Gay Away the Pray

Praying away the gay didn't work on you, did it? (Did it really work on anyone?)

Unfold your arms, get up off your knees, festoon yourself in rainbows, and light this candle! It's time to gay away the pray instead!

Woody, spicy, and magnificently complex, "Gay Away the Pray" will fortify you with strength, and sass, and smiles. But please burn with caution. The aromas in this candle may or may not cause conversion therapists to spontaneously combust in a poof of rainbow glitter.

And you know what's great? When you get the "Gay Away the Pray" candle, a percentage of the proceeds will go to Shelly and Mary of Latter-Day Lesbian and Queer Life Crisis Podcasts, to help them continue creating irreverent, hilarious, and heartfelt content in the queer and ex-Mormon spaces.

SCENTS

Designed in partnership with Mary and Shelly of Latter-Day Lesbian and Queer Life Crisis Podcasts, the "Gay Away the Pray" candle is woody, spicy, and fiendishly enticing. Black tea blends beautifully with the scent of firewood. And sweet orange and spices bring energy and intrigue.

•  Top Notes: oak, sweet orange, saffron, chili pepper, clove

•  Middle Notes: black tea, hickory wood, smoke, lavender, orange, guava, jasmine

•  Base Notes: glowing embers, guaiacwood, cedarwood, dark musk, peppercorn

CANDLE INSPIRATION

TL;DR: If you'd rather not dwell on unpleasant history, here's the gist... Praying away the gay is awful, and this candle invites you to do something a hell of a lot more fun! Gay away the pray instead! ???

Certain religious movements have long insisted that being queer is a sin. That it's a choice. And that it can be cured. For years, they have insisted you can "pray away the gay".

In Mormonism, and other high-demand religions, people in loving queer relationships are committing a sin next to murder. A sin that is worse, in the eyes of the church, than defrauding senior citizens out of their savings or beating someone up. You could dump ten tons of toxins into the ocean, and the sin would not be so grave as marrying outside of the heterosexual template.

Until just a few years ago, the LDS church handbook grouped gay marriage as an offense requiring mandatory church discipline, whereas offenses such as spouse abuse and attempted murder were listed as only potentially needing church discipline:

Mormon leaders have also asserted that being queer was a choice:

•  "There is a falsehood that some are born with an attraction to their own kind, with nothing they can do about it. They are just 'that way' and can only yield to those desires. That is a malicious and destructive lie. While it is a convincing idea to some, it is of the devil." - Boyd K. Packer, General Conference, 1976

•  "If children have a happy family experience they will not want to be homosexuals, which I am sure is an acquired addiction just as drugs, alcohol and pornography are." - Elder Hartman Rector, Jr., General Conference, April 1981

And, of course, the Mormon Church has stood with a host of other religious groups to insist that, yes, queerness can be cured. That you can just pray that gay away.

For years, BYU operated a torturous conversion therapy program that used electroshocks and emetic drugs. Queer Mormons are regularly counseled to enter straight marriages, and are routinely celebrated as success stories when they do. They are told that they'll be resurrected without any queerness left in them in the afterlife, too.

Mormonism is far from the only offender on this front. The "pray away the gay" movement has been a pervasive political and cultural force fueled by numerous denominations. It's a movement that has harmed countless individuals and families.

But for all the hate and harm out there, there is so much love and healing in this world, too. There are wonderful people standing together to collectively Care Bear stare "pray away the gay" into the dustbin where it belongs:

...And you know what's a nice little bonus? Mormon prophet Joseph Smith prophesied that Armageddon would only come once rainbows stopped being seen for a year. So when you display the bright rainbow on this candle's label, you are quite literally saving the world from destruction! You are quite literally gaying away the pray, my friend. ??

LATTER-DAY LESBIAN & QUEER LIFE CRISIS PODCASTS

A percentage of "Gay Away the Pray" will go to Shelly and Mary of Latter-Day Lesbian and Queer Life Crisis Podcasts. Here's a little about them!

Latter-Day Lesbian

The podcast about an ex-Mormon gay girl trying to figure out life.

Shelly is a divorced mother of seven dealing with leaving the Mormon Church and coming to terms with her sexuality. Mary is a recovering evangelical Christian and a "career lesbian" (as Shelly puts it).

Together, they're processing all the religious B.S. and navigating a romantic relationship, through a podcast that's raw, honest, and funny. Please join them!

Queer Life Crisis

The everyday stories, struggles, and successes of the LGBTQ+ community. An every-other-week podcast hosted by 3 quirky lesbians.

Enjoy Latter-Day Lesbian and Queer Life Crisis wherever you listen to podcasts.

QUALITY + SUSTAINABILITY

All ExMo Candles are hand-poured in small batches, and each of our recipes is tweaked and tested before coming online. We take pride in the quality of our candles.

Our candles are also vegan-friendly, made and packaged sustainably, and pthalate-free. Our commitment to sustainability includes a partnership with One Tree Planted, where we donate the money to plant 100 trees for every 100 candles sold.

Finally, the removable labels on our jars make them easy to upcycle. Woohoo!

DISCREET PACKAGING

We know that you might be living with members of the church, or heck, that your mailman might be Mormon. For that reason, we've chosen not to brand our outer packaging in any way. No one will be able to tell from the outside of the box that you've ordered anything related to being an ex-Mormon. This includes the shipping label, which will simply say it's from Jen + Adri.

PRODUCT + FULFILLMENT DETAILS

The Latter-Day Lesbian Podcast "Gay Away the Pray" candle is guaranteed to give you 40+ hours of burn time. It comes in a glass jar with an aluminum lid, and it measures 3.5" tall and 2.75" across. The net weight is 7.1 oz.

Because all ExMo Candles are handmade to order, please allow a 7-day processing time before your order ships out.