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

{{For timeline|Timeline of LGBTQ Mormon history}}

{{For timeline|Timeline of teachings on homosexuality in the LDS church}}

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.{{refn|{{cite book|last1=Vance|first1=Laura|title=Women in New Religions|publisher=New York University Press|location=New York City|isbn=978-1479816026|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NUSWBgAAQBAJ|access-date=February 27, 2023|date=2015-03-13|url-access=limited|via=Google Books}}{{rp|45–46}}{{cite news|last1=Harrison|first1=Mette Ivie|title=Mormons and Gays: Where Are We Now?|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mette-ivie-harrison/mormons-and-gays-where-ar_b_9477504.html|access-date=February 27, 2023|work=Huffington Post|location=New York City|date=March 18, 2016}}{{rp|13–21}}}} Church rhetoric around homosexuality has softened over time.{{refn|{{cite book|last1=Schow|first1=Ron|last2=Schow|first2=Wayne|last3=Raynes|first3=Marybeth|title=Peculiar People: Mormons and Same-Sex Orientation|date=June 1991|publisher=Signature Books|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|isbn=978-1-56085-046-5|pages=xxiv–xxvii|url=https://archive.org/details/peculiarpeoplemo0000unse|access-date=February 27, 2023|via=Internet Archive| url-access=registration}}{{cite book|last1=Young|first1=Neil J.|title=Out of Obscurity: Mormonism Since 1945|date=July 1, 2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199358229|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jcySDAAAQBAJ|access-date=February 27, 2023|via=Google Books|url-access=limited}}{{rp|169–170}}{{cite news|title=Mormon stance on gays softening|url=http://www.richmond.com/news/mormon-stance-on-gays-softening/article_0ba3ef35-4728-5041-b727-01b8388c1169.html|access-date=February 27, 2023|newspaper=Richmond Times-Dispatch|date=October 9, 2013|url-access=subscription|archive-date=February 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208225019/https://richmond.com/news/mormon-stance-on-gays-softening/article_0ba3ef35-4728-5041-b727-01b8388c1169.html|url-status=live|via=Internet Archive}}}} For example, global church leaders (called general authorities) in the past unambiguously pronounced over 30 purported causes of homosexuality (e.g. addiction,{{Cite news |date=1981-04-06 |title=Mormon Church Elder Calls Homosexuality an Addiction |language=en-US |page=A12 |work=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/06/us/around-the-nation-mormon-church-elder-calls-homosexuality-an-addiction.html }} contagion, recruiting, domineering mother, selfishness{{cite book|last1=Packer|first1=Boyd K.|author-link=Boyd K. Packer|title=To The One|date=1978|publisher=LDS Church|url=https://archive.org/details/ToTheOne|via=Internet Archive|access-date=February 26, 2023}}{{r|2the1|p=36–38|q=Have you explored the possibility that the cause [of homosexual temptation] ... will turn out to be a very typical form of selfishness—selfishness in a very subtle form? ... It is very possible to cure it by treating selfishness.}}) and denied biological explanation.{{rp|19}} 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.{{rp|217}} 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 gone from confrontational condemnation to sympathetic concern for those "afflicted" with same-sex attraction.{{rp|11–13}} 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.{{rp|11–12, 17}} 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."{{cite news|last=Fletcher Stack|first=Peggy|author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|title=We all can be more civil on LGBT issues, Mormon leader says|url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=2108746&itype=CMSID|access-date=February 23, 2023|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah |date=30 January 2015}}

Previous teachings that have changed include the belief that homosexual attractions themselves were not inborn,{{cite book|title=Homosexuality|date=1981|publisher=LDS Church|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|url=https://search.lib.byu.edu/byu/record/lee.786190?holding=ey812d1gmuud6iry|url-access=limited|via=Brigham Young University}} Also quoted in Newsweek [http://www.newsweek.com/masturbation-gay-leaked-mormon-church-lgtb-religion-sex-748201 here]. and a curable illness.{{cite book|title=Understanding and Changing Homosexual Orientation Problems|date=1981|publisher=LDS Church|url=https://search.lib.byu.edu/byu/record/lee.2255698|via=Brigham Young University|url-access=limited}} 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.{{rp|381}}{{rp|377}} 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.{{r|Dynamics|p=379|q=Shortly after that [May 21,] 1959 meeting of the Church Board of Education, [Brigham Young University (BYU)] began 'aversion therapy' to 'cure,' 'repair,' or 'reorient' the same-sex desires of Mormon males. These young men were referred to this program by BYU's mental health counselors, by LDS bishops and stake presidents, by BYU's office to enforce student standards, or by referrals from outside BYU (such as mission presidents and general authorities).}}{{rp|90}} 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.{{cite speech|last=Kimball|first=Spencer W.|author-link=Spencer W. Kimball|date=January 5, 1965|title=BYU Speeches of the Year: Love vs. Lust|url=https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/spencer-w-kimball_love-vs-lust/}} Transcript reprint with permission by the Mental Health Resource Foundation at [https://web.archive.org/web/20030519075029/http://mentalhealthlibrary.info/library/same/samelds/samelds2001/links/kimball/kimball.htm 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."{{Cite book|last1=Kimball|first1=Spencer W.|author1-link=Spencer W. Kimball|last2=Petersen|first2=Mark|author2-link=Mark E. Petersen|title=Hope for Transgressors|year=1970|publisher=LDS Church|url=https://archive.org/details/HopeForTransgressors|via=Internet Archive|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{rp|7}} 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.{{rp|2–6}} In 1973 the APA removed homosexuality from the DSM,{{cite journal |last= Haldeman |first= Douglas C. |date= April 1994 |title= The practice and ethics of sexual orientation conversion therapy |journal= Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology |volume= 62 |issue= 2 |pages= 221–227 |doi= 10.1037/0022-006X.62.2.221|pmid= 8201058|id={{ProQuest|614322014}}}} and in 1990 the World Health Organization (WHO) removed homosexuality from its list of disorders in the International Classification of Diseases.{{cite journal|last1=Cochran|first1=Susan D.|title=Proposed declassification of disease categories related to sexual orientation in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11)|journal=Bulletin of the World Health Organization|year=2014|volume=92| issue=9|pages=672–9 |publisher=World Health Organization|pmid=25378758 |pmc=4208576}}{{cite news|last1=Chhiber|first1=Ashley|title=World Health Organization told to declassify sexual orientation as basis of mental disorders|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/07/03/world-health-organization-told-to-declassify-sexual-orientation-as-basis-of-mental-disorders/|newspaper=PinkNews|date=July 3, 2014|access-date=February 27, 2023}}

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.{{cite book|title=Understanding and Helping Those Who Have Homosexual Problems|date=1992|publisher=LDS Church|url=http://www.qrd.org/qrd/religion/judeochristian/protestantism/mormon/mormon-homosexuality|via=Queer Resource Directory}} 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.{{rp|341}} Since then the church has acknowledged the differences between gender identity and sexual orientation.{{cite web|title=Frequently Asked Questions|url=https://mormonandgay.churchofjesuschrist.org/articles/frequently-asked-questions|website=Mormon and Gay|publisher=LDS Church|date=October 2016|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225145241/https://mormonandgay.churchofjesuschrist.org/articles/frequently-asked-questions|via=Internet Archive|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite AV media|title=Trib Talk: LDS leaders Oaks, Christofferson will appear on Trib Talk to discuss religious freedom|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIJ6gL_xc-M?t=14m9s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/UIJ6gL_xc-M |archive-date=December 15, 2021 |url-status=live|publisher=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah |date=January 29, 2015|access-date=February 27, 2023|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}{{cite news|last1=Petrey|first1=Taylor G.|author-link=Taylor G. Petrey|title=A Mormon Leader Signals New Openness on Transgender Issues. This Could Be Huge.|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/02/13/mormons_and_transgender_elder_dallin_h_oaks_says_the_lds_church_is_open.html|access-date=February 27, 2023|agency=Slate |date=February 13, 2015}}

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.{{cite magazine|last=Faust|first=James E.|author-link=James E. Faust|title=Serving the Lord and Resisting the Devil|magazine= Ensign|url = https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1995/09/serving-the-lord-and-resisting-the-devil?lang=eng|publisher=LDS Church|date=September 1995|access-date=February 27, 2023}} 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.{{cite book|last=Quinn|first=D. Michael|author-link=D. Michael Quinn|title=The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power|date=January 15, 1997|publisher=Signature Books|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|isbn=978-1560850601|edition=First|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VnbZAAAAMAAJ|access-date=February 27, 2023|url-access=limited|via=Google Books}}{{rp|58}}{{cite magazine|magazine= Ensign|last1=Oaks|first1=Dallin H.|author-link=Dallin H. Oaks|title=Same-Gender Attraction|url = https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1995/10/same-gender-attraction?lang=eng|publisher=LDS Church|date=October 1995|access-date=February 27, 2023}}

{{see also|The Bible and homosexuality|Christianity and homosexuality|Jewish views on homosexuality}}

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.{{cite thesis|last=Phillips|first=Richard|title=Prophets and Preference: Constructing and Maintaining a Homosexual Identity in the Mormon Church|institution=Utah State University|date=January 1, 1993|id=Paper 2513|url=http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3518&context=etd|access-date=February 27, 2023|type=Master of Science}}{{rp|114}} 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."{{lds|Alma|alma|39|5}}{{lds|2 Nephi|2-ne|13|9}} The church interprets certain Bible passages as forbidding same-sex erotic behavior.{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Clyde J.|title=The Teachings of Harold B. Lee|date=1996|publisher=Bookcraft|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|isbn=978-1570084836|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0JzlwEACAAJ|url-access=limited|access-date=February 27, 2022|via=Google Books}}{{rp|230}}

{{see also|LGBTQ history in the United States}}

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".{{rp|17}} 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).{{rp|pp=4,8}}{{Cite magazine |last=Betancourt |first=Roland |date=2020-10-06 |title=The Overlooked Queer History of Medieval Christianity |url=https://time.com/5896685/queer-monks-medieval-history/ |magazine=Time |access-date=2023-04-10}} 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.{{Cite journal|last=Quinn|first=D. Michael|author-link=D. Michael Quinn|title=Male-Male Intimacy among Nineteenth-century Mormons—a Case Study|journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|volume=28|issue=4|pages=105–28|date=Winter 1995|doi=10.2307/45226148 |jstor=45226148 |s2cid=254394319 |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V28N04_119.pdf|access-date=February 27, 2023}} These relationships were described with a euphemism in a church magazine.{{rp|237–246}}{{Cite magazine|date=October 1919|title=Evan Bach: A True Story for Little Folk, by a Pioneer|magazine=The Children's Friend|editor1=May Anderson|editor2=Primary Association|publisher=LDS Church|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|volume=18|page=386|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jSorAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA386|via=Google Books|access-date=February 27, 2023}}

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.{{rp|125}} 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.{{cite magazine|last1=Williams|first1=Ben|date=August 18, 2004|title=Same-Sex Temple Sealings: Did the Early LDS Church Embrace Homosexual Relationships?|url=https://issuu.com/qsaltlake/docs/metro1_09/18|magazine=Salt Lake Metro|volume=1|issue=9|page=21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928131756/http://qsaltlake.com/2004/9/feature.shtml|archive-date=September 28, 2011|url-status=live|via=Issuu.com|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{rp|136–138}}

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,{{cite book|last1=Stewart|first1=Chuck|title=Proud Heritage: People, Issues, and Documents of the LGBT Experience|date=December 16, 2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1610693981|edition=Third|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8r2aBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1200|via=Google Books|url-access=limited|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{rp|1200}} the actress Ada Russell,{{rp|427–428}} and the researcher Mildred Berryman.{{refn|{{cite book|last1=McHugh|first1=Kathleen A.|last2=Johnson-Grau|first2=Brenda|last3=Sher|section=Mildred Berryman Papers|first3=Ben Raphael|title=Making Invisible Histories Visible|date=2014|publisher=University of California, Los Angeles Center for the Study of Women|location=Los Angeles|isbn=9780615990842|page=68|url=https://archive.org/details/MakingInvisibleHistoriesVisibleTheJuneL.MazerLesbianArchive|via=Internet Archive|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite web|last1=Wood|first1=Stacy|last2=Cubé|first2=Caroline|title=Mildred Berryman papers 1918-1990|url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c87s7qx2/entire_text/|publisher=University of California, Los Angeles|website=Online Archive of California}}{{rp|226–228}}}} 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.{{cite book|last1=Oakes|first1=Amy|title=Diversionary War: Domestic Unrest and International Conflict|date=October 3, 2012|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0804782463|page=125|edition=First|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JzEgDOvlw9AC&pg=PT125|quote=Young created a Mormon theocracy in the Utah territory: his 'word was law in matters both religious and secular.' He established a separate legal system and oversaw the selection of representatives to the territorial legislature.|url-access=limited|access-date=February 27, 2023|via=Google Books}} 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.{{rp|266–267}} 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.{{cite book|first=Valeen Tippetts|last=Avery|author-link=Valeen Tippetts Avery|title=From Mission to Madness: Last Son of the Mormon Prophet|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=1998|location=Champaign, Illinois|chapter=David and Charley| pages=232–243|isbn=978-0-252-02399-6| chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/frommissiontomad00aver_0/page/232|via=Internet Archive|chapter-url-access=registration|access-date=February 27, 2023}}

{{main|Joseph Fielding Smith (presiding patriarch)}}

File:Joseph Fielding Smith (presiding patriarch).jpg

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."{{cite magazine|title=Patriarch to the Church: Released from Duties|magazine=Improvement Era|date=November 1946|volume=49|issue=11|pages=685, 708|url=https://archive.org/details/improvementera4911unse/page/n14/mode/1up|publisher=LDS Church|via=Internet Archive|access-date=February 27, 2023}} However, there is evidence he had been involved in several gay affairs with at least three men.{{refn|{{rp|369–371}}{{cite web|last1=O'Donovan |first1=Connell |author1-link=Connell O'Donovan |last2=Quinn |first2=D. Michael|author-link2=D. Michael Quinn |title=Chronology of Events on Patriarch Joseph Fielding Smith's Homosexuality |url=http://www.affirmation.org/memorial/joseph_fielding_smith.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122080551/http://www.affirmation.org/memorial/joseph_fielding_smith.shtml |archive-date=January 22, 2010 |website=affirmation.org |publisher=Affirmation |access-date=February 27, 2023|url-status=dead |df=mdy-all |via=Internet Archive}}{{cite book|last1=Bates|first1=Irene M.|title=Lost Legacy: The Mormon Office of Presiding Patriarch|date=1996|publisher=University of Illinois Press|jstor=10.5406/j.ctv80c9xm|location=Champaign, Illinois|isbn=9780252071157|doi=10.5406/j.ctv80c9xm|edition=2003 Paperback|url=https://archive.org/details/lostlegacymormon0000bate/page/n3/mode/2up|pages=195–196, 200|via=Internet Archive|access-date=February 27, 2023|url-access=registration}}}}

Though the terms "homosexuality" was in use in the United States (US) since 1892, the first instance of the term "homosexuality" in top church leader's public discourse was in a 1952 General Conference speech.{{refn|{{cite magazine|last1=Clark|first1=J. Reuben|author-link=J. Reuben Clark|title=Home and the Building of Home Life|magazine=Relief Society Magazine|date=October 2, 1952| pages=793–794 |via=Internet Archive| access-date=February 27, 2023| url=https://archive.org/details/reliefsocietymag1952reli/page/790|quote=... [T]he crimes for which Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed—we have coined a softer name for them than came from old; we now speak of homosexuality, which, it is tragic to say, is found among both sexes. ...Not without foundation is the contention of some that the homosexuals are today exercising great influence in shaping our art, literature, music, and drama.}}{{cite book|last=Quinn|first=D. Michael|author-link=D. Michael Quinn|title=Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example|date=1996|url-access=limited|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0252022050|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXVj398JvnsC|via=Google Books|location=Champaign, Illinois}}{{rp|422}}{{rp|15}}}} 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.{{rp|10}} 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.{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Michael |title=Mormon Links AIDS to 'Sexual Adventurism' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/04/05/mormon-links-aids-to-sexual-adventurism/13862e36-c311-474a-a99c-624b952138d3/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 5, 1987|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite magazine |last=Hinckley |first=Gordon B. |author-link=Gordon B. Hinckley |title=Reverence and Morality |magazine= Ensign|publisher=LDS Church |date=May 1987 |page=45 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1987/05/reverence-and-morality?lang=eng|access-date=February 27, 2023}} 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.{{cite journal|last1=Mohrman|first1=K.|title=Queering the LDS Archive|journal=Radical History Review|date=May 2015|volume=2015 |issue=122|url=https://www.academia.edu/29131334|via=Academia.edu|page=154|doi=10.1215/01636545-2849585 |access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{rp|271}} Additionally, surveillance had been organized in 1945 to stop reported male-male sexual activity in the church's (now-demolished) Deseret Gymnasium steam room.{{rp|307}} Callis was succeeded in his appointment over homosexual cases by the apostle Spencer W. Kimball in 1947.{{cite book|last1=Kimball|first1=Edward L.|last2=Kimball|author-link1=Edward L. Kimball|first2=Andrew E.|title=Spencer W. Kimball: Twelfth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|date=1977|isbn=978-0884943303|publisher=Bookcraft|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|url=https://archive.org/details/spencerwkimballt00kimb|url-access=registration|via=Internet Archive|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{rp|271}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.qsaltlake.com/news/2011/09/01/lambda-lore-the-birth-of-mormon-homophobia/|title=The birth of Mormon homophobia|last1=Williams|first1=Ben|date=September 1, 2011|access-date=February 27, 2023|magazine=QSaltLake|location=Salt Lake City, Utah}} Kimball began sharing this role with apostle Mark E. Petersen in 1959.{{refn|{{rp|381}}{{rp|307}}{{rp|147}}}} Within eight years they had collectively counseled over one thousand individuals on the topic of homosexuality.{{rp|33}} 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.{{rp|6}} From the 1950s into the 1990s top leaders taught that homosexuality was a problem correlated with the destruction of American society.{{rp|6–8}} Additionally, from the 1970s into at least the present they taught it was related to the destruction of the family,{{rp|6, 8–10}} and a contradiction of God-given gender norms.{{rp|6, 10–11}}

{{main|Beliefs and practices of the LDS Church}}

{{As of|2024}}, all homosexual or same-sex sexual activity is forbidden by the church in its law of chastity, and the church teaches that God does not approve of same-sex marriage.{{cite news |last1=Lilly |first1=Christiana |title=Gay? Mormon? 'Affirmation' Can Help |url=https://southfloridagaynews.com/Community/gay-mormon-affirmation-can-help.html |access-date=February 28, 2023 |newspaper=South Florida Gay News |date=April 18, 2014}} Adherents who participate in same-sex sexual behavior may face church discipline. {{As of|2018}}, penalties from church leaders are stiffer for same-sex transgressions than for heterosexual ones in general church discipline, missionary requirements, and honor code enforcement at church-owned universities. Members of the church who experience homosexual attractions, including those who self-identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual remain in good standing in the church if they abstain from same-sex marriage and all sexual relations outside an opposite-sex marriage.{{rp|116}} All people, however, including those participating in same-sex activity and relationships, are permitted to attend weekly church worship services. According to church teachings, after their deaths non-celibate gay and lesbian individuals will not be allowed in the top tier of heaven to receive unless they repent, and a heterosexual marriage is a requirement for exaltation. In the LDS Church's cosmology God the Father is a heterosexual man married to at least one Heavenly Mother,{{Cite journal |last=Rosetti |first=Cristina |date=2022-04-01 |title='O My Mother': Mormon Fundamentalist Mothers in Heaven and Women's Authority |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/o-my-mother-mormon-fundamentalist-mothers-in-heaven-and-womens-authority/ |journal=Dialogue |publisher=University of Illinois Press |volume=55 |issue=1 |page=133 |doi=10.5406/15549399.55.1.05 |issn=0012-2157}}{{cite book |last1=Morrill |first1=Susanna |title=White Roses on the Floor of Heaven: Mormon Women's Popular Theology, 1880-1920 |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York City |isbn=0415977355 |pages=55,108 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Q0pRe-KOSYC&pg=PA55}}{{cite journal |last1=Moench Charles |first1=Melodie |title=The Need for a New Mormon Heaven |journal=Dialogue|publisher=University of Illinois Press |date=Fall 1988 |volume=21 |issue=3 |page=83 |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V21N03_75.pdf| quote=During the era of polygamy some suggested that she is only one of many mothers in heaven. They reasoned that procreation of spirit children could be accomplished more efficiently if Heavenly Father could impregnate many heavenly mothers, just as exalted mortals' procreation of spirit children could be accomplished more efficiently if exalted mortal males could impregnate many wives.}} and reproduction for exalted beings is an important element of the afterlife.{{Cite thesis |last=Sutton |first=Travis |title='According to their wills and pleasures': the sexual stereotyping of Mormon men in American film and television |date=May 2009 |degree=Masters of Film |publisher=University of North Texas |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc9825/m2/1/high_res_d/thesis.pdf}}{{rp|47–49}} The church teaches that homosexual behavior has always been a grievous sin,{{cite book |last1=Packer |first1=Boyd |author-link=Boyd K. Packer |title=To Young Men Only |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311171249/https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/33382_eng.pdf |url=https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/33382_eng.pdf |url-status=dead |via=LDS.org |publisher=LDS Church |archive-date=11 March 2016}} and it no longer holds a position on the origins of homosexuality.{{refn|{{rp|217–218}}}}

{{see also|Baptism in Mormonism}}

In order to receive church ordinances such as baptism, and to participate in temple rites, adherents are required to abstain from same-sex relations or any sexual activity outside a legal marriage between one man and one woman. As of 2019, when baptismal candidates confess during a baptismal interview to having committed any "homosexual transgression", they require special clearance from a full-time mission president in order to be baptized.{{cite journal |last1=Gedicks |first1=Frederick Mark |title=Church Discipline and the Regulation of Membership in the Mormon Church |journal=Ecclesiastical Law Journal |date=July 31, 2008 |volume=7 |issue=32 |page=43 |doi=10.1017/S0956618X00004920 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|s2cid=143228475 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ecclesiastical-law-journal/article/abs/church-discipline-and-the-regulation-of-membership-in-the-mormon-church/4402CB9CD8D94750B2EC6D52BB03403A|access-date=February 27, 2023|url-access=subscription }}{{cite book |title=Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service |publisher=LDS Church |page=210 |edition=March 2019 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service/how-do-i-prepare-people-for-baptism-and-confirmation?lang=eng|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite journal |last1=Kimball |first1=Edward L. |author-link=Edward L. Kimball|title=Confession in LDS Doctrine and Practice |journal=BYU Studies Quarterly |date=1996 |volume=36 |issue=2 |page=12 |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3126&context=byusq|publisher=Brigham Young University|access-date=February 27, 2023}} Any past heterosexual activity, however, does not require special clearance from a higher leader (unless the person is still cohabiting with any sexual partner out of wedlock).

File:MISSIONNAIRES MORMONS.JPG

Currently, openly gay youth can serve a full-time proselyting mission for the church if they abstain from sexual activity.{{rp|4}} Although, sex of any kind before a heterosexual marriage may permanently bar a person from serving as a church missionary,{{cite news|last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=2890646&itype=NGPSID |title=Unintended consequence of church's 'raising the bar' |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |access-date=February 23, 2023|location=Salt Lake City, Utah }} any homosexual acts from the age of 15 and later almost always disqualifies a missionary candidate for service (even after years of subsequent celibacy) except "in rare cases".{{cite news |last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy|author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |title='Mormonism's Scarlet Letter'? It's a mark on their membership that follows some gay Latter-day Saints throughout their lives |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/11/30/mormonisms-scarlet/ |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |date=November 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201023158/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/11/30/mormonisms-scarlet/|archive-date=February 1, 2023|url-status=live|via=Internet Archive}}{{cite book|title=Handbook 1: Stake Presidents and Bishops|date=2010|publisher=LDS Church|location=Salt Lake City, Utah| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115192411/https://www.lds.org/manual/handbook-1-stake-presidents-and-bishops/missionary-service/missionary-service?lang=eng| archive-date=November 15, 2017 |url=https://www.lds.org/manual/handbook-1-stake-presidents-and-bishops/missionary-service/missionary-service?lang=eng |url-status=dead}}{{rp|28–29}}

In 1999 church president Gordon B. Hinckley publicly welcomed lesbian and gay people into LDS congregations,{{cite news |last1=Goecker |first1=Liesl |title=A call for more 'Christlike' approach |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=6370067&itype=NGPSID |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |date=July 14, 2007|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{Cite magazine |magazine= Ensign |publisher=LDS Church|first= Gordon B. |last= Hinckley |author-link=Gordon B. Hinckley|title= Why We Do Some of the Things We Do |date= November 1999 |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1999/11/why-we-do-some-of-the-things-we-do?lang=eng |quote= Our hearts reach out to those who refer to themselves as gays and lesbians. We love and honor them as sons and daughters of God. They are welcome in the church.|access-date=February 27, 2023}} and in an interview affirmed them as "good people".{{Cite news|last=Lattin |first=Don |title=Musings of the Main Mormon: Gordon B. Hinckley, 'president, prophet, seer and revelator' of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sits at the top of one of the world's fastest-growing religions |date=April 13, 1997 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|location=San Francisco, California |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/SUNDAY-INTERVIEW-Musings-of-the-Main-Mormon-2846138.php |df=mdy-all |access-date=February 27, 2023}} Church leaders have spoken out against "gay-bashing" and other physical or verbal assaults on those involved in homosexual relationships.{{cite press release|title=Church Responds to HRC Petition: Statement on Same-Sex Attraction|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-mormon-responds-to-human-rights-campaign-petition-same-sex-attraction|access-date=February 27, 2023|date=October 12, 2010|publisher=LDS Church|quote=Sexual activity should only occur between a man and a woman who are married. However, that should never be used as justification for unkindness}} They have also encouraged members to befriend gay members. The church website now implicitly acknowledges the biological causes of homosexuality.{{rp|4}}

In November 2015, the church updated its policies regarding those in legal same-sex unions, stating that such couples are apostates from the church.{{cite news|author-last=Neugebauer|author-first=Cimaron |url=http://kutv.com/news/local/lds-church-issues-update-on-what-is-considered-apostasy|title=LDS Church adds same-sex marriage to definition of apostasy|publisher=KUTV|agency=CBS|date=November 5, 2015}} These policies also barred such couples' children—either adopted or biological—from being baptized, confirmed, ordained, or participating in mission service until reaching adulthood or obtaining parental consent and permission from the First Presidency.{{rp|258}}{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/07/us/mormons-gay-marriage.html|title=Mormons Sharpen Stand Against Same-Sex Marriage|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 6, 2015|url-access=limited|url-status=live|via=Internet Archive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228031514/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/07/us/mormons-gay-marriage.html?_r=0|archive-date=February 28, 2023|location=New York City|access-date=February 27, 2023}} Prior to this, local leadership had more discretion on whether or how far to pursue church disciplinary action against members in same-sex marriages. The policy was controversial and received national criticism.{{rp|261–266}}

In April 2019, the church reversed its policy on couples in same-sex marriages, no longer automatically treating same-sex marriage as apostasy for church discipline. Additionally, children of same-sex couples would now be allowed to receive blessings from a priesthood holder in good standing, and be baptized without First Presidency approval. However, it still considered same-sex marriage to be a "serious transgression," and may discipline church members involved in any same-sex sexual activity.{{Cite news|url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/04/04/lds-church-dumps-its/|url-access=limited|title=LDS Church dumps its controversial LGBTQ policy, cites 'continuing revelation' from God|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|language=en-US|access-date=February 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207191317/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/04/04/lds-church-dumps-its/|archive-date=February 7, 2023|url-status=live|via=Internet Archive}}

Church leaders now teach that it's acceptable to identify as gay.{{r|Frequently Asked Questions|p=1|q=If you experience same-sex attraction, you may choose to use a sexual orientation label to describe yourself. ... If you decide to ... openly identify as gay, you should be supported.}}{{cite web |title=Same-Sex Attraction |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/same-sex-attraction?lang=eng |publisher=LDS Church |access-date=February 27, 2023|date=June 2019}} Previously, church leaders stated that the terms "homosexual", "lesbian", and "gay" should only be used as adjectives to describe feelings or behaviors, and not to describe people.{{refn|{{rp|109, 198, 216}}}} Church leaders have referred to homosexuality as a sexual orientation. Since the 1990s through at least 2015 church leaders have tended to use the term "same-gender attraction" (SGA) instead of "homosexuality" in official publications.{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Loren B. |date=2015 |title=What's in a Name? Examining the Creation and Use of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Labels |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1554&context=irp |journal=Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy |publisher=Brigham Young University |volume=37 |issue=1 |access-date=2023-04-10}}{{rp|26}} Many members have reflected that language in their self-identifications, with its use being interpreted as an in-group signalling of adherence to LDS teachings on sexuality.{{rp|23–24, 28}}

{{see also|Plan of salvation in Mormonism}}

Image:Mormon plan of Salvation diagram (English) (2).jpg

According to religious scholar Taylor G. Petrey, much of the LDS Church's opposition to same-sex relationships stems from its current teachings on the afterlife and the kinds of relationships that will exist there.{{rp|p=108}} On several occasions between 2006 and 2009 multiple top leaders stated that attractions to those of the same sex won't exist after death, saying "it must be true"{{cite book |last1=Coviello |first1=Peter |title=Make Yourselves Gods: Mormons and the Unfinished Business of American Secularism |date=2019 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=9780226474335 |page=222 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8z-3DwAAQBAJ|via=Google Books|url-access=limited|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite press release|title=Elder Bruce C. Hafen Speaks on Same-Sex Attraction|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/blog/elder-bruce-c.-hafen-speaks-on-same-sex-attraction|publisher=LDS Church|date=September 19, 2009|access-date=February 27, 2023|archive-date=June 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190611194249/https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-bruce-c-hafen-speaks-on-same-sex-attraction|url-status=live}} that "gay or lesbian inclinations" will "not exist post-mortality",{{cite web|title=The Mormons: Jeffrey Holland Interview|url=https://www.pbs.org/mormons/interviews/holland.html|publisher=PBS|date=March 4, 2006|access-date=February 27, 2023}} and only occur "right now in mortality."{{cite book|last1=Givens|first1=Terryl L.|author-link1=Terryl Givens|last2=Neilson|first2=Reid L.|id={{ProQuest|2130840276}}|title=The Columbia Sourcebook of Mormons in the United States|date=2014|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0231520607|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=8-cYBQAAQBAJ}}|access-date=February 27, 2023|via=Google Books|url-access=limited}}{{rp|322}} The 2007 church publication "God Loveth His Children" stated that, "others may not be free of this challenge [of same-gender attraction] in this life" but that "our bodies, feelings, and desires will be perfected in the next life so that every one of God’s children may find joy in a family."{{refn|{{rp|46}}{{rp|4}}{{cite news|last1=Olsen|first1=Jessica|title=Study shows LGBT BYU students at higher risk for depression, suicide|at=Mormons and LGBT: A 20-Year Timeline|url=http://universe.byu.edu/2017/01/20/lgbt-byu-students-at-higher-risk-for-depression-suicide1/|newspaper=The Daily Universe|location=Provo, Utah|publisher=Brigham Young University|date=20 January 2017|access-date=February 27, 2023}}}}

The 2012 church website MormonsAndGays.org also stated that "a person’s attraction to the same sex can be addressed and borne as a mortal test. It should not be viewed as a permanent condition. ... some people ... may not have the opportunity to marry a person of the opposite sex in this life, a just God will provide them with ample opportunity to do so in the next."{{cite magazine |last1=Saletan |first1=William |title=Queer Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Mormon case for gay marriage |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2012/12/mormons-and-gays-does-a-new-lds-web-site-pave-the-way-to-accepting-same-sex-marriage.html |magazine=Slate |date=December 10, 2012|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Peterson |first1=Kristen |title=Struggling to Find Common Ground with the Mormon Church's 'New Compassion' for Gays |url=https://lasvegasweekly.com/as-we-see-it/2012/dec/19/struggling-find-common-ground-mormon-churchs/ |newspaper=Las Vegas Weekly |publisher=Greenspun Media Group |date=December 19, 2012|access-date=February 27, 2023}} In the church's plan of salvation noncelibate gay and lesbian individuals will not be allowed in the top tier of heaven to receive what's called exaltation to become like God unless they repent, and a heterosexual marriage is a requirement. Author Charlotte Scholl Shurtz stated that the focus on Heavenly Parents as a cisgender, heterosexual couple enshrines heteronormativity and teaches that heterosexuality is an essential prerequisite to godhood.{{Cite journal |last=Scholl Shurtz |first=Charlotte |date=Spring 2022 |title=A Queer Heavenly Family: Expanding Godhood Beyond a Heterosexual, Cisgender Couple |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/a-queer-heavenly-family-expanding-godhood-beyond-a-heterosexual-cisgender-couple/ |journal=Dialogue |volume=55 |issue=1}}{{rp|69, 77—78}} She further said that current teachings deny exaltation and godhood for LGBTQ people unless they eternally perform a cisgender, heterosexual relationship after death.{{rp|77—78,80}}

The church has occasionally addressed the treatment and views of LGBT+ members. Church leaders have given discretion to local leaders on whether to hold church courts for suspected homosexual members, with options ranging from acquittal to excommunication.{{rp|17}} In 2000 the apostle Packer addressed part of a speech to gay and lesbian youth stating church leaders don't reject, but rather love them, and show their love by teaching and disciplining them.{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Gregory L.|title=Shattered Glass: The Traditions of Mormon Same-Sex Marriage Advocates Encounter Boyd K. Packer|journal=Mormon Studies Review|publisher=Brigham Young University|date=2011|volume=23|issue=1|pages=65–68, 70|url=http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1835&context=msr|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite journal|last1=Petrey|first1=Taylor G.|author-link=Taylor G. Petrey|title=Toward a Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology|journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|date=Winter 2011|volume=44|issue=4|pages=107–143 |doi=10.5406/dialjmormthou.44.4.0106|s2cid=171451944|url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/toward-a-post-heterosexual-mormon-theology/|archive-date=May 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160520014913/https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Dialogue_V44N04_110.pdf#page=34|url-status=live|access-date=February 27, 2023|via=Internet Archive|doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}}{{rp|pp=139–140}} Additionally, the 2007 church pamphlet "God Loveth His Children" stated that some gay members had felt rejection by other members, and criticized members who did not show them love. The document asked gay members to show love and kindness to help other church members become less rejecting.{{cite book|title=God Loveth His Children|year=2007|publisher=LDS Church|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/god-loveth-his-children/god-loveth-his-children?lang=ase|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419021432/http://www.lds.org/topics/pdf/GodLovethHisChildren_04824_000.pdf|archive-date=April 19, 2009|via=Internet Archive|access-date=February 27, 2023|url-status=live}} From 1976 until 1989 under president Kimball the church handbook called for church discipline for members attracted to the same sex equating merely being homosexual with the seriousness of acts of adultery and child molestation—even celibate gay people were subject to excommunication.{{refn|{{rp|16,43}}{{rp|382,422}}{{cite journal|last1=Schow|first1=Ron|title=Homosexual Attractions and LDS Marriage Decisions|journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|date=Fall 2005|volume=38|issue=3|pages=133–143 |doi=10.2307/45227379 |jstor=45227379 |s2cid=254393745 |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V38N03_145.pdf|access-date=June 18, 2017}}{{rp|139}}}} Kimball's numerous publications discussing "curing" homosexuality and condemning same-sex attractions (even without action), and his rise to the church presidency in 1973 set the stage for years of harsh treatment of gay church members.{{rp|36–37}}

There are many current and former members of the church who are attracted to people of the same sex, and they have had a range of positive and negative experiences with their own spiritual lives in the church and with leaders and other members.{{refn|{{cite thesis |last1=Garbero |first1=John |title=Familiarity with Homosexuality 'Changes Hearts': What Lay Members and Former Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Think about LGBP Issues |journal=BYU Undergraduate Honors Theses |date=March 20, 2019 |volume=78 |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1077&context=studentpub_uht|institution=Brigham Young University|degree=Honors Undergraduate|access-date=February 28, 2023}}{{rp|2–8, 27, 42–44}}}} For example, one member who dated other men reported never having problems with his local leaders. Another instance was a Church employee who described in a 2011 article how his stake president denied his temple recommend (resulting in him getting fired from his job) simply because of his friendship with other gay men and his involvement in a charity bingo for Utah Pride.{{cite magazine|last1=Bracken|first1=Seth|title=Living gay in the Mormon Church|url=https://www.qsaltlake.com/news/2011/04/14/living-gay-in-the-church/|date=April 14, 2011|magazine=QSaltLake|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|access-date=February 27, 2023}} One former LDS bishop and temple ordinance officiator Antonio A. Feliz said that his Peruvian mission was directed in the early 1960s{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/outofbishopsclos00feli/|url-access=registration|via=Internet Archive|title=Out of the Bishop's Closet: A Call to Heal Ourselves, Each Other, and Our World|last1=Feliz|first1=Antonio A.|author-link=Antonio A. Feliz|date=April 11, 2011|publisher=Alamo Square Press|isbn=9780962475177|edition=Second|page=24|access-date=February 27, 2023}} by South American area authorities to not teach known homosexuals.{{cite book|last1=Bouldrey|first1=Brian|title=Wrestling with the Angel: Faith and Religion in the Lives of Gay Men|date=May 1, 1996|publisher=Riverhead Trade|isbn=978-1573225458|page=298|edition=Reprint|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqGLGQAACAAJ|via=Google Books|url-access=limited}} Several church employees have been fired,{{cite news|last1=Fruhwirth|first1=Jesse|title=Man Fired from LDS Church For Refusing to Give Up Gay Friends|url=https://www.cityweekly.net/utah/man-fired-from-lds-church-for-refusing-to-give-up-gay-friends/Content?oid=2153419|work=Salt Lake City Weekly|date=March 22, 2011|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite news|last1=Shire|first1=Emily|title=Mormon U. Forces Gays to Be Celibate|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/mormon-u-forces-gays-to-be-celibate|access-date=February 27, 2023|work=The Daily Beast|date=May 13, 2014}}{{cite news|last=Fletcher Stack|first=Peggy|author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|title=Openly gay BYU producer, filmmaker fired|url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=52947893&itype=CMSID|access-date=February 23, 2023|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=November 19, 2011}} or pressured to leave for being gay (despite their celibacy),{{cite book|last1=Waterman|first1=Bryan|last2=Kagel|first2=Brian|title=The Lord's University: Freedom and Authority at BYU|date=1998|publisher=Signature Books|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|isbn=978-1-56085-117-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9z4LAAAACAAJ|url-access=limited|via=Google Books}}{{rp|162–163}}{{cite magazine|title=Gay Professor Leaves University|magazine=Sunstone|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=December 1996|page=74|url=https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/104-67-77.pdf#page=8|access-date=February 27, 2023}} or for expressing support of LGBTQ rights.{{cite news|last1=Hollingshead|first1=Todd|title=BYU fires teacher over op-ed stance|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3934360&itype=NGPSID|access-date=February 23, 2023|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=June 14, 2006}}{{cite news|last1=Schmidt|first1=Samantha|title=Mormon university instructor fired after Facebook post supporting LGBT rights, she says|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/19/mormon-university-instructor-fired-after-facebook-post-supporting-lgbt-rights-she-says/|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 19, 2017|access-date=February 27, 2023|url-access=registration|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203034330/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/19/mormon-university-instructor-fired-after-facebook-post-supporting-lgbt-rights-she-says/|archive-date=December 3, 2022|via=Internet Archive|url-status=live}} Research has found many nonheterosexual members have significant difficulty reconciling their sexual and religious identities.{{cite journal |last1=Cragun |first1=Ryan T. |last2=Williams |first2=Emily |last3=Sumerau |first3=J. E. |title=From Sodomy to Sympathy: LDS Elites' Discursive Construction of Homosexuality Over Time |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |date=September 2015 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=291–310 |doi=10.1111/jssr.12180 }}{{rp|2}}

Numerous surveys have been conducted to gauge LDS member views on LGBTQ topics. In a 2007 US poll, only one-fourth (24%) of members agreed that "homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted" (less than any other major religious group in the survey except for Jehovah's Witnesses), and two-thirds (68%) of LDS adherents said it should be discouraged.{{cite book|title=U.S.Religious Landscape Survey: Religious Beliefs and Practices: Diverse and Politically Relevant|date=June 2008|access-date=February 27, 2023|publisher=Pew Research Center|page=92|url=http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2008/06/report2-religious-landscape-study-full.pdf|quote=Three-quarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses (76%), about six-in-ten Muslims (61%) and roughly two-thirds of Mormons (68%) and members of evangelical churches (64%) say homosexuality ought to be discouraged}}. In a similar poll seven years later there were small changes with one-third (36%) saying homosexuality should be accepted, and about half (57%) stating it should be discouraged.{{cite web|title=Views about homosexuality|url=http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/views-about-homosexuality/#religious-tradition-trend|publisher=Pew Research Center|date=2014|access-date=February 27, 2023}} Data also shown [http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religious-tradition/mormon/#views-about-homosexuality here].

A 2017 poll found that 40% of LDS members supported same-sex marriage while a slim majority (53%) were opposed.{{rp|10}} In the same poll two-thirds (69%) of adherents supported laws that protect LGBTQ Americans against discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.{{rp|15,20}} However, half (53%) of church members said small private business should be able to deny products and services to gay or lesbian people for religious reasons.{{rp|15,20}}

Older surveys from the 20th century include a 1977 Utah poll in which three-fourths of LDS-identified responders opposed equal rights for gay teachers or ministers and 62% favored discrimination against gay people in business and government (versus two-thirds and 38% respectively of non-LDS responders).{{refn|{{cite news |last1=Bardsley |first1=J. Roy |title=Area Residents Oppose Equal Rights for Gays |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=October 9, 1977 |page=A1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119575058/area-residents-oppose-equal-rights-for/|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{rp|15}}{{cite thesis|type=PhD of Philosophy|last1=Winkler|first1=Douglas A.|title=Lavender Sons of Zion: A History of Gay Men in Salt Lake City, 1950—1979|date=May 2008|publisher=University of Utah Department of History|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7mMnAQAAIAAJ|via=Google Books|url-access=limited|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{rp|220}}}} The same poll found that members ranked homosexuality as after only murder and adultery in degree of sinfulness, and two years later a 1980 poll found that members ranked homosexuality as the number one most serious sin.{{rp|27}} At BYU a 1997 poll found that 1/3 of male students would avoid befriending a gay student and 42% of all students believed that even celibate, honor-code-following gay members should be banned from attending the university.{{cite news|last1=Smart|first1=Michael|title=BYU Student Poll: Ban Gay Students|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=March 22, 1997|page=D2|quote=As part of a project for their English class, Sam Clayton, Dale Franklin and Melanie Dinger conducted the school-approved survey to 420 students in randomly selected classes on campus. ... [Clayton] feels the results show a substantial amount of intolerance and prejudice among students towards same-sex oriented people. Clayton, who says he is gay, points to the 42 percent of students who are ignorant of or opposed to the school's policy. He also said that while 91 percent of those surveyed said they were familiar with the church's stance, only a third actually were.|id={{ProQuest|288698514}}|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94127520/byu-student-poll-ban-gay-students/|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=February 3, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203202830/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94127520/byu-student-poll-ban-gay-students/|url-status=live|access-date=February 27, 2023}}

{{Main|Gender minorities and the LDS church}}

Expressions and identities for sexuality and gender are "separate, but related" aspects of a person and stem from similar biological origins.{{cite web|title=Resolution on Gender and Sexual Orientation Diversity in Children and Adolescents in Schools|url=http://www.apa.org/about/policy/orientation-diversity.aspx|publisher=American Psychological Association|access-date=February 27, 2023|date=August 2014}}{{cite journal|last1=Bao|first1=Ai-Min|last2=Swaab|first2=Dick F.|title=Sexual differentiation of the human brain: Relation to gender identity, sexual orientation and neuropsychiatric disorders|journal=Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology|date=April 2011|volume=32|issue=2|pages=214–226|doi=10.1016/j.yfrne.2011.02.007|pmid=21334362|s2cid=8735185 }}{{rp|1}} The church has acknowledged differences between gender identity and sexual orientation stating that leaders have "unfinished business in teaching on [transgender situations]."{{cite news|last1=Levin|first1=Sam|title=Transgender and Mormon: keeping the faith while asking the church to change|newspaper=The Guardian|date=March 28, 2016|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/28/transgender-mormon-lgbt-rights-emmett-claren|access-date=February 27, 2023}} Gender identity and gender roles play an important part in Latter-Day Saint teachings which assert a strict binary of spiritual gender for spirit bodies. Leaders say every person's spirit body is a literal offspring of Heavenly Parents.{{refn|{{rp|19, 276}}{{cite book |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world?lang=eng |title= The Family: A Proclamation to the World |year= 1995 |publisher= LDS Church |access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite magazine |first= David A. |last= Bednar |author-link= David A. Bednar |title= Marriage Is Essential to His Eternal Plan |url = https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2006/06/marriage-is-essential-to-his-eternal-plan?lang=eng |magazine= Ensign |date=June 2006 |page= 83 |access-date=February 27, 2023}}}} According to current church policy, transgender and other gender diverse members who have undergone an “elective transsexual operation” are banned from temple rites or receiving priesthood authority. Additionally, a transgender baptismal candidate who had already undergone gender-confirming surgery can only be baptized with First Presidency approval, and a person currently considering such a surgery is barred from baptism.{{cite news|last1=Allen|first1=Samantha|title=Mormon Man Risks Excommunication By Sharing His Transition|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/16/mormon-man-risks-excommunication-by-sharing-his-transition.html|work=The Daily Beast|date=March 15, 2016|access-date=February 27, 2023}} As of 2020 members who even non-surgically gender transition will receive membership restrictions, particularly with respect to priesthood and temple ordinances.{{cite news |last1=Fletcher Stack |first1=Peggy |author-link1=Peggy Fletcher Stack|last2=Noyce |first2=David |title=LDS Church publishes new handbook with changes to discipline, transgender policy |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/02/19/lds-church-puts-new/ |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |url-access=limited |date=February 21, 2020|access-date=March 2, 2023|archive-date=January 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123181605/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/02/19/lds-church-puts-new/|via=Internet Archive|url-status=live}}{{cite news |last1=Riess |first1=Jana |title=New LDS handbook softens some stances on sexuality, doubles down on transgender members, but bet on more changes |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/02/20/jana-riess-new-lds/ |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |author-link1=Jana Riess |date=February 20, 2020|url-access=limited|archive-date=December 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206125210/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/02/20/jana-riess-new-lds/|url-status=live|via=Internet Archive}}{{cite web |title=Transgender: Understanding Yourself |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/transgender/understanding?lang=eng |date=June 2020 |publisher=LDS Church |access-date=2 March 2023}}

{{Main|LGBTQ Mormon people and organizations}}

{{multiple image

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| image1 = Tyler Glenn at LoveLoud 2018 (44222384032).jpg

| image2 = Katekendell.jpg

| footer = Two nationally recognized LGBTQ former Mormons, Tyler Glenn (left) and Kate Kendell}}

Though there are no official numbers for how many members of the LDS Church identify their romantic orientation as gay, bisexual, or lesbian, Large surveys as recent as 2020 at the predominantly LDS BYU have found over 13% of students had marked their sexual orientation as something other than “strictly heterosexual”. A 1972 study showed that between 10 and 13 percent of college-aged LDS men reported past experimentation with male-male sexual activity, which was similar to the percentage of non-LDS men.{{cite journal|title=Mormon Sex Standards on College Campuses, or Deal Us Out of the Sexual Revolution!|first=Wilford E.|last=Smith|journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|volume=10|issue=2|pages=76–81|date=Autumn 1976|doi=10.2307/45224574 |jstor=45224574 |s2cid=42345681 |doi-access=free|url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/dial/article/10/2/76/244422/MORMON-SEX-STANDARDS-ON-COLLEGE-COMPUSES-OR-DEAL|via=Duke University Press|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Champaign, Illinois|pmid=11614391 |access-date=February 27, 2023|url-access=subscription}} Another poll of BYU students in 1997 found that 10% had a gay family member and 69% knew someone attracted to those of the same sex.{{cite news|last=Fletcher Stack|first=Peggy|author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|title=42 Percent At BYU Want Gays Kept Out; Gays Unwelcome, Say Many at BYU|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=November 9, 1997|id={{ProQuest|288817289}}|pages=B1,B5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94131606/42-percent-at-byu-want-gays-kept-out/|via=Newspapers.com|quote=In the first study, BYU student Samuel Clayton, with the help of several faculty members, gave questionnaires anonymously to 420 students in randomly selected classes. ... Some of Clayton's findings include: 69 percent know someone who is same-sex oriented, 12 percent have a family member who is same-sex oriented, 24 percent would avoid befriending a same-sex-oriented student, 56 percent believe same-sex-oriented students should be allowed to attend BYU if they obey the honor code. Clayton said there was 'a significant gender gap ... Only 16 percent of women would avoid befriending a same-sex-oriented person, compared to 33 percent of men.|access-date=February 27, 2023}} Gary Watts, former president of Family Fellowship, estimated in 2007 that only 10 percent of gay members stayed active in the church.{{cite news|url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2007/08/20/mormon-church-changes-stance-on-homosexuality/|title=Mormon church changes stance on homosexuality|first=Paul|last=Burgarino|date=August 20, 2007|publisher=The Oakland Tribune|access-date=February 23, 2023}}

Prominent LGBTQ or same-sex attracted church members include the apostle Christofferson's brother Tom,{{cite news |last1=Fletcher Stack |first1=Peggy |author-link1=Peggy Fletcher Stack|last2=Noyce |first2=David |title='I couldn't believe it was true' — prominent LGBTQ Latter-day Saint looks back at 2015 policy and strides and missteps since |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/11/21/i-couldnt-believe-it-was/ |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url-access=limited |date=21 Nov 2021|archive-date=30 Sep 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240930220613/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/11/21/i-couldnt-believe-it-was/|via=Internet Archive}} and therapist Ty Mansfield.{{Cite news |last=Fabrizio |first=Doug |date=3 April 2017 |title=A Conversation with Ty Mansfield|url=https://radiowest.kuer.org/profiles/2017-04-03/a-conversation-with-ty-mansfield |work=KUER-FM |publisher=University of Utah}} Prominent LGBTQ former members include writer Dustin Lance Black, singer Tyler Glenn, historian D. Michael Quinn, gay rights activist Leonard Matlovich, and attorney Kate Kendell.

{{multiple image| direction = vertical| total_width = 200| width1 = 362 | height1 = 89| image1 = |width2 = 555 | height2 = 231|image2 = Affirmation Logo.png| width3 = 512 | height3 = 181| image3 = MBB Logo.jpg| footer = Some principle homosexual Mormon groups}}

Organizations that have supported members and former members attracted to those of the same sex include Affirmation, North Star, Mormons Building Bridges, Mama Dragons, Evergreen International, USGA. Previous break-off LDS-based churches for LGBTQ people included the United Order Family of Christ in the 70s and the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ in the 80s.

{{See also|Latter Day Saints in popular culture}}

LGBTQ Mormon characters and themes have been featured in many films, plays, and pieces of literature, with some examples listed below:

• Films: Latter Days, G.B.F.,{{cite news|last1=Levithan|first1=David|last2=Stein|first2=Darren|title=David Levithan and filmmaker Darren Stein in conversation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/may/16/david-levithan-darren-stein-ya-books-films-gay-characters|newspaper=The Guardian|date=May 16, 2014|quote=The film skewers the ridiculousness of teen girls wanting a GBF (Gay Best Friend) like an accessory or trend, but it also skewers ethnicity, religion, clique culture. I wanted the scenes where the closeted Mormon Topher seduces Tanner and Brent to be sexy and provocative; I've never thought it was fair that it's fine to have a romantic or sexual male-female kiss but when it comes to two boys kissing, it's so chaste and unsexual.|access-date=February 27, 2023}} and The Falls trilogy{{cite news|last1=Lynn|first1=Logan|title=Testament of Love: An Interview With Filmmaker Jon Garcia|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/logan-lynn/testament-of-love-an-inte_b_4026402.html|work=Huffington Post|location=New York City|date=October 4, 2013|quote='The Falls' is the story of Chris Merrill and RJ Smith, two Mormon missionaries that fall in love on their mission.|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite magazine|last1=Campbell Ferguson|first1=Bennett|title=Jon Garcia's Trilogy About Gay Mormons in Portland is Complete|url=http://www.wweek.com/arts/movies/2017/01/10/jon-garcias-trilogy-about-gay-mormons-in-portland-is-complete/|magazine=Willamette Week|date=January 10, 2017|location=Portland, Oregon|quote='The Falls: Covenant of Grace' wraps up the Portland-filmed trilogy about two young Mormon men in love.|access-date=February 27, 2023}}
• Documentaries: Believer, Mormon No More, 8: The Mormon Proposition, Same-Sex Attracted,{{cite news |last1=Sanders |first1=Connor |title='Same-Sex Attracted,' a documentary about LGBTQ students at BYU, is screening online in Utah film festival |url=https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/2020/07/14/same-sex-attracted/ |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah |date=July 16, 2020|url-access=limited|via=Internet Archive|archive-date=February 4, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204040347/https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/2020/07/14/same-sex-attracted/|url-status=live|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite news|title='Same-sex attracted' film |url=https://universe.byu.edu/2021/02/23/same-sex-attracted-film/ |newspaper=The Daily Universe|location=Provo, Utah|publisher=Brigham Young University|date=February 24, 2021 |url-access=limited|archive-date=6 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606195522/https://universe.byu.edu/2021/02/23/same-sex-attracted-film/|url-status=live|via=Internet Archive}} My Husband's Not Gay,{{cite news | first=Neil|last=Genzlinger | title=Where Being in Denial Is Right at Home | newspaper=The New York Times | date=January 7, 2015 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/arts/my-husbands-not-gay-a-special-set-in-mormon-utah-on-tlc.html | access-date=February 27, 2023|url-access=limited|via=Internet Archive|archive-date=November 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221106060101/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/arts/my-husbands-not-gay-a-special-set-in-mormon-utah-on-tlc.html|url-status=live|location=New York City}} Transmormon,{{rp|249}} and Church and State{{cite news |last1=Means |first1=Sean P. |title='Church & State' documentary tries to sort truth from myth in the story of how same-sex marriage became legal in Utah |url=https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/movies/2018/07/06/church-amp-state/ |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=July 8, 2018|archive-date=February 22, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230222004536/https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/movies/2018/07/06/church-amp-state/|url-status=live|url-access=limited}}
• TV series: Room 104,{{cite magazine |last1=Haley |first1=Brendan |title=Tonight's Room 104 Takes on Mormon Missionaries and Sexual Repression |url=https://www.advocate.com/television/2017/9/08/tonights-room-104-takes-mormon-missionaries-and-sexual-repression |magazine=The Advocate|location=Los Angeles |date=September 8, 2017|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite news |last1=Dry |first1=Jude |title='Room 104': Straight Guy Mark Duplass Wrote The Year's Sweetest Gay Love Story |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2017/09/mark-duplass-room-104-lgbt-best-gay-1201876596/ |work=IndieWire |publisher=Penske Business Media, LLC}} and The Catch{{cite book |last1=Weber |first1=Brenda R. |title=Latter-Day Screens : Gender, Sexuality, and Mediated Mormonism |date=2019 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, NC |isbn=9781478004264 |url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/22287/9781478090229_OA.pdf |id={{ProQuest|2285128481}}|access-date=February 27, 2023|via=OAPEN.org}}{{rp|277–279}}
• Stage productions: Book of Mormon musical,{{cite magazine|last1=Williams|first1=Troy|title=Welcome to the Gayborhood|url=http://slmag.com/blog/welcome-to-the-gayborhood/|magazine=Salt Lake Magazine|date=April 19, 2012|quote=The destinies of Mormons and gays were becoming intertwined in the national discourse, providing creative fodder for theatrical productions including the 2011 Tony Award winner 'The Book of Mormon' in which Elder McKinnley, echoing the teachings of Boyd K. Packer, would encourage other gay Mormons to 'Turn it off' like a light switch.|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301014032/http://saltlakemagazine.com/blog/welcome-to-the-gayborhood/|via=Internet Archive}} Angels in America, 8, 14,{{cite web|title=Archive of '14'|url=https://theatre.uiowa.edu/archive-14|publisher=University of Iowa|access-date=February 27, 2023}} Facing East,{{cite news|last1=Clements|first1=Derrick|title='Facing East' explores rift in LGBT, LDS community|url=http://www.heraldextra.com/entertainment/arts-and-theater/theater/facing-east-explores-rift-in-lgbt-lds-community/article_1abe9526-cc2a-55ab-ad4a-b9493e29343f.html|work=Daily Herald|date=November 3, 2016|archive-date=November 7, 2016|via=Internet Archive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107073916/http://www.heraldextra.com/entertainment/arts-and-theater/theater/facing-east-explores-rift-in-lgbt-lds-community/article_1abe9526-cc2a-55ab-ad4a-b9493e29343f.html|url-status=dead}} Confessions of a Mormon Boy, and Missa Solemnis or The Play About Henry{{cite news|last1=Fagg|first1=Ellen|title=Plays about gay Mormons attracting audiences nationally|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=8574767&itype=NGPSID|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=March 15, 2008}}{{cite magazine|title=New Play Focuses on Gay Mormon Suicide|url=https://qsaltlake.com/news/2008/02/05/new-play-focuses-on-gay-mormon-suicide/|magazine=QSaltLake|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=February 5, 2008|access-date=February 23, 2023}}
• Books: Advise and Consent{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=J. Seth|title=LGBT Salt Lake: Images of Modern America|date=May 29, 2017|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9781467125857|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlC1DgAAQBAJ&pg=PT34|page=20|url-access=limited|via=Google Books|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite news|last1=Kotraba|first1=Kellie|title=Gay Mormon characters step out of the shadows|url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=26822762&itype=storyID|agency=Religion News Service|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=May 26, 2013|access-date=February 27, 2023}}

{{main|Criticism of the LDS church|DezNat}}

The church's policies and treatment of LGBTQ people has long been a source of controversy both inside and outside the church{{cite web|title=A Survey of LGBT Americans|url=http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/06/13/a-survey-of-lgbt-americans/|date=June 13, 2013 |publisher=Pew Research Center|access-date=February 27, 2023}} and a significant cause of disagreement and disaffection by members.{{cite news|last1=Riess|first1=Jana|author-link=Jana Riess|title=Are Mormons in their 20s and 30s leaving the LDS Church?|url=http://religionnews.com/2016/04/14/mormons-20s-30s-leaving-lds-church/|publisher=Religion News Service|date=April 14, 2016|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite news|last1=Moyer|first1=Justin|title=1,500 Mormons quit church over new anti-gay-marriage policy, organizer says|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/16/organizer-at-mass-resignation-event-1500-mormons-quit-church-over-new-anti-gay-policy/|access-date=February 27, 2023|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 16, 2015}}

A 2011 online survey of over 3,000 individuals who no longer believe church truth claims found that around ten percent would consider returning if (among several changes) LGBTQ persons were accepted and treated equally.{{cite web|title=Understanding Mormon Disbelief|url=https://search.issuelab.org/resource/understanding-mormon-disbelief.html|website=whymormonsquestion.org|publisher=Open Stories Foundation|via=IssueLab.org|access-date=February 27, 2023}} Past leaders' teachings on reparative therapy and the origins of homosexuality have also been criticized.{{cite speech |last=Jensen |first=Jeffrey R. |title=Homosexuality: A Psychiatrist's Response to LDS Social Services |event=Sunstone Symposium |date=1996 |via=Sunstone|location=Salt Lake City, Utah |url=https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/homosexuality-a-psychiatrists-response-to-lds-social-services-and-the-biological-basis-of-sexual-orientation/ |quote=[F]ar too many of our lesbian and gay youths kill themselves because of what you say about them.... those who believe your false promises and remain celibate in the hopes of eventual 'cure' are consigned to a misery.|access-date=February 27, 2023}} Transcript available [https://affirmation.org/homosexuality-a-psychiatrists-response-to-lds-social-services/ here] via Affirmation.{{cite speech |last=Jensen |first=Jeffrey R. |title=We See What We Believe: The Heterosexualization of Gay Men and Lesbians in the LDS Church |event=Sunstone Symposium |date=1997 |location=Washington D.C. |via=Sunstone |url=https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/we-see-what-we-believe-the-heterosexualization-of-gay-men-and-lesbians-in-the-lds-church/ |access-date=February 27, 2023}} Transcript available [https://affirmation.org/we-see-what-we-believe-the-heterosexualization-of-gay-men-and-lesbians-in-the-lds-church/ here] via Affirmation. DezNat has been criticized for promoting homophobia and harassment against LGBTQ people, reflecting a broader pattern of bigotry within the movement.

The controversial policies for LGBTQ persons has made an impression on the general public. A 2003 nationwide Pew Research Center survey of over 1,000 LGBTQ Americans found that 83% of them said the LDS Church was "generally unfriendly towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people" surpassed only by "the Muslim religion" at 84%. Additionally, in May 2008 a Georgia Tech gay-rights manual referred to the LDS Church as "anti-gay." After two students sued the school for discrimination, a judge ordered that the material be removed.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.queerty.com/gay-pamphlet-sparks-religious-debate-20080502|magazine=Queerty|access-date=February 27, 2023|title=Gay Pamphlet Sparks Religious Debate|last=Belonsky|first=Andrew|date=May 2, 2008}}

{{main|To Young Men Only}}

File:ToYoungMenOnly.png|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|isbn=978-1560850502|chapter-url= http://signaturebookslibrary.org/the-abominable-and-detestable-crime-against-nature/|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220327031212/http://signaturebookslibrary.org/the-abominable-and-detestable-crime-against-nature/ |archive-date=March 27, 2022 |via =Internet Archive|url-status=dead|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{rp|150}}{{cite news|first=Hilary|last=Groutage Smith|title=Mormon Pamphlets on Gays Criticized| newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=August 6, 2000|page=B2|id={{ProQuest|281191122}}|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119576244/mormon-pamphlets-on-gays-criticized/|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=limited}}}}]]

One general conference address later distributed as a pamphlet that generated controversy was Packer's "To Young Men Only" which condones an example of a male missionary who punched his missionary companion for making romantic advances with Packer stating, "Well, thanks. Somebody had to do it".{{cite AV media|title=Message to Young Men (To Young Men Only) |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/general-conference/1976/10/media/2680671857001?lang=eng |publisher=LDS Church |date=October 2, 1976 |time=10:30|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705122215/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/general-conference/1976/10/media/2680671857001?lang=eng|archive-date=July 5, 2020}} Alternative [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JBCOqlcH0U&t=11m6s YouTube.com] link. Historians Michael Quinn and Connell O'Donovan have argued these comments "essentially advocated anti-Gay violence", and that the church itself endorsed such behavior by continuing to publish Packer's speech in pamphlet form.{{cite journal|last=Quinn|first=D. Michael|author-link=D. Michael Quinn|title=Prelude to the National 'Defense of Marriage' Campaign: Civil Discrimination Against Feared or Despised Minorities|journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|date=Fall 2000|volume=33|issue=3|pages=1–52 |doi=10.2307/45226709 |jstor=45226709 |s2cid=254297822 |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V33N03_13.pdf|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{rp|38–39}} Former bishop David Hardy also condemned the pamphlet and other publications as promoting violence against gay people, and providing harmful misinformation to his gay son.{{cite news|last1=Hardy|first1=David E.|title=BYU's Dismissal of Gay Students Continues Confusion for Gays, Parents|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=April 15, 2001|page=AA4|id={{ProQuest|281141066}}|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119576469/byus-dismissal-of-gay-students/|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=limited}} In 1995, Oaks said, "Our doctrines obviously condemn those who engage in so-called 'gay bashing'—physical or verbal attacks on persons thought to be involved in homosexual or lesbian behavior". In 2016, the church ceased publishing the pamphlet, and removed it from the church website.{{cite news|last=Fletcher Stack|first=Peggy|author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=4584556&itype=CMSID|title=LDS Church 'retires' Mormon apostle's 'little factory' pamphlet|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=November 14, 2016|access-date=February 23, 2023}}

The policies and treatment of LGBTQ individuals have prompted several protests and mass resignations including the following:

• November 2, 2008 – Hundreds of people gathered at the Salt Lake City library in a protest of Prop 8 organized by LDS mothers of gay children.{{cite magazine |title=LDS Moms Hold Anti-Prop 8 Vigil |url=https://qsaltlake.com/news/2008/11/03/lds-moms-hold-anti-prop-8-vigil/ |magazine=QSaltLake|location=Salt Lake City, Utah |date=November 3, 2008|access-date=February 27, 2023}}
• November 6, 2008 – In Los Angeles over two thousand people protested at the LDS temple over the LDS Church's heavy involvement in the recent passing of California's Prop 8 banning same-sex marriage.{{cite news|title=Gay marriage supporters take to California streets|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/08/same.sex.protests/index.html?_s=PM:US|agency=CNN|location=Atlanta, Georgia|date=November 8, 2008|access-date=February 27, 2023}}
• November 7, 2008 – Three days after Prop 8 passed nearly five thousand protesters gathered at the Salt Lake Temple.{{cite news|last1=Bates|first1=Karen Grigsby|title=Gay-Marriage Ban Protesters Target Mormon Church|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96756702|agency=NPR|date=November 7, 2008|access-date=February 27, 2023}} That evening a candlelight vigil by about 600 mothers of LGBTQ children was also held at the Salt Lake Temple.{{cite journal|last1=Eskridge Jr.|first1=William N.|title=Latter-Day Constitutionalism: Sexuality, Gender, and Mormons|journal=University of Illinois Law Review|date=September 2016|volume=4|page=1269|url=https://illinoislawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Eskridge.pdf#page=43|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite magazine|magazine=The Advocate|location=Los Angeles|date=April 24, 2017|title=How Prop. 8 Woke Up a Sleeping Gay Giant|access-date=February 27, 2023|last=Frank|first=Nathaniel|url=https://www.advocate.com/books/2017/4/24/how-prop-8-woke-sleeping-gay-giant}}
• October 7, 2010 – Thousands of individuals surrounded Temple Square in protest of Boyd K. Packer's "Cleansing the Inner Vessel" conference address in which he characterized same-sex physical attractions as impure and unnatural tendencies that could be overcome.
• November 14, 2015 – In response to a policy change on members in same-sex marriages and their children, 1,500 members gathered across from the church's offices to submit their resignation letters,{{cite news|last1=Healy|first1=Jack|title=Mormon Resignations Put Support for Gays Over Fealty to Faith|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/us/mormon-resignations-put-support-for-gays-over-fealty-to-faith.html|access-date=February 27, 2023|date=November 15, 2016|url-access=limited|archive-date=February 25, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230225231726/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/us/mormon-resignations-put-support-for-gays-over-fealty-to-faith.html|url-status=live|via=Internet Archive|location=New York City}} with thousands more resigning online in the weeks after.{{cite news |last1=Pratt |first1=Morgan |title=3,500 Leave LDS Church In Mass Resignation |url=https://www.upr.org/utah-news/2015-11-16/3-500-leave-lds-church-in-mass-resignation |access-date=February 27, 2023 |work=Utah Public Radio |date=November 16, 2015}}

{{main|Sexual orientation change efforts and the LDS Church}}

File:Turn It Off Conversion Therapy Light Switch.png satirized church teachings on changing sexual orientation with an LDS missionary character saying he could "turn it off like a light switch" in reference to his gay feelings.{{cite news|last1=Glitz|first1=Michael|title='The Book Of Mormon' — Why Aren't More People Offended?|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/the-book-of-mormon----why_b_886419.html|work=Huffington Post|location=New York City|date=June 28, 2011|access-date=February 27, 2023|quote=What about 'Turn It Off?' In this show-stopper for Tony-nominated supporting actor Rory O’Malley as Elder McKinley, some missionaries share their approach to confusing thoughts or bad feelings. ... [W]hen you have gay thoughts for your best friend, well, 'Turn it off!' Non-believers hear hypocrisy and an absurdly simplistic solution to difficult issues: 'Turn it off/ Like a light switch/ Just go flick/ It’s our nifty little Mormon trick.' ... It’s not an official approach by any faith, as such, but numerous fundamentalist faiths acknowledge that some men are inherently gay. They want those men to simply tamp down these bad feelings and marry a woman anyway, because with prayer and the proper spouse and God’s love you can be alright.}}{{cite news|last1=Atkinson|first1=Sally|title=Clark Johnsen: From Mormon Missionary to Broadway in The Book of Mormon|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/clark-johnsen-from-mormon-missionary-to-broadway-in-the-book-of-mormon|work=The Daily Beast|date=June 7, 2011|access-date=February 27, 2023|quote=On the show-stopper 'Turn It Off,' sung by a closeted missionary struggling with his sexuality. 'I'm one of the few missionaries who actually was out to myself as a gay person on my mission and out to some of my mission companions—the ones who asked. [The Book of Mormon song] 'Turn It Off' is such an insightful view into the psychology of a homosexual missionary in particular, but also into all Mormons. In the church, you don't say you're gay, you say you have homosexual tendencies, because gay is this label they want you to hopefully outgrow, which I tried to do. It didn't work.}}]]

Because of its ban against same-sex sexual activity and same-sex marriage the LDS Church has a long history of teaching that its adherents who are attracted to the same sex can and should attempt to alter their feelings through righteous striving and sexual orientation change efforts (also called conversion therapy or reparative therapy). These teachings and policies left homosexual members with the option of potentially harmful attempts to change their sexual orientation,{{rp|2–3}} entering a mixed-orientation opposite-sex marriage (MOM), or living a celibate lifestyle without any sexual expression (including masturbation).{{refn|{{rp|11}}{{rp|20–21}}}} In 2019 the church reversed its implied and previously explicit endorsement of conversion therapy, and now opposes it.{{rp|4–5}}

In the 60s and 70s Church leaders taught that homosexuality was a curable disease and they encouraged self-help attempts by homosexual members to change their sexual orientation and cultivate heterosexual feelings.{{cite speech|last1=Prince|first1=Gregory A.|author-link=Gregory Prince|title=Science vs. Dogma: Biology Challenges the LDS Paradigm of Homosexuality|url=https://thc.utah.edu/lectures-programs/mcmurrin-lecture/PRINCE-MCMURRIN%20LECTURE-protected.pdf |event=Sterling M. McMurrin Lecture Series| location=University of Utah Tanner Humanities Center, Salt Lake City, Utah|date=September 27, 2017|access-date=February 27, 2023|archive-date=March 28, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328232753/https://thc.utah.edu/lectures-programs/mcmurrin-lecture/PRINCE-MCMURRIN%20LECTURE-protected.pdf|url-status=dead}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gssnz1WZ3dU Video] of the speech.{{rp|13–19}} While the LDS Church has somewhat softened its stance toward LGBTQ individuals in recent years, leaders continued to communicate into 2015 that changing one's sexual orientation was possible through personal righteousness, prayer, faith in Christ, psychotherapy, and group therapy and retreats.{{r|name=SOCE2|q=The LDS Church claims the Holy Bible as scripture and, through traditional Biblical interpretations, has historically both condemned same-sex sexuality as sinful and explicitly encouraged its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) members to attempt sexual orientation change. While the LDS Church has somewhat softened its stance toward LGBTQ individuals in recent years, it continues to communicate to its LGBTQ members that sexual orientation change is possible through various means including prayer, personal righteousness, faith in Jesus Christ, psychotherapy, group therapy, and group retreats. In these respects, the LDS Church’s approach to SSA has closely paralleled other religious traditions including Orthodox Judaism, evangelical Christianity, and Roman Catholicism.|pp=96}} Conversion therapy has been shown to be unethical and harmful.{{cite journal |last1=Fish |first1=Jessica N. |last2=Russell |first2=Stephen T. |title=Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts are Unethical and Harmful |journal=American Journal of Public Health |date=August 2020 |volume=110 |issue=8 |pages=1113–1114 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2020.305765 |pmid=32639919 |pmc=7349462 |quote=With substantial evidence of serious harms associated with exposure to [sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts (SOGICE)] particularly for minors, 21 states (and multiple cities and counties) have passed bipartisan laws or regulations prohibiting SOGICE. ... Furthermore, compared with LGBTQ youths with no exposure, those exposed to SOGICE showed 1.76 times greater odds of seriously considering suicide, 2.23 times greater odds of having attempted suicide, and 2.54 times greater odds of multiple suicide attempts in the previous year.}}{{rp|2–3}}

{{main|BYU LGBTQ history#Aversion therapy at BYU}}

File:BYU_Honor_Code_Office.png

To assist in members' efforts for sexual orientation change, church leaders developed an aversion therapy program on BYU campus for gay adolescents and adults in 1959 since simply being attracted to people of the same sex was an excommunicable sin under church president Kimball.{{r|Dynamics|p=379|q=Shortly after that [May 21,] 1959 meeting of the Church Board of Education, [Brigham Young University (BYU)] began 'aversion therapy' to 'cure,' 'repair,' or 'reorient' the same-sex desires of Mormon males. These young men were referred to this program by BYU's mental health counselors, by LDS bishops and stake presidents, by BYU's office to enforce student standards, or by referrals from outside BYU (such as mission presidents and general authorities).}}{{rp|2}} The on-campus aversion therapy program lasted into the mid-1990s.{{rp|90}}

Teachings later changed as it became clear these self-help and aversive techniques were not working. From the 80s to the 2000s reparative therapy (also called conversion therapy) became the dominant treatment method, and it was often recommended by the church-endorsed group Evergreen. Member attitudes reflected church leaders'. For example, in a 2010 survey of 625 Utah residents, 55% of LDS-identified respondents believed sexual orientation could be changed,{{cite news|title=Many Utahns Think Homosexuality Can Be Overcome|url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=22605024|newspaper=Park Record|agency=Associated Press|publisher=Swift Communications|date=November 13, 2010|via=University of Utah|access-date=February 27, 2023|location=Park City, Utah}} and a 2015 survey of 1,612 LGBTQ Mormons and former Mormons found that 73% of men and 43% of women had attempted sexual orientation change, usually through multiple methods across many years.{{cite journal|last1=Galliher| first1=Renee|last2=Bradshaw|first2=William|last3=Hyde|first3=Daniel| last4=Dehlin|first4=John P.|author-link4=John Dehlin|last5=Crowell|first5=Katherine| title=Sexual orientation change efforts among current or former LDS Church members|journal=Journal of Counseling Psychology|date=April 2015|volume=62|issue=2 |pages=95–105 |doi=10.1037/cou0000011| pmid=24635593 }}{{rp|5}} Local church leaders sometimes used church funds to pay for these therapies into at least 2015.{{cite journal|last1=Miller| first1=Chris|title=Reconciling Identities in HBO's Room 104: LGBTQ2S Mormons and Shifting Mainstream Perceptions|journal=Panic at the Discourse|date=February 2022|volume=2|issue=1 |pages=16|url=https://www.panicdiscourse.com/reconciling-identities/}}{{Cite magazine |last=Holmes |first=Juwan J. |date=2019-12-31 |title=Conversion therapy survivor says the Mormon church pays for its members to undergo it |url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/12/conversion-therapy-survivor-says-mormon-church-pays-members-undergo/ |magazine=LGBTQ Nation|location=San Francisco}}

Counselor-led sexual orientation change efforts were declining among members around 2015 as church teachings evolved.{{rp|17–20}}{{cite news |last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|title=Conversion therapies don't work, experts say, so why do gay Mormons still seek them out? |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/mormon/2015/10/03/conversion-therapies-dont-work-experts-say-so-why-do-gay-mormons-still-seek-them-out/ |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=October 3, 2015 |url-access=limited|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201024744/https://www.sltrib.com/news/mormon/2015/10/03/conversion-therapies-dont-work-experts-say-so-why-do-gay-mormons-still-seek-them-out/|archive-date=February 1, 2023|url-status=live|via=Internet Archive|quote=Therapists with LDS Family Services do not offer any kind of 'sexual-orientation change efforts,' church spokesman Doug Andersen confirms. But they are willing to help members who 'desire to reconcile same-sex attraction with their religious belief.' The church 'maintains professional relationships with a variety of organizations to ensure the diverse needs of church members can be met in an individualized and ethical way ... and may refer those seeking counseling to professional therapists,' the spokesman says, 'but [it is] not in the business of recommending third-party for-profit organizations, retreats or workshops.' Neither does the Utah-based faith 'discourage individuals from trying to address issues arising from same-sex attraction.' The church's silence on groups such as Journey [Into Manhood], however, should not, Andersen says, be 'construed as a tacit endorsement or stamp of approval.' Without explicit condemnation from top LDS leaders, change programs have sprung up, tapping into a yearning for normalcy and acceptance.}} Leaders had explicitly stated in the 2012 "MormonsAndGays" website that same-sex sexual attractions were not a choice,{{rp|21}} and affirmed in the 2016 "MormonAndGay" update that therapy focusing on a change in sexual orientation was unethical (the approach church leaders had used for decades).{{refn|{{cite book |last1=Petrey |first1=Taylor G. |author-link=Taylor G. Petrey|title=Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism |date=June 15, 2020 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |isbn=978-1469656212 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cvXGDwAAQBAJ}}{{rp|194–195}}{{cite web|title=Mormon and Gay|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/same-sex-attraction-church-leaders/should-i-recommend-professional-counseling?lang=eng|publisher=LDS Church|date=October 2016|quote=While shifts in sexuality can and do occur for some people, it is unethical to focus professional treatment on an assumption that a change in sexual orientation will or must occur. Again, the individual has the right to define the desired outcome.|access-date=February 26, 2023|archive-date=February 27, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227075616/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/same-sex-attraction-church-leaders/should-i-recommend-professional-counseling?lang=eng|url-status=live|via=Internet Archive}}{{cite news|last1=Jones|first1=Morgan|title=The Weeds' story is one of many stories of LGBT Latter-day Saints that continue to be written|url=https://www.deseret.com/2018/2/7/20639656/the-weeds-story-is-one-of-many-stories-of-lgbt-latter-day-saints-that-continue-to-be-written|newspaper=Deseret News|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|publisher=LDS Church|date=February 7, 2018|quote=Today, [LDS] Family Services says it offers the following: 'We assist individuals and families as they respond to same-sex attraction. Our therapists do not provide what is commonly referred to as 'reparative therapy' or 'sexual orientation change efforts'.'|access-date=February 27, 2023}}}} The 2016 update, however still offered qualified statements that reparative therapy should be an option, and promised that orientation change could occur.{{rp|195}} The implicit endorsement of conversion therapy was overturned in 2019 when a church representative stated, "We are opposed to conversion therapy and our therapists do not practice it."{{refn|{{Cite magazine |first=Kashmira |last=Gander |date=2020-01-21 |title=Conservative Utah Is about to Ban Conversion Therapy for LGBTQ Children |url=https://www.newsweek.com/utah-lgbtq-conversion-therapy-law-1483039 |magazine=Newsweek}}{{cite journal |last1=Bradshaw |first1=William S. |last2=Dehlin |first2=John P. |author-link2=John Dehlin|last3=Galliher |first3=Renee V. |title=Sexual Complexity: A Comparison between Men and Women in a Sexual Minority Sample of Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |journal=Religions |date=June 17, 2022 |volume=13 |issue=6 |page=561 |doi=10.3390/rel13060561 |doi-access=free |publisher=MDPI}}{{rp|4–5}}{{cite magazine |last1=Law |first1=Tara |title=Why the LDS Church Joined LGBTQ Advocates in Supporting Utah's Conversion Therapy Ban |url=https://time.com/5741789/utah-conversion-therapy-ban-lds/ |magazine=Time |date=November 29, 2019|access-date=March 2, 2023}}}}

{{Main|Mixed-orientation marriage and the LDS Church}}

{{Further|Mixed-orientation marriage}}

File:Phil and Marlene.jpg

Many gay and lesbian members of the LDS Church have felt that they should marry someone of the opposite sex because of the LDS Church's emphasis on marriage. According to LDS historian Greg Prince, for decades church leaders counseled many men to marry a woman with the promise this would "cure" their homosexuality. He wrote that the overall track record of these mixed-orientation marriages (MOMs) has "generally been dismal, often catastrophic, and sometimes lethal" despite the best intentions.{{refn|{{rp|27}}{{rp|108}}}}

The church's 2012 website acknowledged by implication that past leaders' advice for individuals attracted to the same-sex to marry someone of the opposite sex may have been erroneous.{{rp|217}} Leaders have said that homosexual attractions will not continue past death, and that those who don't have an opportunity to be married in this life will in the afterlife.{{cite book|first=Dallin H.|last=Oaks|author-link=Dallin H. Oaks|title=Pure in Heart|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|publisher=Bookcraft|year=1988|pages=61–62|isbn=978-0-88494-650-2|url=https://archive.org/details/pureinheart0000oaks|url-access=registration|via=Internet Archive}} The church teaches that heterosexual marriage is one of several requirements for afterlife entry into the "highest degree of glory" in the celestial kingdom. In 2012 an official church website stated church leaders no longer necessarily advise opposite-sex marriage to those attracted to the same sex.{{Cite web |date=2015-01-12 |last=Ciamachilli |first=Esther |title=Mormon Church: 'Love and Accept' LGBT Members, Community |url=https://www.kunr.org/local-stories/2015-01-12/mormon-church-love-and-accept-lgbt-members-community |website=KUNR |publisher=University of Nevada}}

A 2015 study found that 51% of the 1,612 LGBTQ Mormon respondents who had entered a mixed-orientation marriage ended up divorcing.{{cite journal|last1=Galliher|first1=Renee|last2=Bradshaw|first2=William|last3=Dehlin|first3=John P.|author-link3=John Dehlin|last4=Crowelle|first4=Katherine|title=Psychosocial Correlates of Religious Approaches to Same-Sex Attraction: A Mormon Perspective|journal=Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health|date=April 25, 2014|volume=18|issue=3|pages=284–311|doi=10.1080/19359705.2014.912970|s2cid=144153586 }}{{rp|301}}{{cite news|last=Fletcher Stack|first=Peggy|author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|title=Study Reveals What Really Happens When Gay Mormon Men Marry Straight Women|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/13/gay-mormon-men-marriage_n_6464848.html|work=Huffington Post|location=New York City|date=January 14, 2015|access-date=February 26, 2023}} It further projected that 69% of all these marriages would ultimately end in divorce.{{cite thesis|last=Dehlin|first=John P.|author-link=John Dehlin|title=Sexual Orientation Change Efforts, Identity Conflict, and Psychosocial Health Amongst Same-Sex Attracted Mormons|institution=Utah State University|date=2015|url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5314&context=etd|access-date=February 26, 2023|type=PhD}}{{rp|108}}{{cite news|last=Fletcher Stack|first=Peggy|author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|title=If a gay Mormon man marries a woman, divorce is likely, study finds|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=2050536&itype=CMSID|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=February 23, 2023|quote=The study found that: Between 51 percent and 69 percent of mixed-orientation Mormon marriages end in divorce, well above the roughly 25 percent of LDS couples who split up.}}{{cite magazine|last1=Ring|first1=Trudy|title=Study: Mixed-Orientation Mormon Marriages Likely to Fail|url=https://www.advocate.com/politics/religion/2015/01/13/study-mixed-orientation-mormon-marriages-likely-fail|magazine=The Advocate|location=Los Angeles|date=January 13, 2015|access-date=February 26, 2023}} The study found that engaging in mixed-orientation marriages and involvement in the LDS Church were correlated with higher rates of depression and a lower quality of life for LGBTQ people.{{refn|{{r|name=Psychosocial|q=The major findings from the study are that non-biologically based views regarding the etiology of SSA [same-sex attraction], remaining active in the LDS Church, remaining single, and engaging in mixed-orientation marriages were all associated with higher reported levels of internalized homophobia, sexual identity distress, and depression, and lower levels of self-esteem and quality of life. ... This study does affirm and extend the existing literature by suggesting that psychosocially based beliefs about SSA etiology active participation in non-LGBT-affirming churches, being single and celibate, and mixed-orientation marriage—all of which are common beliefs and/or practices within modern, active LDS culture—are associated with poorer psychosocial health, well-being, and quality of life for LGBT Mormons. Conversely, biological beliefs about SSA etiology, complete disaffiliation from the LDS Church, legal same-sex marriage, and sexual activity are all associated with higher levels of psychosocial health, well-being, and quality of life for LGBT Mormons.|pp=301, 304}}{{Cite journal |last=Angell |first=Camron |date=2023-12-13 |title=Where Do I Fit in God's Plan?: Mixed-Orientation Marriages in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |journal=Student Works |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/studentpub/372/ |publisher=Brigham Young University}}{{rp|pp=2,5}}}}

File:Flags at SLC Mormon Temple.jpg

{{Main|LGBTQ rights and the LDS Church}}

{{See also|LDS Church and politics in the United States}}

The LDS Church has been involved with many pieces of legislation relating to discrimination against LGBTQ people, same-sex sexual activity, and same-sex marriage. For instance, in 1851 under Brigham Young's theocracy over the newly formed Utah Territory in the western US,{{cite book|last1=Oakes|first1=Amy|title=Diversionary War: Domestic Unrest and International Conflict|date=3 October 2012|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0804782463|page=125|edition=1st|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JzEgDOvlw9AC&pg=PT125|quote=Young created a Mormon theocracy in the Utah territory: his 'word was law in matters both religious and secular.' He established a separate legal system and oversaw the selection of representatives to the territorial legislature.}} the church-selected legislature passed a law banning any man from "sexual intercourse with any of the male creation" with penalties left to the courts' discretion.{{rp|1200}}

Church leaders have stated that it will become involved in political matters if it perceives that there is a moral issue at stake and wields considerable influence on a national level.{{cite news|last1=Ayers|first1=Michael D.|title=When Mormons Go to Washington|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2012/10/mormon-politicians-lds-church-romney|agency=Vanity Fair|date=October 15, 2012|access-date=February 26, 2023}}{{cite news|last1=Barnes|first1=Jane|title=There Is a Dark Side to Mormonism|url=https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/01/30/what-is-it-about-mormons/there-is-a-dark-side-to-mormonism|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 1, 2012|access-date=February 26, 2023|location=New York City}}{{cite news|last1=Grant|first1=Tobin|title=Five things you should know about Mormon politics|url=https://religionnews.com/2015/04/27/five-things-know-mormon-politics/|publisher=Religion News Service|date=April 27, 2015|access-date=February 26, 2023}} In 1997 then church president Gordon Hinckley declared the church would "do all it can to stop the recognition of same-sex marriage in the United States", and the apostle M. Russell Ballard has said the church is "locked in" if anything interferes with the principle of marriage only being between a man and a woman.{{rp|73}}{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99175018&ps=rs|title=New Mormon Temple: Sacred Or Secret?|first=Howard|last=Berkes|date=January 9, 2009|work=All Things Considered|publisher=NPR|access-date=February 26, 2023}}

File:YesOnProp8YardSign.png lawn signs during their involvement with the pro-Prop 8 campaign.{{cite news|last1=Karger|first1=Fred|author-link=Fred Karger|title=Mormon Church Bleeding Members Over Gay Marriage|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-karger/mormon-church-bleeding-me_b_8299882.html|access-date=February 26, 2023|work=Huffington Post|location=New York City|date=October 15, 2016}}]]

{{further|Same-sex marriage in the United States}}

Church involvement around same-sex marriage legislation include playing important roles in defeating same-sex marriage legalization in Hawaii (Amendment 2), Alaska (Measure 2), Nebraska (Initiative 416), Nevada (Question 2), California (Prop 22), and Utah (Amendment 3).{{refn|{{rp|2,65,69,71,78,85}}}} During Prop 8 church members represented as much as 80 to 90 percent of the early volunteers petitioning voters door-to-door and 50 percent of the campaign funds in support of it.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/us/politics/15marriage.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hp&oref=slogin|title=Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage|date=November 14, 2008|access-date=February 26, 2023|newspaper=The New York Times|first1=Jesse|last1=McKinley|author-link1=Jesse McKinley|first2=Kirk|last2=Johnson|url-access=limited|archive-date=January 16, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116032335/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/us/politics/15marriage.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hp&oref=slogin|url-status=live|via=Internet Archive|location=New York City}} Church leaders are prohibited from employing their authority to perform same-sex marriages, and church property cannot be used for same-sex weddings or receptions.{{rp|250}} A 2017 Public Religion Research Institute survey found that over half (52%) of Mormon young adults (18–29) supported same-sex marriage while less than a third (32%) of Mormon seniors (65+) did the same.{{rp|11}}

{{see also|LGBTQ rights in the United States}}

{{further|LGBTQ employment discrimination in the United States}}

The church opposes same-sex marriage, but does not object to laws enshrining rights regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, as long as churches are exempt from honoring those laws.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/us/12utah.html|title=Mormon Support of Gay Rights Statute Draws Praise|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 11, 2009|first=Kirk|last=Johnson |url-access=limited|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502220832/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/us/12utah.html|archive-date=May 2, 2022|url-status=live|via=Internet Archive|access-date=February 26, 2023|location=New York City}}

A 2017 Public Religion Research Institute survey found that over half (53%) of all Mormon adults believed small private business should be able to deny products and services to gay or lesbian people for religious reasons (compared to 33% of the 40,000+ American adults surveyed),{{rp|15,23}} and 24% of all Mormon adults oppose laws that protect LGBTQ Americans against discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.{{cite news|last1=Mims|first1=Bob|title=Most Mormons remain against gay marriage, new poll shows, but that opposition is fading fast; younger LDS support it|url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/05/01/most-mormons-remain-against-gay-marriage-new-poll-shows-but-that-opposition-is-fading-fast-younger-lds-support-it/|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=May 1, 2018|url-access=limited|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214172622/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/05/01/most-mormons-remain-against-gay-marriage-new-poll-shows-but-that-opposition-is-fading-fast-younger-lds-support-it/|archive-date=December 14, 2022|url-status=live|via=Internet Archive}}{{cite web|last1=Fisch-Friedman|first1=Molly|last2=Vandermaas-Peeler|first2=Alex|last3=Griffin|first3=Rob|last4=Cox|first4=Daniel|last5=Jones|first5=Robert P.|title=Emerging Consensus on LGBT Issues: Findings From the 2017 American Values Atlas|url=https://www.prri.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/AVA-2017-FINAL.pdf|website=prri.org|publisher=Public Religion Research Institute|date=2018|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{rp|20}}

{{Main|LGBTQ Mormon suicides}}

In society at large LGBTQ individuals especially youth are at a higher risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide{{cite web|title=LGBT Populations: A Dialogue on Advancing Opportunities for Recovery from Addictions and Mental Health Problems|url=https://dbhdid.ky.gov/dbh/documents/ksaods/2015/Johnson1.pdf?t=00281204012020|via=Kentucky State Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities|website=samhsa.gov|publisher=United States Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Mental Health Services|access-date=February 26, 2023|archive-date=March 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320195518/http://dbhdid.ky.gov/dbh/documents/ksaods/2015/Johnson1.pdf?t=00281204012020|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=Fletcher Stack|first=Peggy|author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|title=Program aims to stop suicide, homelessness in LGBT Mormon youth|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/sltrib/lifestyle/57682784-80/lgbt-ryan-youth-family.html.csp|access-date=February 23, 2023|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=March 15, 2014}} due to minority stress stemming from societal anti-LGBTQ biases and stigma, rejection, and internalized homophobia.{{cite book|last1=Meyer|first1=Ilan H.|last2=Northridge|first2=Mary E.|title=The Health of Sexual Minorities|date=2007|publisher=Springer|location=US|isbn=978-0-387-31334-4|pages=242–247|edition=First|doi=10.1007/978-0-387-31334-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QF3jiMlMUIcC|url-access=limited|access-date=February 23, 2023}} Some individuals and organizations have linked church teachings against homosexuality and the treatment of LGBTQ Mormons by other members and leaders as contributing to LGBTQ Mormon suicides.{{cite news|last=Fletcher Stack|first=Peggy|author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |title=Suicide fears, if not actual suicides, rise in wake of Mormon same-sex policy|url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3473487&itype=CMSID|access-date=February 23, 2023|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=January 28, 2016}}{{cite web|last1=Parkinson|first1=Daniel|last2=Barker|first2=Michael|title=The LGBTQ Mormon Crisis: Responding to the Empirical Research on Suicide|url=http://rationalfaiths.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/LGBTQCrisis_web.pdf|access-date=February 26, 2023|via=RationalFaiths.com}}{{cite news|last1=Greene|first1=David|title=Mama Dragons Try To Prevent Suicides Among Mormon-LGBT Children|url=https://www.npr.org/2016/07/07/485058737/mama-dragons-try-to-prevent-suicides-among-mormon-lgbt-children|access-date=February 26, 2023|agency=NPR|date=July 7, 2016}} LDS historian Gregory Prince stated that by condemning homosexuality as "evil, self-inflicted, and impossible in postmortal existence" LDS Church leaders have enabled harsh behavior by its members with the alarming number of LDS LGBTQ homeless and Utah's highest per capita teen suicide rate in the country manifesting the effects of this cruelty.{{rp|4}}

LGBTQ Mormon suicides and experiences with suicidal ideation have received media coverage.{{cite news|last1=Jackson|first1=Lauren|title=Devotion and despair: The lonely struggle of a gay Mormon|url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/16/living/gay-mormon-struggle/|access-date=February 26, 2023|agency=CNN|location=Atlanta, Georgia|date=July 19, 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Samuels|first1=Diana|title=Memorial held for gay Mormon who committed suicide in Los Altos|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2010/02/25/memorial-held-for-gay-mormon-who-committed-suicide-in-los-altos/|access-date=February 26, 2023|newspaper=The Mercury News|location=San Jose, California|publisher=Digital First Media|date=February 25, 2010}}{{cite news|last1=Moore|first1=Carrie A.|title=Alone in the fold: Many LDS gays struggle to cling to faith despite their yearnings|url=https://www.deseret.com/2005/12/3/19925819/alone-in-the-fold-many-lds-gays-struggle-to-cling-to-faith-despite-their-yearnings|access-date=February 26, 2023|newspaper=Deseret News|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|publisher=LDS Church|date=December 2, 2005}} In January 2016 the LDS Church mourned over reported suicides of LGBTQ Mormons and stated that leaders and members are taught to "reach out in an active, caring way to all, especially to youth who feel estranged or isolated."{{cite news |last1=Lang |first1=Nico |title='I see my son in every one of them': with a spike in suicides, parents of Utah's queer youth fear the worst |url=https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/3/20/14938950/mormon-utah-lgbtq-youth |work=Vox |date=March 20, 2017}} The Affirmation website reported over 30 LGBTQ Mormon victims died by suicide between 1971 and 2008{{cite web|title=Suicide Memorial |url=http://www.affirmation.org/suicides/ |publisher=Affirmation |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140117055228/http://www.affirmation.org/suicides/ |archive-date=January 17, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite magazine|title=Forum Discusses Suicide Prevention Among Mormons|magazine=Sunstone|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=December 2002|issue=125|page=79|url=https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/sbi/issues/125.pdf#page=81|access-date=February 26, 2023|archive-date=August 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818035914/https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/sbi/issues/125.pdf#page=81|url-status=live}} including five gay male BYU students who all died by suicide in 1965.{{refn|{{rp|290}}{{rp|156}}{{cite magazine|last1=McQueen |first1=Robert |title=Outside the Temple Gates-The Gay Mormon |magazine=The Advocate|location=Los Angeles|date=August 13, 1975 |page=14 |url=http://affirmation.org/suicides/1965.shtml |access-date=November 29, 2016 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719220413/http://affirmation.org/suicides/1965.shtml |archive-date=July 19, 2008 |df=mdy-all|via=Affirmation}}}}

{{further|Homelessness among LGBTQ youth in the United States}}

In 2013 it was estimated that among the approximately 1000 homeless Utah youths, 30% to 40% were LGBTQ with about half of those coming from LDS homes{{cite news|last1=Parker|first1=Ray|title=Groups team up to reach out to homeless LGBT Mormon youths|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/sltrib/news/55659498-78/homeless-youths-lgbt-youth.html.csp|access-date=February 5, 2017|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=January 25, 2013}}{{cite magazine|last1=Moore|first1=Chadwick|title=The Ghost Children of Mormon Country|magazine=The Advocate|location=Los Angeles|date=April 29, 2016|url=http://www.advocate.com/current-issue/2016/4/29/ghost-children-mormon-country|access-date=February 5, 2017|via=}} Another survey showed about 5,000 youth in Utah experience homelessness per year with 60% coming from LDS homes, and over 40% of unhoused Utah youth were LGBT. The Youth Futures Homeless Shelter in the predominantly-LDS city of Ogden, Utah reported in 2015 that over half their often homeless youth clients self-identified as gay or trans.{{cite news |last1=Francis |first1=Janae |title=Ogden Youth Futures Homeless Shelter seeks public donations |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=4123807&itype=CMSID |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=July 17, 2016|access-date=February 26, 2023}} A survey by the Utah Department of Human Services found 48% of gay, lesbian and bisexual teenagers in the state seriously considered suicide in 2021.{{cite news |last1=Takada |first1=Lena |title=46% of lesbian, gay or bisexual teens contemplated suicide in 2021, CDC says |url=https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/46-of-lesbian-gay-or-bisexual-teens-contemplated-suicide-in-2021-cdc-says/ |publisher=ABC |work=KTVX|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=April 6, 2022}} In the large 2012 survey "Growing Up LGBT in America" over two-thirds of LGBTQ youth in Utah reported not feeling accepted in their community, compared to 42% of LGBTQ youth nationwide, and 3/4 said they would need to leave Utah to feel accepted.{{cite news|last1=Rogers|first1=Melinda|title=LGBT youth find safe haven at homeless drop-in center|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=54274630&itype=CMSID|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=June 10, 2012|access-date=February 23, 2023}}

{{main|BYU LGBTQ history}}

{{see also|Timeline of BYU LGBTQ history|BYU USGA}}

File:USGA_at_BYU.jpg) meeting in 2017]]

LGBTQ students have received media coverage at the three main universities owned by the LDS Church (Brigham Young University (BYU), BYU–Idaho, and BYU–Hawaii).{{Cite magazine|magazine=Ke Alaka'i|publisher=Brigham Young University–Hawaii |date=2019-02-27 |title=Voices at BYUH say unclear policies, lack of a support and stigmatization lead students to stay 'LGBTQ silent' |url=https://kealakai.byuh.edu/voices-at-byuh-say-unclear-policies-lack-of-a-support-and-stigmatization-lead-students-to-stay-lgbtq-silent}}{{Cite news |last=Thorington |first=Jakob |date=2021-03-31 |title=Former BYU-I students among filers of class action lawsuit against Department of Education over Title IX rights |url=https://www.oneidadispatch.com/2021/03/31/former-byu-i-students-among-filers-of-class-action-lawsuit-against-department-of-education-over-title-ix-rights/|newspaper=Oneida Dispatch|location=Oneida, New York}} Most media coverage concern the Utah-based BYU university, as it's the largest religious university in North America and is the flagship institution of the LDS Church's educational system. Several LGBTQ rights organizations have criticized BYU's Honor Code as it relates to LGBTQ students and The Princeton Review has regularly ranked BYU among the most LGBT-unfriendly schools in the United States. As of 2017 BYU campus offered no official LGBT-specific resources.{{cite news|last1=Gleeson|first1=Scott|title=Could BYU's LGBT policies really deter Big 12 move?|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/big12/2016/08/09/byu-usga-lgbt-big-12-conference-expansion/88446494/|access-date=January 12, 2017|newspaper=USA Today|location=McLean, Virginia|date=August 10, 2016}} Large surveys of over 7,000 BYU students in 2020 and 2017 found that over 13% had marked their sexual orientation as something other than “strictly heterosexual,” while the other survey showed that .2% had reported their gender identity as transgender or something other than cisgender male or female.{{cite web|title=Report on the Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault|url=https://news.byu.edu/https://brightspotcdn.byu.edu/1e/9f/3cfd38434e508ab9d421bf55f7ed/campus-climate-report-f2017.pdf|website=news.byu.edu|publisher=Brigham Young University|date=November 2017|page=2|quote=The online survey was conducted in spring 2017. Email invitations were sent to 29,471 BYU students; 13,784 (48%) started the survey and 12,602 completed the survey, for a response rate of 43%. Demographic data revealed the survey participants to be very similar to the broader BYU population in terms of gender, ethnicity, year in school, and other measures. Key demographics include the following: ... Gender: 52% male, 48% female, and 0.2% transgender or other.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111233018/https://news.byu.edu/https://brightspotcdn.byu.edu/1e/9f/3cfd38434e508ab9d421bf55f7ed/campus-climate-report-f2017.pdf|archive-date=January 11, 2022|url-status=live|access-date=February 27, 2023}}{{cite journal |last1=Klundt |first1=Jared S. |last2=Erekson |first2=David M. |last3=Lynn |first3=Austin M. |last4=Brown |first4=Hannah E. |title=Sexual minorities, mental health, and religiosity at a religiously conservative university |journal=Personality and Individual Differences |date=March 2021 |volume=171 |pages=110475 |doi=10.1016/j.paid.2020.110475 }}

{{see also|Church Educational System Honor Code}}

File:LGBT Flag on BYU Sign.jpg |access-date=February 26, 2023}}{{cite news|last1=Knox|first1=Annie|title=BYU, other Christian schools ranked among the least LGBT-friendly campuses|publisher=Religion News Service|date=August 11, 2015|url=https://religionnews.com/2015/08/11/byuother-christian-schools-ranked-among-the-least-lgbt-friendly-campuses/|access-date=February 26, 2023}}]]

BYU has seen many changes in policies around its LGBTQ student population. In 1962 a ban on students known to have a homosexual orientation was enacted by Ernest Wilkinson, but softened a decade later by his successor Dallin H. Oaks to only ban "overt and active homosexuals."{{rp|375}}{{cite book|title=BYU Board Meeting Minutes|date=April 19, 1973|publisher=Brigham Young University|location=BYU Library Special Collections|pages=6–7|url-access=limited|url=http://files.lib.byu.edu/ead/XML/UA1085.xml}}{{cite speech |title=Private Pain, Public Purges: A History of Homosexuality at Brigham Young University |first=Rocky Connell |last=O'Donovan |author-link=Connell O'Donovan |location=University of California, Santa Cruz |date=April 28, 1997}} Under Oaks there was a system of surveillance and searches of student dorms in order to expel students suspected of any same-sex sexual activity.{{cite book|last1=Bergera|first1=James|last2=Priddis|first2=Ronald|title=Brigham Young University: A House of Faith|date=1985|publisher=Signature Books|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|isbn=978-0941214346|page=126|url=https://archive.org/details/brighamyounguniv0000berg|url-access=registration|via=Internet Archive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322002235/http://signaturebookslibrary.org/brigham-young-university/|archive-date=March 22, 2022|url-status=live|access-date=November 21, 2016}}{{cite news|title=Oaks Supports Security's Police Powers|newspaper=The Daily Universe|location=Provo, Utah|publisher=Brigham Young University|date=September 18, 1979}}{{cite magazine |last1=Williams |first1=Ben |title=The '70s Mormon crusade against homosexuals |url=https://www.qsaltlake.com/news/2018/01/18/70s-mormon-crusade-homosexuals/ |magazine=QSaltLake|location=Salt Lake City, Utah |date=January 18, 2018}} These efforts included stakeouts by BYU security looking for license plates of BYU students at gay bars in Salt Lake City and fake contact advertisements placed in gay publications attempting to ensnare BYU students.{{cite news|last1=Moes|first1=Garry J.|title=Ex-BYU Security Officer Tells of Intrigue, Spying|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City, Utah|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4408149/the-salt-lake-tribune/ |date=March 22, 1975|page=5 |via=Newspapers.com|url-access=limited|access-date=February 23, 2023}}{{r|name=Dynamics|q=1975 (Jan.) [BYU] began an effort to expel all homosexual male students. BYU security officers interrogated students majoring in fine arts or drama. Security operatives also took down license plate numbers of cars parked outside Salt Lake City's gay bars and cross-checked them with cars registered with BYU by current students. BYU's president acknowledged these activities ....|pp=442}}{{cite news|title=Brigham Young U. Admits Stakeouts on Homosexuals| newspaper=The New York Times |agency=United Press International|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/27/archives/around-the-nation-puerto-rican-media-ordered-to-give-notes-to-grand.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FBrigham+Young+University|location=New York City|page=A16|date=September 27, 1979|quote=Brigham Young University says its security police staked out homosexual bars in Salt Lake City to investigate homosexual activity at the Latter-day Saint‐owned school, but stopped the practice once administrators learned of it. Paul Richards, director of public relations for the university, confirmed yesterday allegations by the American Civil Liberties Union that security officers ventured off campus and wrote letters to a homosexual‐oriented newspaper soliciting responses as part of a crackdown on homosexuals. ... 'Those things were done,' Mr. Richards said.}} In the late 1990s a reference to "homosexual conduct" was added to the BYU Honor Code,{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=John K.|title=Patriotic Correctness: Academic Freedom and Its Enemies|date=August 1, 2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1594511943|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9WEeCwAAQBAJ|url-access=limited|page=146}} and there was a ban on coming out for lesbian, gay, or bisexual students.{{cite magazine|title=Mormonism: 'Do Ask, Do Tell' at BYU|url=http://www.newsweek.com/mormonism-do-ask-do-tell-byu-98007?rx=us|access-date=February 5, 2017|magazine=Newsweek|location=New York City|date=April 29, 2007}}{{cite magazine|title=BYU clarifies code on homosexuality: Homosexual orientation no longer a violation|url=https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2007-05/byu-clarifies-code-homosexuality-0|magazine=The Christian Century|location=Chicago|date=May 29, 2007|volume=124|issue=11|page=15|url-access=subscription|access-date=February 5, 2017}}{{cite news|last1=Stewart|first1=Kirsten|title=BYU Brass Suspend Two Gays|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |location=Salt Lake City, Utah|access-date=February 25, 2023|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119577559/byu-brass-suspend-two-gays/|date=March 29, 2001|page=33 |id={{ProQuest|281319012}}|via=Newspapers.com}} Part 2 of the article located [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119577642/byu-brass-suspend-two-gays-part-2/ here]. In 2007, BYU changed the honor code to read that stating one's sexual orientation was not an honor code issue.{{cite news|last1=Lyon|first1=Julia|title=BYU changes honor code text about gay students|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/news/ci_5684555|access-date=January 15, 2017| newspaper=Salt Lake Tribune|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|date=February 23, 2023}} In February 2020, BYU removed "homosexual behavior" from its Honor Code,{{cite magazine |last=Graham |first=Ruth |date=February 21, 2020 |title='A Weight Has Been Lifted Off My Shoulders': Students at Brigham Young University welcome the school's removal of 'homosexual behavior' from the honor code |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/02/byu-honor-code-gay-dating-lds.html?via=recirc_recent |magazine=Slate |access-date=March 11, 2020}}{{cite news |last=McCombs |first=Brady |date=March 7, 2020 |title=Mormon students protest BYU stance on same-sex behavior |url=https://apnews.com/article/af4895749b03b5d875e52bd4cf76b214 |publisher=Associated Press |access-date=February 26, 2023|location=News York City}}{{cite news |last=Bowmer |first=Rick |date=March 9, 2020 |title='Traumatic whiplash': BYU's U-turn on homosexuality a blow to gay students |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/traumatic-whiplash-byu-s-u-turn-homosexuality-blow-gay-students-n1152436 |work=NBC News |access-date=March 11, 2020}} but a ban on same-sex romantic behavior such as dating, holding hands, and kissing remains in place as of 2023.{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=Martha |date=2023-08-30 |title=For queer BYU students, the Honor Code update picks at wounded feelings of belonging |url=https://www.kuer.org/education/2023-08-30/for-queer-byu-students-the-honor-code-update-picks-at-wounded-feelings-of-belonging |work=KUER-FM |publisher=University of Utah}}{{Cite news |last=Iati |first=Marisa |date=2020-03-06 |title=BYU lifted a ban on 'homosexual behavior.' The Mormon Church says same-sex couples still can't date. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/03/05/mormon-church-says-no-same-sex-dating-at-byu/ |access-date=2024-02-06 |newspaper=Washington Post }}

{{Portal|LDS Church|LGBTQ}}

• LGBTQ people and the Community of Christ
• Timeline of LGBTQ Mormon history
• LGBTQ Mormon people and organizations
• Gender minorities and the LDS Church
• BYU LGBTQ history
• Sexuality and Mormonism
• LGBTQ rights in Utah
• List of Christian denominational positions on homosexuality

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://affirmation.org/ Affirmation] - organization supporting LGBTQ/SSA members and families, friends and church leaders in seeking to live fulfilling lives consistent with their values
• [http://northstarlds.org/ North Star] - community for LGBTQ/SSA Latter-day Saints wanting to follow church teachings
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm1cob3svWA Families Are Forever] - mini-documentary trailer about a family's push for LDS acceptance of their gay son
• [https://www.northstarsaints.org/voices-of-hope-profiles Voices of Hope] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102214611/http://www.ldsvoicesofhope.org/voices.php |date=November 2, 2014 }} - video interviews of active church members attracted to people of the same sex
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120724193203/http://www.evergreeninternational.org/Articles.htm Evergreen's archived collection]}} of previous church publications on homosexuality

{{LGBTQ people and the Latter Day Saint movement}}

{{Latter-day Saints|hide|show}}

{{Religion and LGBTQ people}}

Category:LGBTQ and Mormonism

Category:The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Category:LGBTQ history in Utah