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Timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the 1960s

See also: Brigham Young University LGBT history, Homosexuality and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gender minorities and the LDS church, Sexuality and Mormonism, and LGBT Mormon people and organizations

This is a timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the 1960s, part of a series of timelines consisting of events, publications, and speeches about LGBTQ+ individuals, topics around sexual orientation and gender minorities, and the community of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Although the historical record is often scarce, evidence points to queer individuals having existed in the Mormon community since its beginnings. However, top LDS leaders only started regularly addressing queer topics in public in the late 1950s.[1]: 375, 377 [2]: v, 3 [3]: 170  Since 1970, the LDS Church has had at least one official publication or speech from a high-ranking leader referencing LGBT topics every year, and a greater number of LGBT Mormon and former Mormon individuals have received media coverage.

Timeline

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1960

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  • March – An editorial in the church newspaper by Mark Petersen blamed pornography (including "pin-up-boy" magazines for homosexuals and pocket-sized books featuring "lesbianism, homosexuality") for a national increase in crime, and called for legislation to censor such smut.[4]
  • September – Utah native and LDS-raised R. Joel Dorius (born 1919) would become an unwitting champion of gay liberation after he was arrested in Massachusetts along with two coworkers and fired from his language and visual arts Smith College professorship. His house was raided and beefcake fitness magazines with erotic images of men were found in what is now considered a McCarthyist gay witch hunt.[5][6][7] Along with a coworker, Dorius appealed the verdict of pornography possession to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and all three professors were exonerated as the raid warrants were deemed unconstitutional. The scandal has been dramatized in The Scarlet Professor and the PBS documentary The Great Pink Scare.[8][9][10]
  • October – The church newspaper printed an article on homosexuality based on a speech from a Salt Lake City psychiatrist. The article said male homosexuality was an illness caused by an absent father and a domineering mother in early adolescence which caused the child to identify more with the female. It added homosexuality could be cured by psychiatric treatment, and prevented by fathers "wear[ing] the pants in the family" and working and playing with their boys.[11]

1961

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  • September – An editorial in the church newspaper by apostle Mark Petersen used the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in American Fork, Utah, to characterize homosexual people as child rapists and "deviates pose[ing] a danger to children on every street in every community". He added, "Molesters, rapists, killers, homosexuals ... are emotionally sick and disabled creatures. ... They are waiting. They are hunting. They are seeking .... The deviates prowl that jungle."[12]

1962

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  • February – Apostle Lee gave a lengthy anecdote about a woman in love with another woman stating that the ugly practice and unpardonable sin of homosexuality is more common than we realize. He had her promise to never return to homosexuality and pray to become what he termed a normal, natural woman.[13]: 230–232 [2]: 92 [14]
 
Under BYU president Wilkinson no students were allowed to attend BYU who were known to be attracted to people of the same sex.[1]: 379  Additionally, student spying[15]: 207–217  and bishops were encouraged to report students' confidential confessions to the Honor Code Office.[16]: 154 
  • May – The movie Advise & Consent (based on the book) premiered featuring the story of a married Mormon US senator named Brigham Anderson from Utah who has an affair with another man. It had the first mainstream American film depiction of a gay bar.[17][18]
  • September – Under president Ernest Wilkinson a complete ban of any students attracted to people of the same sex regardless of behavior was instituted at BYU per the directives of apostles Kimball and Petersen.[1]: 379 [16]: 154  The ban lasted until April 1973.[19][16]: 155  Wilkinson received permission in 1967 to request that BYU bishops report any student whom they suspected was breaking rules or who had confessed to violating BYU conduct codes. This resulted in 72 students suspected of homosexual activity reported to the Standards Office (now called the Honor Code Office) within the first year of the new policy, and many expulsions and suspensions. Security files were kept on suspected gay students and student spying was encouraged.[16]: 154 [15]: 207–217 

1964

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  • July – Apostle Kimball addressed seminary and institute faculty on BYU campus calling homosexuality a "malady", "disease", and an "abominable and detestable crime against nature" that was "curable" by "self mastery".[20]: 33 [21] He cited one lay bishop (a businessman by trade) assigned by the church to administer a "program of rehabilitation" through which there had been "numerous cures". He said "the police, the courts, and the judges" had referred "many cases directly" to the church.[22][2]: 91 

1965

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Spencer W. Kimball was assigned as a church specialist on homosexuality in 1947[23]: 381  and shaped church teachings on the subject through numerous speeches and publications in the 1960s and 1970s.
  • January – Kimball again addressed homosexuality in a January 5 BYU speech. He called it a "gross", "heinous", "obnoxious", "abominable" "vicious" sin. The text states that those with homosexual "desires and tendencies" could "correct" and "overcome" it "the same as if he had the urge toward petting or fornication or adultery", but that "the cure ... is like the cure for alcoholism, subject to continued vigilance". In the speech he stated BYU "will never knowingly enroll ... nor tolerate ... anyone with these tendencies who fails to repent", and that it is a "damnable heresy" for a homosexual person to say "God made them that way". He also stated that sometimes masturbation is an introduction to homosexuality.[24][16]: 149 
  • April – In a churchwide broadcast address the apostle Mark Petersen cited the movements to remove laws banning same-sex sexual activity in at least two US states as great evidence of apostasy, rejecting God, and society placing itself in the role of anti-Christ.[25]
  • March – Church president David McKay told his counselors that homosexual people should be dealt with immediately and excommunicated if they are guilty, and that "the homosexual has no right to membership in the church".[20]: 17 
  • November – Ernest L. Wilkinson, the president of BYU and Commissioner of Church Education, gave an address on September 23 to the BYU student body, stating, "nor do we intend to admit to this campus any homosexuals. ... [I]f any of you have this tendency, ... may I suggest you leave the University immediately .... We do not want others on this campus to be contaminated by your presence."[26] The speech was later published in the church-owned Deseret News.[27][16]: 154 
  • December – Kimball wrote a gay male member stating that "homosexual relationships are dead-end" and that the man's partner would leave him if he could "no longer be 'used'".[28]

1966

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  • May – A letter to the editor was published in the church's newspaper which said, "we are constantly pressured to understand and help murderers, rapists, thieves and now the 'poor, sick, misunderstood homosexual.' ... The believers of the Bible know what the Bible has to say of homosexuals, and that it states the penalty is death for this act. ... This is degeneration which we must not condone, legalize, or 'learn to live with.'"[29]
  • August – An editorial in the church's newspaper noted that "Legislatures are beginning to relax moral laws relating not only to adulterous relationships but also to homosexuality and prostitution." The article asked, "What is wrong with a lawmaker who condones homosexuality? ... And what is wrong with citizens who elect such lawmakers?"[30]
  • October – Milton R. Hunter lamented that "attitudes toward homosexuality have been liberalized in England" and that many US leaders were "clamoring for a liberal attitude in our land" in a General Conference address.[31][32]
  • October – Patriarch of the church Eldred G. Smith cited "a campaign ... launched to bring acceptance to homosexuality" as one example of "corruption" and "conditions at home" manifesting the "cycle of ... unrighteousness and wickedness" that lead to "wars and destruction" like the current "war in Viet Nam" in a General Conference speech.[33][34]

1967

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  • October – The church's newspaper published an editorial which stated if a mother over-indulges her son he may turn against parenthood and women, and this rebellion drove one son into a homosexual life.[35]

1968

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The 1968 leader handbook was the first release to explicitly mention homosexuality.
  • 1968 – A version of the Church Handbook was released containing the first explicit mention of homosexuality. It specifies that "homo-sexual acts" require a church court.[36]
  • March – The Deseret News published an editorial which stated a distressing sign of breakdown in American morals was a recent report of many Episcopalian priests saying homosexuality was not immoral.[37]

1969

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Kimball's influential book taught that homosexuality was curable and was officially recommended as a resource for homosexual members into the 1990s.[40]: 2 
  • 1969 – Kimball released his book The Miracle of Forgiveness, in which he teaches that masturbation can lead to acts of homosexuality. His book was quoted in a 1979 church manual: "the glorious thing to remember is that [homosexuality] is curable .... Certainly it can be overcome .... How can you say the door cannot be opened until your knuckles are bloody, till your head is bruised, till your muscles are sore?"[41] Kimball viewed many homosexuals as "basically good people who have become trapped in sin" and that "some totally conquer homosexuality in a few months." However, he also says that homosexual behavior can lead to sex with animals.[42]
  • April – Apostle Harold B. Lee stated that homosexuality is a prostitution of love and the ugliest relationship that we know.[13]: 230 [43]
  • April – Mark E. Petersen cites how homosexuality "was made a capital crime in the Bible" as evidence of the seriousness of sexual sin in a general conference address. He states "immorality is next to murder" and "the wage of sin is death" and that a rejection of morality "may bring about [this nation's] fall" as with "Greece and Rome" unless there was repentance.[44][45]
  • October – An article in the church's newspaper quoted one school superintendent stating, "All-boy school or all-girl schools tend to reinforce a deviant way of life ... and homosexual behavior is likely to result."[46]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Quinn, D. Michael (1996). Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0252022050.
  2. ^ a b c Winkler, Douglas A. (May 2008). Lavender Sons of Zion: A History of Gay Men in Salt Lake City, 1950–1979. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Department of History. ISBN 9780549493075.
  3. ^ Young, Neil J. (July 1, 2016). Out of Obscurity: Mormonism Since 1945. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199358229. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  4. ^ Petersen, Mark (March 17, 1960). "The Fight Against Smut". Deseret News. p. 10A. Archived from the original on March 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Heredia, Christopher (February 19, 2006). "Joel Dorius—gay professor in '60s porn scandal". SFGATE. Hearst Communications, Inc.
  6. ^ "News & Events: Former Smith Professor Joel Dorius Dies". smith.edu. Smith College. February 20, 2006. Archived from the original on December 31, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  7. ^ McLellan, Dennis (February 23, 2006). "Joel Dorius, 87; Educator Convicted, Exonerated in '60s Gay Pornography Case". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 25, 2018.
  8. ^ McFadden, Robert D. (February 20, 2006). "Joel Dorius, 87, Victim in Celebrated Anti-Gay Case, Dies". The New York Times.
  9. ^ "The Great Pink Scare". pbs.org. Public Broadcasting Service.
  10. ^ Calamia, Don (June 2006). "Oh, those scary homos: PBS documentary traces 1960s gay witch hunt". pridesource.com. Pride Source Media Group. Retrieved June 1, 2006.
  11. ^ "Psychiatrist Calls for Return of Father-Figure in the Home". Deseret News. October 19, 1960. p. A17. Archived from the original on March 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Petersen, Mark (September 20, 1961). "The Prowler in the Jungle". Deseret News. p. 22A – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ a b Williams, Clyde J. (1996). The Teachings of Harold B. Lee. Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft Inc. ISBN 1570084831.
  14. ^ Lee, Harold (February 3, 1962). The Light of Christ (Speech). BYU Institute of Religion: LDS Church.
  15. ^ a b Bergera, James; Priddis, Ronald (1985). Brigham Young University: A House of Faith. Signature Books. ISBN 0941214346. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  16. ^ a b c d e f O'Donovan, Rocky Connell (1994). "'The Abominable and Detestable Crime against Nature': A Brief History of Homosexuality and Mormonism, 1840-1980". Multiply and Replenish: Mormon Essays on Sex and Family. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-050-7. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
  17. ^ White, Armond (October 25, 2016). "Politicizing Homophobia: How Director Otto Preminger Challenged Hollywood—Then and Now". Out Magazine.
  18. ^ Packer, George (February 22, 2010). "Good Old Days in the Senate". The New Yorker.
  19. ^ O'Donovan, Rocky Connell (April 28, 1997). Private pain, public purges: a history of homosexuality at Brigham Young University (Speech). University of California Santa Cruz.[dead link‍] Reprinted here.
  20. ^ a b Prince, Gregory A. (2019). Gay Rights and the Mormon Church: Intended Actions, Unintended Consequences. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press. ISBN 9781607816638.
  21. ^ Bracken, Seth (April 14, 2011). "Through the Years". Q Salt Lake.
  22. ^ Kimball, Spencer W. (July 10, 1964). A Counselling Problem in the Church. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University. pp. 1–21. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  23. ^ Kimball, Edward L.; Kimball, Andrew E. (1977). Spencer W. Kimball: Twelfth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft. ISBN 0884943305. Also available at archive.org
  24. ^ Kimball, Spencer W (January 5, 1965), "Love vs. Lust", BYU Speeches of the Year. Transcript reprint with permission by the Mental Health Resource Foundation at mentalhealthlibrary.info. Note: References to homosexuality were removed in the reprinted version of the speech in the 1972 book compilation of Kimball's speeches "Faith Precedes the Miracle".
  25. ^ Mark, Petersen (April 4, 1965). "No True Worship without Chastity". The Improvement Era. Salt Lake City: LDS Church: 504.
  26. ^ Wilkinson, Ernest (September 23, 1965). Make Honor Your Standard. Brigham Young University. p. 8.
  27. ^ Wilkinson, Ernest (November 13, 1965). "Make Honor Your Standard". Deseret News: Church News: 11–12 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ Kimball, Edward L. (1982). The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball. Bookcraft. p. 274. ISBN 9780884944720.
  29. ^ Isbell, Cora (May 27, 1966). "We Must Not Condone". Deseret News. p. 18A – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ "The Battle for Virtue". Deseret News. August 20, 1966. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ Hunter, Milton R. "Seeking Peace and Happiness". scriptures.byu.edu. Brigham Young University. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  32. ^ One Hundred Thirty-Sixth Semi-Annual Conference Report (PDF). Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. p. 39. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 19, 2016. Retrieved November 19, 2016. See also here.
  33. ^ Smith, Elred G. (December 1966). "Repent and Turn to God". Improvement Era. LDS Church: 1128.
  34. ^ One Hundred Thirty-Sixth Semi-Annual Conference Report (PDF). Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. p. 78. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 19, 2016. Retrieved November 19, 2016. See also here.
  35. ^ "Tendency Toward Extremes". Deseret News. April 15, 1967. p. 20 – via Newspapers.com.
  36. ^ General Handbook of Instructions (20 ed.). Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church. 1968. p. 122.
  37. ^ "See No Evil–Think No Evil". Deseret News. March 2, 1968. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. ^ Shields, Steven L. (2001). Divergent Paths of the Restoration: A History of the Latter-day Saint Movement. Herald House. p. 100. ISBN 0830905693. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
  39. ^ The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization. AltaMira Press. July 23, 2002. p. 107. ISBN 075910204X. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
  40. ^ Understanding and Helping Those Who Have Homosexual Problems. LDS Church. 1992. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  41. ^ The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles. LDS Church. 1979. pp. 314–21. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
  42. ^ Kimball, Spencer W. (1969), The Miracle of Forgiveness, Bookcraft, ISBN 978-0-88494-192-7
  43. ^ Lee, Harold (April 3, 1969). By Love Unfeigned (Speech). Regional Representatives' Seminar. LDS Church.
  44. ^ Petersen, Mark E. "The Dangers of the So-called Sex Revolution". scriptures.byu.edu. Brigham Young University. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  45. ^ One Hundred Thirty-Ninth Annual Conference Report (PDF). Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. April 5, 1969. p. 65. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 19, 2016. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  46. ^ Lund, Wanda (October 8, 1969). "Be Kind, Firm in Treating Hostile Youths, Aide Says". Deseret News. p. D1 – via Newspapers.com.
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