This is a timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the 1990s, part of a series of timelines consisting of events, publications, and speeches about LGBTQ+ individuals, topics around sexual orientation and gender minorities, and the community of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Although the historical record is often scarce, evidence points to queer individuals having existed in the Mormon community since its beginnings. However, top LDS leaders only started regularly addressing queer topics in public in the late 1950s. Since 1970, the LDS Church has had at least one official publication or speech from a high-ranking leader referencing LGBT topics every year, and a greater number of LGBT Mormon and former Mormon individuals have received media coverage.
Timeline
1990
1990 – The church published a version of the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet which contained its first explicit mention of homosexuality. The pamphlet was to be put "in the hands of every young person in each ward". In this pamphlet's eighth version section on "Sexual Purity" it states "the Lord specifically forbids ... sex perversion such as homosexuality". It continues "homosexual and lesbian activities are sinful and an abomination to the Lord" and "unnatural affections ... toward persons of the same gender are counter to God's eternal plan". April – The church distributed the booklet "Keys to Understanding Homosexuality" to its LDS Social Services employees which contained twenty-five suggestions to help male homosexual clients such as discouraging them from coming out of the closet, increasing their hope for changing their attractions, and helping them dress and act heterosexual. October – The first Utah pride march was held. It was organized by Connell O'Donovan who attended LDS seminary as a teen, and underwent shock and vomit aversion therapy and hypnosis therapy in attempts to change his attractions to men as recommended by his church leaders. The marchers went right past the Salt Lake temple and the event complemented the annual Utah Gay and Lesbian Pride Day Festival that had been held since 1986. During next year's march participants were met with neo-nazi protesters at the Salt Lake City and County building. October – Packer gave an October General Conference talk in which he warned against "spiritually dangerous lifestyles" including "abortion, the gay-lesbian movement, and drug addiction" continuing to state that using scriptures to justify "perverted acts" of "gay or lesbian conduct" between "consenting adults" would by the same logic justify the "molesting of little children". November – Church spokesperson John Lyons stated, "whether you are talking about homosexual or heterosexual activity, the same rule applies. Since there is no marriage between homosexuals, then sexual activity between them is not acceptable under our principles."
1991 1991 – Gamofites, a support group for gay Mormon fathers, is founded. March – During a case hearing Young Men's president and church Seventy Jack H. Goaslind gave a testimonial and stated on record that "[the church] would withdraw" from the Boy Scouts of America if homosexual youth were allowed to join, implying a current church policy banning youth based on sexual orientation. In March 1910 the church's Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association had adopted the Boy Scouts of America program as the church-wide program for young men in the US. May – The play Angels in America which prominently featured a gay Mormon man in a mixed-orientation marriage debuted in San Francisco. It would go on to a Broadway run, winning Tony Awards, a Pulitzer prize, and spawning a 2003 HBO miniseries. June – Peculiar People: Mormons and Same-Sex Orientation is published by Ron Schow, Wayne Schow, and Marybeth Raynes. The book includes essays and experiences by gay and lesbian Latter-day Saints. November – The First Presidency sent a letter on November 14 to be read in all congregations stating "homosexual and lesbian behavior is sinful" and that homosexual "thoughts and feelings, regardless of their causes, can and should be overcome" by "sincere repentance", "persistent effort", "the help of others", and "counsel from their bishop". The letter made a distinction "between immoral thoughts and feelings and participating in ... any homosexual behavior", and calls for "love and understanding" for those "struggling" to "overcom[e] inappropriate thoughts and feelings".
1992
1992 – The church published "Understanding and Helping Those Who Have Homosexual Problems" as a guide for ecclesiastical leaders. The six-page booklet states, "There is a distinction between immoral thoughts and feelings and participating in ... homosexual behavior. However, such thoughts and feelings, regardless of their causes can and should be overcome and sinful behavior should be eliminated." It further advised, "members can overcome these problems by turning to the Lord." "In some cases, heterosexual feelings emerge leading to happy, eternal marriage relationships." The pamphlet did not frame homosexuality as a disease corresponding to the recent change by the World Health Organization removing homosexuality as a mental disorder. However, it continued to deny any biological origins stating "there is no conclusive evidence that anyone is born with a homosexual orientation." April – Seventy Vaughn Featherstone decried the attempts at legalizing homosexuality during his lifetime as among compromising, drifting philosophies in his general conference speech. April – The apostle Packer stated in general conference that humans can degrade themselves below animals by pairing with people of the same-sex since animals do not mate with other animals of the same sex. However, same-sex pairing has been observed in more than 1,500 species, and well-documented for 500 of them. He had also stated this a month prior in a sermon at BYU. October – Then apostle Russell Nelson stated in general conference that the AIDS epidemic was a plague fueled by a vocal few concerned with civil rights and abetted by immoral people.
1993 1993 – Family Fellowship, a support group for LDS who have LGBT family members, is founded. 1993 – The Encyclopedia of Mormonism is published containing former presiding bishop Victor L. Brown's article titled "Homosexuality." It stated that "the divine mandate of marriage between man and woman puts in perspective why homosexual acts are offensive to God. They repudiate the gift and the Giver of eternal life." The church's flagship school Brigham Young University has owned the copyright to the Encyclopedia since 2001. 1993 – WordPerfect co-founder Bruce Bastian divorced his wife and publicly came out as gay. After leaving the church, he later married his husband Clint Ford. Bastian has made large donations to Encircle, the Utah Pride Center, Equality Utah, and the Utah AIDS Foundation.
May – Packer gave his May 18 "Talk to the All-Church Coordinating Council" (composed of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Presiding Bishopric). In it Packer identified three groups, that pose a "temptation" or "danger" to "lead away" members: those in the "gay and lesbian" and "feminist" movements, and "so-called scholars or intellectuals". In the address he stated that a man who self-identifies as a homosexual has "gender disorientation". September – The September Six are excommunicated. They include the feminist Lavina Fielding Anderson and historian D. Michael Quinn. Despite his excommunication and critical writings, Quinn, who is now openly gay, still considers himself to be a Latter-day Saint.Lavina Fielding Anderson. "DNA Mormon: D. Michael Quinn," in Mormon Mavericks: Essays on Dissenters, edited by John Sillitoe and Susan Staker, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002, pp. 329-363. October – Apostle Dallin H. Oaks gave a conference address stating that "Satan seeks to ... confuse gender" and "there are many political, legal, and social pressures for changes that confuse gender and homogenize the differences between men and women". October – Church Seventy Spencer J. Condie related a story of a homosexual man's conversion in his October General Conference talk. Condie calls "homosexual tendencies" an unclean "addictive behavior" that the man in the story developed "gradually" after being "introduced" to it "in his early youth" after which he had "relationships" which brought him "misery". Later the man read the Book of Mormon, experienced a "mighty change of heart", and was baptized and married a woman.
1994 1994 – Disciples2, a confidential online and email support group, was founded. It operated from 1994 to about 2013 for male and female "strugglers" striving to follow church teachings. 1994 – BYU published an anthropology masters thesis titled Cross-Cultural Categories of Female Homosexuality. February – The First Presidency issued a statement declaring that the church "opposes any efforts" towards same-sex marriage and encourages members "to appeal to legislators ... to reject all efforts to ... support marriages between persons of the same gender." April – Apostle Boyd K. Packer gave a conference address mentioning "gender identity" and "those confused about gender" as well as stating that changes in the laws around marriage and gender threaten the family. May – The church's publishing company published Laurie Campbell's "Born That Way?" under a pen name on her leaving a relationship with a woman and marrying a man. October – Apostle Richard G. Scott gave a conference address restating a part of Spencer W. Kimball's October 1980 conference talk by saying that "stimulation" or masturbation can lead to "acts of homosexuality". See reference 9 of the article. October – The apostle Joseph B. Wirthlin gave a general conference address in which he stated, "we are to avoid abnormal sexual behavior, including fornication, homosexual behavior, child molestation, or any other perversion of God’s plan of happiness." November – Apostle James E. Faust gave a speech at BYU in which he stated that homosexuality is not biological or inborn and that same-sex marriage would unravel families, the fabric of human society.
1995 mid-1990s – BYU's on-campus electroshock aversion therapy program which had begun in 1959 ended over three decades later in the mid-1990s. 1995 – The church's Family Services published the manual "Understanding and Helping Individuals with Homosexual Problems" advising practitioners how to prevent and treat homosexuality saying, "There is sufficient scientific research and clinical evidence to conclude that homosexuality is treatable and preventable." The guide states that male homosexuality is caused by "the motivation to repair the loss of the father-son relationship creat[ing] sexualized father-hunger or reparative drive", and that "in the homosexual male this core gender identity has become confused". The manual cites "the roots of lesbianism" as "a dysfunctional family relationship" and/or "physical, sexual and emotional abuse" which causes women to "have a tendency to develop overly dependent or enmeshed emotional relationships". The guide further states that the "love between homosexuals is pseudo-love". January – The church's newspaper published an article by BYU professor Daniel Judd in which he stated that the power of Christ freed a man from his problem of homosexuality. February – The LDS Church begins efforts opposing same-sex marriage laws including recruiting members to work with and donate to Hawaii's Future Today in opposition to efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in Hawaii. Pamphlets were spread in church meetings and church facilities were used to fax statements to legislative committees. The campaign spanned years and the church reported giving $600,000 in 1998 to the Hawaiian political-action group Save Traditional Marriage '98.