marriage. I think that it's something that is important and that I really want to support after this is all over.

See also:

Survivor's Rafe Judkins Talks about the Show, His Family and the Mormon Church

CBS's Survivor: Guatemala Features Gay Mormon