Emmett Preciado (born March 18, 1994), is an American transgender actor, musician and activist for transgender rights, education and awareness. Preciado is best known for starring as Rio Guitierrez in the popular ABC television show The Good Doctor and Rowan in Freeform/ABC Family television show Good Trouble.
Preciado was born in Merced, California, and when he was a freshman in high school his family moved to South Sioux City, Nebraska. [1] At age 19, Preciado left Nebraska to serve a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When Preciado returned from his mission, he attended a semester at Brigham Young University, Idaho. [2]
Preciado received his first principal role in the spring of 2019. He is known for his role as Rowan on Freeform's Good Trouble. At the end of 2020, he shot his first guest star role as Rio Gutierrez on an episode of the ABC medical drama, The Good Doctor. [3]
In 2021, Preciado guest starred as Mateo Cruz on ABC's Rebel [4] . It was announced in 2024 that Preciado will be in the LGBTQ film Affirmation. [5]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Back to Basecamp | Tomas | Short |
| 2023 | Rainbow Six: Siege | Tubarão | Video Game |
| 2023 | Dead by Daylight | Tubarão | Video Game |
| 2021-2022 | Good Trouble | Rowan | TV Series |
| 2021 | Rebel | Mateo | TV Series |
| 2021 | The Good Doctor | Rio Guitierrez | TV Series |
| 2020 | The Wolf of Snow Hollow | Dorm Boy | Film |
| 2020 | Freeze Your Brain | Tommy | Short |
In 2015, Preciado discontinued his studies at BYU and moved to Utah to undergo his physical transition from female to male. [6] [7] He garnered millions of views and followers on social media from documenting his transition. [8] [9] Preciado is also an activist, making appearances and speaking in events and videos to raise awareness about LGBTQ issues. [10] [11]
Preciado changed his surname from 'Claren' when his family discovered their real name 'Preciado' using 23andMe DNA testing for ancestry. [12]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is the largest Latter Day Saint denomination. Founded by Joseph Smith during the Second Great Awakening, the church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has established congregations and built temples worldwide. According to the church, as of 2023, it has over 17.2 million members of which over 6.8 million live in the U.S. The church also reports over 99,000 volunteer missionaries and 350 temples.
Affirmation: LGBTQ Mormons, Families, & Friends is an international organization for individuals who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, queer, intersex, or same-sex attracted, and their family members, friends, and church leaders who are members or former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Utah have significantly evolved in the 21st century. Protective laws have become increasingly enacted since 2014, despite the state's reputation as socially conservative and highly religious. Utah's anti-sodomy law was invalidated in 2003 by Lawrence v. Texas, and fully repealed by the state legislature in 2019. Same-sex marriage has been legal since the state's ban was ruled unconstitutional by federal courts in 2014. In addition, statewide anti-discrimination laws now cover sexual orientation and gender identity in employment and housing, and the use of conversion therapy on minors is prohibited. In spite of this, there are still a few differences between the treatment of LGBTQ people and the rest of the population, and the rights of transgender youth are restricted.
Teachings on Sexuality in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is deeply rooted in its doctrine. In its standards for sexual behavior called the law of chastity, top LDS leaders bar all premarital sex, all homosexual sexual activity, the viewing of pornography, masturbation, overtly sexual kissing, sexual dancing, and sexual touch outside of a heterosexual marriage. LDS Leaders teach that gender is defined in premortal life, and that part of the purpose of mortal life is for men and women to be sealed together in heterosexual marriages, progress eternally after death as gods together, and produce spiritual children in the afterlife. The church states that sexual relations within the framework of monogamous opposite-sex marriage are healthy, necessary, and approved by God. The LDS denomination of Mormonism places great emphasis on the sexual behavior of Mormon adherents, as a commitment to follow the law of chastity is required for baptism, adherence is required to receive a temple recommend, and is part of the temple endowment ceremony covenants devout participants promise by oath to keep.
All homosexual sexual activity is condemned as sinful by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in its law of chastity, and the church teaches that God does not approve of same-sex marriage. Adherents who participate in same-sex sexual behavior may face church discipline. 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 any homosexual sexual activity or sexual relationships outside an opposite-sex marriage. However, all people, including those in same-sex relationships and marriages, are permitted to attend the weekly Sunday meetings.
Daniel Coulter Reynolds is an American singer. He is the lead vocalist and a founding member of the pop rock band Imagine Dragons, which formed in 2008. He is a recipient of the Songwriters Hall of Fame Hal David Starlight Award.
The history of the Latter Day Saint movement includes numerous instances of violence committed both by and against adherents. Mormons faced significant persecution in the early 19th century, including instances of forced displacement and mob violence in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. Notably, the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, was shot and killed alongside his brother, Hyrum Smith, in Carthage, Illinois in 1844, while Smith was in jail awaiting trial on charges of treason and inciting a riot.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, baptism is recognized as the first of several ordinances (rituals) of the gospel.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord. Temples are considered by church members to be the most sacred structures on earth.
Students identifying as LGBTQIA+ have a long, documented history at Brigham Young University (BYU), and have experienced a range of treatment by other students and school administrators over the decades. 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. BYU is the largest religious university in North America and is the flagship institution of the educational system of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints —Mormonism's largest denomination.
In society at large, LGBT individuals, especially youth, are at a higher risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide. Though causes of mental health risk are complex, one often cited reason for these higher risks is minority stress stemming from societal anti-LGBT biases and stigma, rejection, and internalized homophobia.
Although the historical record is often scarce, evidence points to LGBT individuals having existed in the Mormon community since its beginnings, and estimates of the number of LGBT former and current Mormons range from 4 to 10% of the total membership of the LDS Church. However, it wasn't until the late 1950s that top LDS leaders began regularly discussing LGBT people in public addresses. Since the 1970s a greater number of LGBT individuals with Mormon connections have received media coverage.
Transgender people and other gender minorities currently face membership restrictions in access to priesthood and temple rites in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints —Mormonism's largest denomination. Church leaders have taught gender roles as an important part of their doctrine since its founding. Only recently have they begun directly addressing gender diversity and the experiences of transgender, non-binary, intersex, and other gender minorities whose gender identity and expression differ from the cisgender majority.
Believer is a 2018 American documentary that examines the intersection between LGBT people and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through the eyes of Dan Reynolds, lead singer of pop rock band Imagine Dragons. It focuses on his efforts to organize the LOVELOUD Festival in Orem, Utah in support of Utah LGBTQ youth.
Hailie Sahar is an American actress. She is known for her performance as Lulu Abundance, and later as a co-founder of the House of Ferocity, in the TV series Pose.
Ian Alexander is an American actor, known for their roles as Buck Vu on The OA, Lev in The Last of Us Part II, and Gray Tal on Star Trek: Discovery.
This is a timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the 2020s, 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.
Deseret nationalism, popularized online as #DezNat, is a far-right Mormon nationalist movement in the United States. It originated in 2018 following the Unite the Right rally by Logan Smith, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The term originated as a Twitter hashtag, collecting upwards of 114,000 original posts.
This is a timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the 2010s, 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.