This Day In Gay Utah History November 23rd

November 23

John W. Taylor

1902 LDS Apostle John W. Taylor tells stake priesthood meeting that "those who have sexual intercourse with their wives or touch any dead body are unclean until the evening, and therefore during that day should not enter the temple or officiate in any ordinances of the gospel."

1907 Edward Burke Case No. 1871 Third District Judicial Court: Edward Burke was charged with a “Crime Against Nature” for having sex with a 15-year-old youth Leon Young. Burke lived at 37 West 600 South SLC according to a 1908 city directory. Leon Young who lived at 248 South 9th East and Walter Dunn of 235 South State were called as witnesses. EDWARD BURKE IS PLACED UNDER ARREST Edward Burke, contractor, who says he is employed by the Bell Telephone Company was arrested by Policeman Ilson at 235 South State, Saturday night charged with an unspeakable crime upon Leon Young of Eureka, a youth who he said ran away from home Thursday because of mistreatment by his stepfather A.P. Olsen. Burke, who is a fine specimen of physical manhood, resisted arrest and the policeman had to force his door. Young said he met Burke on Commercial Street, Saturday afternoon, and after being invited to lunch with him was taken to his room to wait until the shows to begin. At the rooming house it is said that Burke did not live in the room but used it to entice young boys to it. (24 Nov 1907 Salt Lake Tribune page 20) Information Edward Burke having heretofore been duly committed to this court by C.D. Diehl, a Committing Magistrate of said County, to answer to this charge, is accused by Frederick C. Loofbourow, District Attorney of the Third Judicial District of the State of Utah, Salt Lake County, by this information, of the infamous “Crime Against Nature” committed as follows, to-wit:  That the said Edward Burke at the County of Salt Lake City, State of Utah, on the 23rd day of November A.D. 1907, in and upon Leon Young, a youth of fifteen years of age, unlawfully and feloniously an assault did make and then and there unlawfully, feloniously, wickedly, diabolically and against the order of nature did have a venereal affair with and did carnally know the said Leon Young, and then and there unlawfully, feloniously, wickedly, diabolically and against the order of nature with the said Leon Young did commit and perpetrate the detestable and abominable crime of Sodomy; Contrary to the provisions of the statute of the State aforesaid, in such cases made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the State of Utah.” Signed Frederick C.  Loofbourow.  The bond for Edward Burke was fixed at $1000 but he managed to get it reduced to $500 and secured by Utah's Savings and Trust Company. However he failed to appear before Judge Armstrong in June and was thought to have fled the state and his bond was forfeited. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest.

1920 The Boheman Club of the University of Utah will entertain at the second of a series at the Emery Dormitory Hall Saturday night. The Melton Burn’s Jazz Orchestra will furnish the music. The committee in charge of arrangements include Sam Dorey, Guy Kidder, and Norman Priese. Booths to imitate the famous cafes of Washington Square will form the decorations.

1933-The New York tabloid Broadway Brevities, under the headline "FAGS TICKLE NUDES," published an article warning that "Pansy men of the nation" were invading steam baths and turning them into replicas of the orgy houses in Rome at the time of Nero. "Poshy Steam Rooms Pander to Pansies" "Joyboys on Make for Lurid Lushes" Gin-soaked Punks Debauch Madly"

1979 Seven signatures were required to create a new club at Utah Technical College which the Gay Service Club managed to do. The first meeting was held Nov. 23, 1979, about two years after the first Gay Student Union was formed at the University of Utah. The GSU never really got off the ground. It had already disbanded by spring of 1980 when an article dated March 3 reported; “Only two members showed up, a young male cosmetology student and a female mechanic who wore a tattoo that read ‘Support your local Roller-derby Team.’”

1987- Beau Chaine left as a co-host of Concerning Gays and Lesbians due to health problems.

1988 Ben Barr, the director of Salt Lake AIDS

Ben Barr

Foundation dropped out of the state school board's AIDS education program in response to objections by Families Alert, a conservative group. Families Alert objected to the use of Ben Barr as a teacher trainer for the state's new AIDS education program. They said that Barr, who they called "a practicing homosexual," should not be involved in a school program. Families Alert was founded by Joy Beech, Ogden. It has been vocal on issues related to pornography, indecency and sex education, taking a conservative approach that precludes such education in schools without parental consent. Barr said he would not want his presence in the state school AIDS program to diminish the effectiveness of the program.  Romola Joy Beech founded Family Alert the precurser to Gayle Ruzicka's Eagle Forum Joy Beech dies

Wednesday, November 23, 1988 FAMILIES ALERT PROTEST PROMPTS TRAINER FOR AIDSPROGRAM TO QUIT By Twila Van Leer, Education Editor The director of Salt Lake AIDS Foundation has dropped out of the state school board's AIDS education program in response to objections by Families Alert, a conservative group. Families Alert wrote a letter to State School Board Member John M.R. Covey, and sent copies to the other eight board members. The organization objected to the use of Ben Barr as a teacher trainer for the state's new AIDS education program. They said that Barr, who they called "a practicing homosexual," should not be involved in a school program. Deeann J. Fisher, legislative council president for Families Alert, signed the letter. Families Alert was founded by Joy Beech, Ogden. It has been vocal on issues related to pornography, indecency and sex education, taking a conservative approach that precludes such education in schools without parental consent. Barr said he would not want his presence in the state school AIDS program to diminish the effectiveness of the program. Education has been identified as the only protection against the disease, and Utah's state school board spent more than a year developing a curriculum that meets community standards. In addition, he said his responsibilities with the AIDS Foundation have increased and the training program for school teachers would take more time as it moves out of the Wasatch Front area. "This whole Families Alert thing has been blown out of proportion, it was just the timing, my work there was not the most important issue right now," Barr said. He said he has completed five of nine teacher training sessions he had contracted with the district to conduct. Bruce Griffin, associate state superintendent for operations and curriculum, also said it would be detrimental to allow controversy to interfere with implementing the AIDS curriculum. The curriculum was developed with considerable community input, including that of Families Alert, and the goal of the state office is to get information to school children within guidelines that are compatible with community standards and as quickly as possible. Teachers are now being trained to implement two AIDS curricula into the classroom - one for regular classroom use and a second for school youngsters considered to be at greater risk or whose parents want them to have more explicit information about AIDS.

Gordon Church

1988 GORDON RAY CHURCH by Ben Williams The murder of Gordon Church, a drama student at Cedar City, Utah was no accident. It was truly a vicious hate crime even more atrocious than the attack on Harold Hawker. In fact the murder of Gordon Church was described by Salt Lake Tribune reporter, Chris Jorgensen, as the most appalling murder he had ever covered and possibly the most depraved in Utah’s history. However outside of the Gay community and the legal system, few people in the state are aware of it. Gordon Church’s murder ranks in savagery with the Ogden Hi-Fi Murders but because Church was a closet Gay man, whose family were prominent Mormons in Delta Utah, the Judge of Millard County ordered a gag rule on the case.  Only after Salt Lake Tribune reporter Chris Jorgansen threatened to file a law suit was the order lifted. I  became aware of the death of Gordon Church from Chris Brown, President of the

Cris Brown

Lesbian and Gay Student Union. I imagine he heard about it from what I call the Gay Grapevine. I remember him telling me that Church’s death was another reason for him to hate straight people. Brown being a college student himself really took the murder hard, especially as the gruesome details came to light, not from newspaper accounts, but from leaks from the homicide division to Gay people in Southern Utah who brought the news north. On 14 December 1988 I wrote about this

Becky Moss

murder in my journal stating that “Becky Moss called me this evening to tell me about this reporter Chris Jorgenson of the Salt Lake Tribune who called her. He is doing a news story on the Gordon Church murder and he wanted to talk to someone in the Gay Community about how to handle Gay sensitive news stories. She wanted me to call him back so I did. He said that his dilemma was how to treat something as a Gay bashing with out “outing” the person who is a victim of Gay violence. I told him that just because a person is attacked because someone thinks he’s Gay does not mean the person is Gay. However if a person is attacked because he is perceived to be Gay whether the person is Gay or not it is still a Gay Bashing Crime. Jorgensen wanted some guidelines from the Gay community on how to write Gay sensitive stories and I said that I would contact the Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah and have someone from that organization meet with him on the 23rd.  He also confirmed what Chris Brown told me last month. The judge has put a gag order on the case and this reporter is going to court to get it lifted. He also said that the Millard County Sheriff is treating this case as “If this guy wouldn’t have been a faggot we wouldn’t be spending the holidays investigating this case.”  Millard County is also mad about how much this faggot murder case will cost the county. I am glad that other decent people like Jorgansen are as incensed over this senseless murder as I am. I did not know this boy but hope I can be instrumental in helping his murder come out and not be covered up as a little bit of nasty embarrassment to the “good people” of Delta, Utah. I first called Chris Brown if he would go with me but he will be home in Portland for the holidays. So I contacted Curtis Jensen and Val Mansfield and they agreed to go with me.” After writing this I’ve always tried to keep my vow that the murder of Gordon Church should be remembered. On 23 November 1988 Gordon Church was  brutally murdered in Millard County by Michael Anthony Archuleta and Lance Conway Wood. It was one of the most sadistic murders in the history of this state. However only a few people were aware of the torture killing because the Millard County judge placed a gag order over the case to protect a prominent Mormon family in Delta from the public knowledge and embarrassment that their son was Gay. In 1981 Michael Archuleta at the age of 18 went to prison for stealing a gun. He was paroled a year later but five years later was back in prison for selling drugs. While doing time, Archuleta met fellow inmate,18 year old Lance Conway Wood.  Wood claimed that the older Archuleta began to dominate the relationship while in prison physically and emotionally. Wood claimed that he feared him. .Archuleta was paroled on Oct. 11, 1988 and moved to Cedar City to be with Wood. They shared Wood’s live-in girlfriend, Brenda Stapley’s, apartment. Archuleta quickly got himself a girlfriend also and moved her into apartment. The two convicts proceeded to lived off their girlfriends. This arrangement became increasingly unsatisfactory to Stapley who left Utah in November for a weekend trip to Arizona. When she returned, on November 21 Wood learned that Stapley had gone Arizona to see another guy. Wood began drinking heavily with Archuleta and soon the two couples started brawling when Archuleta’s girlfriend sided with Stapley. Kicked out of the apartment, Archuleta and Wood left and walked to Main Street in Cedar City with Wood, according to Archuleta, fuming over being jilted. Archuleta said Wood was “ wanting blood," and "He didn't care whose blood it was.  On main street they encountered University of Southern Utah drama student, Gordon Church, who was parked in his 1978 white Ford Thunderbird at a convenient store. Church had gone out to cruise so when Wood walked over to Church, it was easy for Wood, a tall, blond, good looking 19 year old Bountiful boy to talked him into giving Archuleta and Wood a ride. Archuleta and Wood talked Church into cruising Main Street in Cedar City where Angela Robins and Anna Luce testified that while they were dragging Main Street in Cedar City they saw Archuleta and Wood riding with Church about 10:15 p.m. The women said Archuleta and Wood tried to "pick them up" and that Archuleta introduced Church to them after the men followed Robins and Luce to a parking lot. The occupants of the two car stopped to talk for about a half hour but the women after flirting, drove off.  Robins and Luce later said they saw Archuleta standing on a Main Street sidewalk and that Church's car had pulled into a nearby convenience store. That was the last time any one remembered see Gordon Church alive.  After "cruising" for a while, Archuleta bought gas for Church’s white Ford Thunderbird sometime after 11 p.m. at the Summit Truck Stop, some 10 miles north of Cedar City. From there Church drove the men up Cedar Canyon and pulled onto a dirt road. Church parked his car and there Archuleta asked Church if he was gay and Church said he was". According to Archuleta, "That's when everything started to happen." Archuleta admitted that he had oral and anal sex with Gordon Church in Cedar Canyon but he said when Church made sexual advances toward Wood, Wood initiated the violence by slashing Church's throat with a knife. Church immediately jumped out of the car and began to run away but Wood tackled Church as he fled, breaking Wood’s arm. Lance Wood then grabbed Church by the hair and slashed his neck again with his hunting knife. Supposedly Archuleta told  Lance "We're in trouble,'  Wood maintained however that it was Archuleta who slashed Church’s throat in the car as a show of machismo after having sex with him. After Church was subdued with a broken arm and knife wound to the neck, the pair took tire chains, tied  Gordon up with them, and threw him in the trunk. Archuleta maintained that all he really wanted to do was steal his car, so he and Wood drove about 70 miles north of Cedar City and pulled off I-15 onto a frontage road. From there the men drove with Church in the trunk of his car, confined, bleeding, and in pain to a secluded location north of Cove Fort known as Dog Valley in Millard County. Prosecutors maintained that they killed Church " because once injured, they couldn't let him go. In assessing the risk, they elected to take his life,". Archuleta knew that after helping Wood force the victim into the car trunk, " Gordon Church wouldn't live to see the sun rise on Nov. 22." Archuleta admitted also that once he and Wood pulled Church from the car trunk “evil had completely over taken him, and once they started he couldn't stop."  The men began torturing Church who was pants less. They attached jumper cables, hooked to the car battery, to his testicles to make him scream.  Archuleta admitted to hooking the cables to the battery but accused Wood of attaching the battery cables to Church’s genitals.  He then claimed that Wood twisted Church's neck, until Church fell to the ground. Archuleta later told an fellow inmate that drugs couldn't compare to the "high" of killing Church. This inmate. "He told me that it was the ultimate rush. While helpless and defenseless as Gordon Church lying on the ground, Lance Wood started kicking church in the head with his shoe. Archuleta said "I heard like a smack, something hitting something else,". "He (Wood) had his foot on Gordon's face and was swinging the jack like a golf club . . . or like a mallet when you play croquet." After being struck several times by the jack, Church appeared dead. Archuleta said Lance Wood then stabbed Church in the rectum with a tire iron puncturing his liver after the murder. Lance Wood maintained that it was Michael Archuleta who sodomized Church with the tire iron. The murderers then dragged Church's badly beaten and half-nude body off the dirt road and covered with it with dirt and tree limbs, got back in Church’s car, and drove north to Salt Lake City. Robert Moffitt, owner of Bob's Conoco in Spanish Fork, testified that Archuleta and Wood bought gas from his station at about 5:45 a.m. on the morning of November 22, saying they looked like they had "worked all night," and that  were dirty and their clothes wrinkled and soiled. Actually Archuleta pants were covered with Church’s dried blood. Lance Wood remorseful a day after the slaying and fearful of Archuleta went to the police in Salt Lake City and led investigators to the murder scene. The police found Church’s body, gagged, wrapped in tire chains, nude from the waste down and buried in a shallow grave south of Dog Valley near an I-15 frontage road. Michael Archuleta and Lance Wood were tried separately for the murder of Gordon Church. Archuleta was found guilty of 1st degree murder on 20 December 1989 All through the trial he down played his involvement in the slaying implying that his co-defendant, Lance Conway Wood, was the real perpetrator. However the prosecutor said Archuleta's pants had more blood on them than Wood's pants, that Archuleta drove Church’s car most of the way from Cedar Canyon to Dog Valley, he bought gasoline for the car, and he controlled the relationship he had with Wood. The Prosecutor maintained that "Both Wood and Archuleta were there," Both engaged in the execution," which was committed in an "especially heinous, atrocious, cruel and exceptionally depraved manner." "Who killed Gordon Church? From the evidence, the answer is clear," "The same two people who put Gordon Church in the trunk (of his car) ... are the same two people who killed him at Dog Valley." Archuleta showed no emotion when the jury's guilty decision was read, but as he was taken from the courtroom he glared at prosecutor Carvel Harward, and yelled at him, "I'll see you in hell." The judge chose lethal injection as the means of execution for Archuleta after he was unable to decide between injection and the firing squad. Lance Wood was found guilty on 11 March 1990 but he was given only life imprisonment for the murder of Church. Church’s lawyers played the Mormon card so that while Latino Archuleta received the death penalty Mormon Wood was given life in prison.  On that date I wrote in my journal Lance Wood was found guilty today of the murder of Gordon Church.  I had always thought that he wasn't as guilty as Mike Archuleta but evidence in the trial purported that he had kicked Gordon in the head several times with such force that his blood and hair had intertwined in Lance's shoe laces. I think it is such irony that the stories about the mention of Gays being excluded from the Anne Frank Nazi holocaust Exhibit and that of Lance Wood were on the same newspaper page, juxtaposed towards each other. Bigots trying to teach children not to be bigots.  Michael Archuleta has not been executed to date but suffers from tormented hallucinations. After being arrested, Archuleta said he needed to talk to a psychiatrist about his  hallucinations. He said “I was seeing Gordon. He was right there. I could see Gordon saying, "Why are you doing this to me?' I could see Gordon laying on the ground. I could see the shallow grave Gordon was in. I could see myself standing right next to Gordon, looking at him. I still see him." His attorney asked Archuleta, "You wanted to talk to someone so it would go away?" Replied Archuleta, "It'll never go away."

Micaela Nelligan

1991- The 2^nd annual benefit for the Utah Stonewall Center called Just For Laughs: A Gala Evening of Fun and an Auction” featured comedian Micaela Nelligan. Benefit held at the Art Barn. Actress died in 2006 age 47  Obituary

1991- A letter from the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, reaffirming its position on sexual behavior, was read over every LDS pulpit in the world. ``The Lord's standard of moral conduct is abstinence outside of lawful marriage and fidelity within marriage.`Any other sexual contact, including fornication, adultery, and homosexual and Lesbian behavior, is sinful.  These sins, though portrayed as acceptable and even normal by many in the world, are grievous in the sight of God.''  The timing of the letter coincides with the publication of a new book, Peculiar People: Mormons and Same-Sex Orientation. The book's editors, Ron Schow, Wayne Schow and Marybeth Raynes, were guests on KUTV's ``Take Two'' with Rod Decker Sunday night.

1996-Elton John was honored as the founder of the Elton John AIDS Foundation at a gala celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.

1998-The Georgia Supreme Court voted 6-1 to overturn the state's sodomy law. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Robert Benham wrote "We cannot think of any other activity that reasonable persons would rank as more private and more deserving of protection from governmental interference than consensual, private, adult sexual activity." Since the decision was based on the Georgia constitution rather than the US constitution, the decision could not be appealed.

Paul Ewald

1999 Tuesday, Homosexuality Could Be a Brain Infection Mental ills may be caused by germs, scientist says By Brady Snyder Deseret News staff writer It seems almost too much like an "X-Files" episode to be true, but some scientists  hypothesize that mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and Alzheimer's are  caused, not by trauma or chemical imbalances, but by infectious agents like viruses and  bacteria.   The broad scope of infection took center stage at the University of Utah earlier this  month as Dr. Paul Ewald explained how infection could explain many mysteries of modern  medicine. Even conditions of mind, like being artistic or being homosexual, might eventually be  attributed to infection, Ewald told the some 200 people who gathered at the U. biology  auditorium to hear the prestigious Amherst College graduate speak. "Often there are numerous non-infection risk factors, which divert attention from hypotheses of infectious causation. . . . Don't throw out a hypothesis unless you have   evidence (to prove it wrong), " he said. Ewald and his colleagues have even entertained the notion that homosexuality is caused  by some type of virus or bacteria. Because the so called "gay gene" theory has been all but  dismissed in scientific circles, infection can now be considered a possible answer, Ewald  said. In the same vein as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, homosexuality could be a brain infection, not a genetic condition or a lifestyle choice, he said.

2004  Subject: Community Thanksgiving Dinners  Can't Cook or Don't Want to but still want queer energy? Sacred Light of Christ Metro Community Church is hosting a dinner at 823 South and 600 East. Doors open at 11 a.m. for socializing and dinner served at 2 pm. Bring a side dish and the church will provide the rest. Joe Redburn is also hosting an annual Thanksgiving Dinner at the Trapp also at 3 pm. No excuse to be alone. If anyone knows of others please post.

Paul Mero

2005 Institute urges cities to map out family roles By Lori Buttars The Salt Lake Tribune NORTH SALT LAKE - A Utah-based conservative group is asking cities and counties across the state to put a "family filter" on their policymaking. In a letter mailed last month, Paul T. Mero, president of the Sutherland Institute, urges mayors and council members to pass a nonbinding resolution sanctioning the "natural family as the fundamental unit of society." Mero even provides a sample resolution for elected officials to use in their official proclamations. The document calls for cities to "envision a local culture" that: l "Upholds the marriage of a woman to a man, and a man to a woman, as ordained of God." l "Celebrates the marital sexual union as the unique source of new human life."l "See[s] our homes as open to a full quiver of children."l "Envisions young women growing into wives, homemakers and mothers; and . . . young men growing into husbands, home builders and fathers." Nearly a dozen opponents attended Tuesday's North Salt Lake City Council

meeting, where the resolution died for a lack of a motion. "I don't care if the neighbors have no children or 10," said 70- year-old North Salt Lake resident Dale Elton. "The City Council should stick to what it does best, plenty of water and good sewage." Councilman Conrad Nelson said he had received several "not very nice" e-mails regarding the resolution. "Please don't assume that just because we receive something in the mail that it has been accepted," he said. Salt Lake City and other several other cities say they haven't seen the letter. South Jordan received it but decided against putting it on the council agenda. In conservative Utah County, Mapleton's City Council discussed the measure last week but shot it down. Mapleton Councilman Jim Brady said Tuesday that his city had "several reservations" about the definition of the natural family and the roles spelled out for women and men. "We were also concerned that it specified we make protecting the natural family our first priority," Brady said. "We have lots of concerns as a city but decided defining this was not our highest priority." Contacted on Tuesday afternoon, Mero said he had not checked with any cities to see if they were adopting his proposal, but he was pleased that some considered it. "They [the cities] are sending a message throughout Utah and the world that there are places where family values are safe and in place," he said. "Utah, where 68 percent of the mothers with children under age 6 work outside the home, is often dishonest in saying this is a family place because when you look at the statistics, we look a lot like the rest of the country." Mero calls the resolution a "vision statement" for local government to use, and not a list of do's and don'ts. "By using family as a filter, things begin to look different to people considering a tax policy, an environmental policy or whatever," he said. The resolution troubles, among others, advocates of rights for women and gays. "It violates so many of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, I don't know where to begin," said Amber Moore-Emmett, president of the Utah chapter of the National Organization for Women. "This definition of the natural family is unrealistic and disrespectful to the many people who are raising thriving families as single or adoptive parents and in same-sex relationships." Moore-Emmett also emphasizes that the reference to marriage between a man and a woman as "ordained of God" crosses the line separating church and state - if a city were to officially adopt it. Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City and an openly gay member of the Utah Legislature, wrote North Salt Lake officials Tuesday and urged them not to embrace the resolution, saying it was nothing short of strapping "on the blinders and see[ing] only a particular segment of the population." North Salt Lake Mayor Kay Briggs says he sees "some benefit" to the city making a statement on families, but he concedes Sutherland's proposal might rankle residents. ''People might read that [resolution] and say, 'Kay Briggs thinks all women should stay home and make strawberry jam' or that I'm totally against people raising a family in whatever situation gives them the most comfort and solace,'' he said. ''I didn't read that into it, and I'm not opposed to discussing it.'' Salt Lake City Council Chairman Dale Lambert doubts the resolution would gain any traction in the capital, where officials are trying to extend health benefits to domestic partners. Such resolutions, Lambert said, "tend to be divisive and distract us from our fundamental work." Tribune reporters Heather May and Jacob Santini contributed to this story.

• Subject: North Salt Lake Action Result  Thank you for responding to yesterday's Action Alert The North Salt Lake City Council received your calls and emails  opposing the proposed "Natural Family" Resolution and voted it down at last  night's Council meeting. The full story can be found in today's Deseret  Morning News: North S.L. shrugs at family resolution. According to today's Salt Lake Tribune, the Sutherland Institute is "asking cities and counties across the state to put a 'family filter' on their policymaking." This same Resolution has been sent to city councils across the state. More information can be found in today's Tribune article: Institute urges cities to map out family roles A copy of the

  

  Paul Thompson

  Resolution will be available later this morning on the "Current Issues" page of the Equality Utah website. I encourage you to take the time to send an email to your city council representative to express your thoughts on this Resolution. I wish we could provide you with a complete list of all council members' email addresses for each municipality statewide; however, we do not have such a list. Please visit your city's website to obtain that information. If you choose to write your councilperson, please remember that a positive, respectful tone adds to the credibility of your message. Happy Thanksgiving - we appreciate your efforts & support. Regards, Mike Thompson Executive Director

2009 QSalt Lake The Queer-Affirmative Therapists are In by Joselle Vandergriff When Foundation for Reconciliation, a group of straight Mormons and their friends of all sexual orientations, delivered a petition to LDS Church headquarters earlier this month that asked the church to seek forgiveness and dialogue with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, they were joined by a group of mental health practitioners. Known as the LGBTQ-Affirmative Therapist Guild of Utah, these individuals read a statement criticizing Elder Bruce C. Hafen for

Bruce Hafen

statements he made during this year’s Evergreen International conference — a conference where gay Mormons are encouraged to attempt to change their sexual orientation. In his remarks, Hafen criticized professional psychological associations for stating that sexual orientation is unchangeable and told attendees to “[f]ind a therapist who can help you identify the unmet emotional needs that you are tempted to satisfy in false sexual ways.” “We regularly work with clients who struggle with suicidal feelings, many times because of an inability to resolve their distress about the conflicts between sexual orientation and religious beliefs,” read the guild’s statement in response. “They state they have attempted to change using the interventions and strategies offered by their LDS sources. They blame themselves for failing to change their sexual orientation. … They are sincere in their desires to comply with teachings from their authorities and please God and thus try to change and experience heterosexual attractions. Given the binds they are in, they describe lying to others, and even themselves, about the realities of their situation.” While this statement was among the guild’s most public appearances to date, this is not the first time members have spoken out against reparative therapy. In fact, the impetus for its founding in

Jim Struve

2004, said therapist Jim Struve, one of the guild’s creators, was widespread concern about how Utah mental health professionals were responding to issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. Reparative therapy is controversial issue in the gay and transgender community, in part because many members — particularly those from Christian backgrounds that believe homosexuality and transgenderism can be cured — have suffered from it. Currently, all reputable psychiatric and psychological organizations in the United States reject the practice as harmful because it frequently causes depression and leads to suicide attempts when they find their orientation is not changing. To counteract reparative therapy and other biases against gay and transgender mental health consumers, the guild put up a Web site with a mission statement saying that they were available for referrals and supportive of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning clients. To date, the group has over 100 members of all sexual orientations and gender identities who work as therapists, social workers, psychiatrists and other professionals and students working in the area of mental health. Members also hail from all parts of the state, though a majority work in the Salt Lake Valley. Along with an active mailing list, members can also take part in monthly meetings (held September through May) for networking opportunities and presentations by other group members on a number of subjects relevant to gay and transgender issues in mental health services. In October, for example, Struve said the presentation focused on bisexuality and adolescence. Frequently, the topics are not only interdisciplinary, but also sensitive to intersectional issues, such as an upcoming seminars about queer parents and about working with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender queer and questioning clients who also have physical disabilities. Sometimes, presentations are also run in collaboration with organizations that are not involved in mental health services but which work with gay and transgender people regularly, such as the ACLU of Utah. In the future, Struve said the guild hopes to collaborate with groups like PFFLAG and further with the Foundation for Reconciliation. “We meet together partly so we can do networking with other groups and partly so we can address an issue that crosses multiple lines,” Struve explained. “What we try to do is foster collaborative relationships with colleagues so we begin to realize that clients have more issues in their lives than just [issues relating to sexuality and gender identity].” “But we still don’t have as much as we’d like to be doing around transgender issues,” he added. Despite its youth, the group has been getting a lot of notice from the media, including Utah’s daily newspapers and news stations. Struve noted this interest was helped along by therapist and guild member Lee Beckstead’s

Lee Beckstead

involvement in drafting the American Psychiatric Association’s statement in July that reparative therapy was not “clinically sound.” The papers called the guild immediately, said Struve, and have called on them since. “They have identified us and called several times wanting our statement or input,” said Struve. It is input the group is happy to provide: “As therapists, we have a certain responsibility to address certain issues coming up in the community.” And it seems the community the guild is trying to serve is paying attention. In years past, the guild has participated in the Utah Pride Parade and Festival only to get “amazing feedback from people saying thank you for being around,” said Struve. “In Utah we’re finding so many people are afraid of therapy because their assumption is they’re not going to be accepted and that the therapist is going to try and convert them,” he said. “When people learn that’s not the case, it’s hard to measure what that leads to, [but] I assume it means some people event find their way into therapy.”  For more information, or to find an affirmative therapist, visit lgbtqtherapists.com.