Ana Echevarria: Renoite, Mormon, and Transgender

By Emily Hodge and Prince Nesta

Sunday, April 22, 2018

I was surprised-- actually, really surprised as Ana Echevarria confidently gave her testimony during the Single’s service at the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sparks, Nevada.

“I belong to the LGBTQ Community and I’m a proud Mormon,” she said.

Echevarria, second from the left, with the sister missionaries who brought her into the church, and Spencer Hunn who baptized her. Photo provided by Ana.

Mormons are amongst the most socially conservative religious groups in the US. The church’s law of chastity opposes homosexual activity and considers the practice a serious sin. A study conducted by Pew research center in 2016, revealed that two thirds of the Mormon church opposed allowing gay and marriage couples to marry legally. In the past, the church has exclusively supported straight relationships and parental values. The church also opposed the gay rights movement in the 1950’s. It has also been reported that some gay people risked losing their church membership.

Echevarria is a co-partner at Quality Care Chem Dry Carpet and Upholstery cleaners, with clients all over Washoe County. She is 39, but feels that she lost years off of her life because of struggles with addiction.

I listened breathlessly as Echevarria recounted how she joined the Mormon church 12 years ago. A family friend she had known for the past 25 years got baptized as an LDS member. She had seen her venture into many religions.

“I lived in Vegas and my family friend lived in California. She would visit about 3 times a year and one time she gave me the Book of Mormon and told me that I would feel the spirit if I read it. I thanked her for the book and when she left I threw it in the closet telling myself that that I would never consider being a Mormon because they didn’t even like the LGBTQ community.”

Not in a million years would she think that Mormons would accept her the way she was. She had missionaries knocking on her door to share the gospel and she would politely turn them down and shut the door.

One Saturday night, her LDS family friend asked her if she could help set up one of the functions at her church. Upon arriving there accompanied by her mom, she was moved by how everyone mingled freely with one another. It was kind of late when the event came to a close and so she decided to spend the night at her friends place.

“The next day was Sunday and my friend asked me if I wanted to go to church. I laughed and told her that she knew the church didn’t like my ‘kind’.”

‘Wasn’t everyone nice and loving to you yesterday?’ her friend insisted. "Of course, Yes, but that was Saturday." Echevarria replied.

After reassurances, Echevarria made up her mind to attend the church service. Her friend pre-warned her that women would be in skirts, but she told Echevarria to wear what she felt comfortable in.

"I remember my first day in the Mormon Church. I was petrified. I remember stepping out of the car and almost instantaneously people coming up to me thanking me for coming. Hugging me like I belonged. I was so confused. I remember feeling different that day after hearing the scriptures. The sweet music. I was used to opening churches with drums, guitars, and sometimes a turntable. This was all different and I loved it.”

When sacrament was over, Echevarria was ready to leave but her friend told her that there were still more services. “There’s no way that I can sit in church for 3 hours!” Echevarria declared. "So I left and drove back to Vegas and never spoke of this Mormon thing again…. till about 9 years later when I was at my business partner’s house making business phone calls and sister missionaries knocked on his door and he welcomed them."

"As we sat down for my very first lesson, I still thought it was great but still their message never tickled my fancy. It happened again and again and one of the times I thought to myself, this has to be perfect for my mom since she was a dry Mormon, didn’t smoke, didn’t drink coffee or even watch R-Rated movies after being warned by one of the prophets. So, I decided to invite missionaries over to my house.”

Echevarria with her mother. She initially had missionaries come talk to her mother, but Ana was the one who became interested. Photo provided by Ana.

At the time, Both she and her mother worked as 24/7 caregivers, so they hardly had time to take care of her grandmother who had Alzheimer’s and was nearing her last stages.

“My mom was not pleased with me for inviting the missionaries over to teach her, but I told her that I would sit in these lessons and she agreed. So, when the missionaries came over, I personally told them that I wasn’t interested but I would simply sit with my mom in the meetings. It lasted only a few times before my mom told me she just couldn’t do this right now.”

Echevarria was very disappointed by her mothers decision. She then decided to continue with these ‘fake’ missionary lessons hoping that her mom would come back and take these lessons. Up to this day, she still doesn’t understand what kept the missionaries coming back even after informing them earlier on that there was no chance for her to become a Mormon.

“Then Boom! The missionaries taught me about the plan of salvation and this was something very familiar with me. I wanted to know more. But at the same time, I wondered how I could be baptized since I was a smoker, an addict, I loved my coffee and Identified as a transgender," Echevarria confessed.

"The missionaries told me to pray about it. God simply told me that I had two choices: to live here and feel happy with the things that I was doing or live a life by following my brother Jesus Christ into the next life and live closer to my Heavenly Father. I thought about it. That was simple for me. Eternity with my father is a lot longer than 50 years left on this life. So, I decided to get baptized,” she said.

She remembers feeling joy, excitement and fear of being alone at the same time. The fear that people were going to want her to change who she was. So, she spoke with her bishop and told him that she wanted to get baptized but she couldn’t wear a dress because she was born that way and couldn’t live a life of lies. The bishop reassured her that everything was going to be okay.

“I joined the church to build a relationship with my loving Heavenly Father. To come as I am. I realized he was right. I am a child of God. I will never know why I was born this way. At least not in this lifetime. As for the rest of my fears? Well, I had to have faith. Enough faith to know that God loves me for me. He would fill these voids that I was going to have.”

By joining the church, Ana sacrificed her ability to have a wife and family. She did this, she says, to have a better relationship with the Heavenly Father. Photos provided by Ana.

A week before baptism, missionaries told her that she had to wear a dress to go into the temple. “Dang it! Another roadblock. There is no way I can wear a dress! I haven’t worn a dress since 8th grade graduation when my mother forced me to and I quit. How can I get baptized and not go into the temple?”

After talking with the “poor bishop” who she admits has gone through so much with her, he recommended some scripture that would prepare her for a way to get into the temple. So, she was baptized 6 days later in what she describes as “the best day of her life.”

She says that she felt excited and super scared when a month later, she moved to Reno with her family.

“I knew I was way different and I didn’t know how my new ward was going to handle my difference. It’s not like I could blend in. I remember walking through the doors and being treated like family. Like I was the same as them. Like I was a child of God. This brought me joy because I was there to build a relationship with my Heavenly Father. My Heavenly father loves me and knows who I am. I know he is pleased because I am a child of God."

Even though her circumstances place her in a difficult position, Echevarria still works hard to promote the Mormon church and spread its message to all those willing to listen.

“I've convinced eight people to join the church. They have also been baptized and I still continue to share and hand out the Book of Mormons. I even have one book in the work truck because I’ll never know if someone might need one. People are looking to be saved. I have no fear of talking to someone about things. What's the worst they could say? No? Haven’t we all heard no? It is my duty to let people know that we aren’t alone. That we can be forgiven. What if those missionaries thought that this wasn’t for me? I wouldn’t be standing here today. I don’t know where my life would be nor do I want to know. Before I couldn’t picture me being an LDS member and now I can’t picture my life without it.”

She remains hopeful for the future, and is confident that her faith will help guide her through whatever obstacles may come.

“Out of this talk I hope you understand that I am different, but I am family,” she said. “That we are children of God and we are all brothers and sisters. Out of this talk I hope you didn’t hear my struggle but heard my courage to fight.”