Lably
Skip to content

Homosexuality and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

  • 29 min read
  • 11 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Bisexuality, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and Gender role

In order to receive church ordinances such as baptism, and to enter church temples, adherents are required to practice sexual abstinence outside a legal marriage between one man and one woman. Additionally, in the church's plan of salvation noncelibate gay and lesbian individuals will not be allowed in the top tier of heaven to receive exaltation unless they repent during mortality, and a heterosexual marriage is a requirement for exaltation. The church's policies and treatment of LGBTQ people have long been a source of controversy both within and outside the church, and a notable cause of disagreement and disaffection among members.

The LDS Church has campaigned against government recognition of same-sex marriage, and the topic of same-sex marriage has been one of the church's foremost public concerns since 1993. It has also supported legislation protecting members of the LGBTQ community against discrimination in employment, that also exempt religious institutions from honoring these protections. As of 2018, penalties from church leaders are stiffer for same-sex sexual sins than for heterosexual ones in matters of general church discipline, missionary requirements, and code of conduct enforcement at church-run universities.

The church's statements and actions throughout its history have overwhelmingly focused on male homosexuality, and only rarely on female homosexuality (lesbianism) or bisexuality. Church leaders previously taught that homosexuality was a curable condition. They counseled members that they could and should change their attractions, and provided conversion therapy and programs with that goal. From 1976 until 1989, the church handbook of policies called for church discipline for members attracted to the same sex, punishing merely being homosexual with sanctions similar to those for acts of adultery and child molestation. Even celibate gay people were subject to excommunication.

More recent church publications state that individuals do not choose same-sex attractions, and the church opposes conversion therapy. Church-run therapy services no longer provide sexual orientation change efforts. and the church has no official stance on the causes of homosexuality. Current teachings indicate that members who experience same-sex attraction may either pursue a mixed-orientation marriage with an opposite-sex partner or remain celibate

Overview

Summarized changes in teachings through the decades

Since the first recorded mentions of homosexuality by top church leaders, teachings and policies around the nature, etiology, mutability, and identity around same-sex romantic and physical attractions have seen many changes through the decades. Church teachings and rhetoric regarding homosexuality have shifted over time. In earlier decades, some global church leaders (called general authorities) suggested various possible causes of homosexuality—including addiction, environmental influences, family dynamics, and selfishness —while generally dismissing biological explanation The church has since reversed many of its stances around homosexuality, including moving to a stance of neutrality on the origins of homosexuality, and acknowledging by implication that past leaders' encouragement of mixed-orientation marriages may have been erroneous. A table summarizing some of the major shifts in official dialogue is shown below.

Though the church's position of homosexual behavior as sinful has remained the same, the tone in rhetoric from top leaders has transitioned to sympathetic concern for those "afflicted" with same-sex attraction. Some researchers from the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion argue that this shift is ultimately just reproducing the same anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, but disguising it "in a kinder package" with a "gentler façade" to deflect criticism of overt homophobia, and that this rhetoric serves to strengthen institutional church power and the heterosexual subordination of LGBTQ people despite their growing societal acceptance. In reference to the harsh rhetoric on homosexuality of the past, the apostle D. Todd Christofferson stated in 2015, "I think we can express things better." The same year the apostle Dallin H. Oaks spoke on the topic saying, "I know that the history of the church is not to seek apologies or to give them. We sometimes look back on issues and say, 'Maybe that was counterproductive for what we wish to achieve,' but we look forward and not backward."

Previous teachings that have changed include the belief that homosexual attractions themselves were not inborn, and a curable illness. In 1959, in response to a rash of arrests of gay men in Utah and Idaho, church president David O. McKay appointed the apostles Spencer W. Kimball and Mark E. Petersen to focus on "curing" gay members. That same year the church's largest school Brigham Young University (BYU) began its on-campus electroshock aversion therapy program attempting to eliminate or diminish homosexual attractions which lasted over three decades into the mid-1990s. At the time, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) classified homosexuality as a mental illness in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and Kimball adamantly stated on multiple occasions that it could and should be cured. Kimball also taught that local church leaders could influence gay members by quoting scripture to them, appealing to their reason, encouraging them to abandon gay lovers and associates, praying with them, and encouraging them to replace any sexual expression of homosexual feelings with heterosexual dating. In 1973 the APA removed homosexuality from the DSM, and in 1990 the World Health Organization (WHO) removed homosexuality from its list of disorders in the International Classification of Diseases.

Later, the church softened its stance on gay feelings, instead shifting to a focus on homosexuality as a behavior that should be overcome. This change was reflected in a 1992 guidebook update removing all previous references to homosexuality as a disease. Top leaders also taught on several occasions from the 1970s to the early 2000s that homosexual feeling may stem from a confusion over one's gender identity or gender roles. Since then the church has acknowledged the differences between gender identity and sexual orientation.

Some changes in teachings have seemed abrupt and contradictory as was the case in 1995 when a First Presidency leader affirmed in the church's Ensign magazine that the idea of an inborn homosexual orientation was a false belief with no scientific evidence, reasoning that if homosexuality were inborn it would frustrate God's plan. In the next month's edition, however the apostle Oaks refuted those statements (though without referring to them directly) by asserting that inheritance may have a complex relationship with a person's homosexual orientation.

In canonized scripture

The entire body of canonized LDS scriptures (i.e. the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants) is silent on same-sex sexual activity, except for the Bible. However, one man's heterosexual misconduct (coupled with forsaking a ministry) was described in the Book of Mormon as the "most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost." The church interprets certain Bible passages as forbidding same-sex erotic behavior.

Proposed historical tolerance

LDS historian Greg Prince wrote that prior to 1968 there was no standardized church response to homosexual attractions and intercourse, and that the most frequent response for over a century had been "benign neglect". Similarly, the LDS-raised historian D. Michael Quinn stated that early church leaders had a more tolerant view of homosexuality given that during the 19th century, the church (like American society as a whole) was relatively tolerant of same-sex intimate relationships. Quinn also stated that several prominent Utahns were not disciplined after stating they were living in romantic relationships with their same-sex domestic partners (though historic evidence often only hints at and does not prove sex between particular individuals). For example Mormon Tabernacle Choir director Evan Stephens never married a woman but had intimate relationships and shared a bed with a series of male domestic partners and traveling companions. These relationships were described with a euphemism in a church magazine.

Also notable was the relationship of Louise B. Felt and May Anderson, the church's first two general presidents of Primary, the church's organization for children. They lived together in the same bedroom for decades and were referred to by other top Primary leaders as the "David and Jonathan" of Primary. Additionally, LDS-raised sociologist Kimball Young cited the early church's practice of sealing men to each other as evidence of latent same-sex romantic desires.

Early instances

There were several known or alleged instances of members participating in same-sex sexual and romantic relationships in the 19th century and early 20th century. These include the young man George Naylor, the actress Ada Russell, and the researcher Mildred Berryman. During the early days of the church, when same-sex sexual activity by a member was suspected, the accused was sometimes disfellowshipped or excommunicated, and from 1852 on, under the church-controlled Utah Territory legislature, any sex between males was punished by the courts. Just over a decade after the church's founding the first known instance of church discipline for same-sex sexual activity occurred over the alleged acts between church leader John Bennett and Francis Higbee. Historian Valeen Avery has suggested that one of church founder Joseph Smith's sons, David Hyrum Smith (born in 1844, died in 1904), may have been gay.

Patriarch Joseph Fielding Smith

One of the more prominent instances of same-sex erotic activity by a Mormon man in the early 20th century was that of the presiding patriarch Joseph Fielding Smith. He served in the position only four years before being released by church president George Albert Smith, reportedly for reasons of "ill health." However, there is evidence he had been involved in several gay affairs with at least three men.

Increasing attention from leadership

Though the terms "homosexuality" was in use in the United States (US) since 1892, the first instance of the term "homosexuality" in senior church leadership public discourse was in a 1952 General Conference speech. The first time homosexuality was explicitly discussed in the church's Handbook of Instructions was in the 1968 edition, over 130 years into the church's history. Quinn has suggested that early LDS Church leaders had a more tolerant view of homosexuality, but leaders like then apostle Gordon B. Hinckley have stated that top leaders have always considered homosexual behavior a serious sin. It appears that by the 1940s church leaders developed a greater preoccupation with homosexual behavior, as by 1947 apostle Charles Callis was assigned to handle cases of church members suspected of or having confessed to same-sex sexual behavior. Additionally, surveillance had been organized in 1945 to stop reported male-male sexual activity in the church's (now-demolished) Deseret Gymnasium steam room. Callis was succeeded in his appointment over homosexual cases by the apostle Spencer W. Kimball in 1947. Kimball began sharing this role with apostle Mark E. Petersen in 1959. Within eight years they had collectively counseled over one thousand individuals on the topic of homosexuality. From 1969 through at least 2013, nearly every year saw at least a mention of homosexuality in top leaders' discourse in general conference and the church's main magazine. From the 1950s into the 1990s top leaders taught that homosexuality was a problem correlated with the destruction of American society. Additionally, from the 1970s into at least the present they taught it was related to the destruction of the family, and a contradiction of God-given gender norms.

Sign in to keep reading

10 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Psychology

PsychologyStudy of mental functions and behaviorsAnxietyUnpleasant emotionCognitionMental process dealing with knowledgePsychoanalysisSet of therapeutic techniques established by Sigmund FreudAmerican Psychological AssociationScientific and professional organizationPsychotherapyClinically applied psychology for desired behavior change