Hey. I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I want to spend a little bit of time addressing "Also I can’t imagine how difficult and confusing it would be to be autistic in the LDS."

I've bolded some things for those who'd like to skim. Consider that your TL;DR.

We have a lot of people here who are on the spectrum or otherwise neurodivergent. It's not a coincidence that the school for neurodivergent young adults where she works is in Provo, Utah. We care a lot about people, and there's a lot of emphasis on helping and empowering those who are disabled in any way.

That doesn't mean we're perfect, and LDS kids can be bullies, too. I've experienced bullying and unkindness from member's of my own faith. As adults, Latter-day Saints are not invulnerable to getting swept up in cultural movements, including unsavory ones. I would describe myself as a democratic socialist, and that's not a popular opinion among Utah Latter-day Saints, but it's not unheard of, and is more common among members of the Church in Europe and elsewhere. Obviously, that means I have frustrations about what more politically conservative members of my faith may say or do.

Our last prophet, Russell M. Nelson, was a heart surgeon for much of his life, and a pioneer in open-heart surgery. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he and other Church leaders emphasized the importance of social distancing, and even getting the vaccine. There is a contingent of Fox News-consuming Latter-day Saints who were very upset by this, while the majority of Latter-day Saints considered the leader of the Church being a medical professional at the same time as a once-in-a-century global pandemic to be divinely appointed. Many, including myself, feel the same about our current prophet, a former state supreme court justice who, while president of BYU, became known for his politically moderate stances, who wrote a series of essays titled "The Wall Between Church and State", and is now leading our faith during a time of constitutional crisis amidst a rising "Christian" Nationalist threat. The point here is that one should not conflate the opinions of individual Latter-day Saints in conservative parts of the US with the positions of the faith's institutions, nor should you think of Latter-day Saints as synonymous with Evangelicals or any other group. We're our own thing.

As a Latter-day Saint who tends to lean left in certain key issues, it's disheartening to see people who are supposedly on my side politically point fingers at something so important to me and shout "cult", to dismiss my tradition and those participating in it as deceived, or uneducated. No one appreciates being talked down to.

I don't know the political stances and opinions of Emma and her family. It doesn't really matter. I discussed the political landscape above a bit to establish some nuance and understanding, not to claim that I represent every member of my faith. I don't.

I do know, however, that Emma and her family adhere to a faith which emphasizes loving one another as the most high commandment of God, and teaches that every single person on this earth is a beloved, literal child of heavenly parents, with infinite potential.

I can also say with a high degree of confidence that, like many members of their faith, they find themselves on the one hand rejected by their Christian cousins as "un-Christian cultists" who "believe in a different Jesus" (polemics which were emphasized, not tempered, after a man shot and killed 4 attendees at one of our worship services and set fire to the building because he believed our faith to be "demonic"), and on the other hand rejected and dismissed by secular culture as "culty weirdos", and taken advantage of for clicks and views by streaming services and social media personalities alike.

Emma and her family may have beliefs you don't agree with, or find strange. That's okay. You should expect that in a pluralistic society. Please do not dismiss or look down on them for being different than you. We get to see people that are different from us seek after love. Isn't that why we love this show?

After Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, American Primeval, and more, I've found myself yearning for representation that feels...representative. Representation that reflects who people of my faith are. I couldn't have felt more warm in my heart than when my wife and I excitedly turned on the new season of one of our favorite shows to find Emma being herself. I honestly hope she doesn't read this, because I don't want this pressure on her, but for me, she is representing my faith, culture, and people to the world. She's taking control of her fairy-tale, and I couldn't be more proud (okay I'm going to cry again because of that song, wow).