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Dallin Harris Oaks is an American religious leader and former jurist and educator who since 2018 has been the first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called as a member of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1984. Currently, he is the second most senior apostle by years of service and is the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. However, consistent with long-established practice, due to Oaks serving in the First Presidency, M. Russell Ballard currently serves as the quorum's acting president.
The J. Reuben Clark Law School is the graduate law school of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. Founded in 1973, the school is named after J. Reuben Clark, a former U.S. Ambassador, Undersecretary of State, and general authority of the institution's sponsoring organization, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Ernest Leroy Wilkinson was an American academic administrator, lawyer, and prominent figure in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was president of Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1951 to 1971, simultaneously overseeing the entire LDS Church Educational System (CES). He is credited with the expansion of BYU. Under his presidency, the student body increased six times to over twenty-five thousand students due to the physical growth of the university and his aggressive recruiting policies. The number of colleges at the university increased from five to thirteen and the number of faculty members increased four-fold. Wilkinson focused on recruiting more faculty and convincing current faculty to receive education outside the university. As a result, the number of teachers with doctorate degrees increased from 50 to 500. Associate and doctoral programs were created for BYU.
Cecil Osborn Samuelson Jr. was the 12th president of Brigham Young University (BYU) and is an emeritus general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Prior to holding these positions, Samuelson had worked as a professor of medicine and later dean of the school of medicine at the University of Utah, and senior vice president of Intermountain Health Care (IHC). While he was president at BYU, Samuelson pushed professors and students to raise their expectations and encouraged mentored learning. During his presidency, student enrollment limits stayed constant, new sports coaches were hired, new buildings were built, and a hiring freeze during the Great Recession reduced faculty.
Sexuality has a prominent role within the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which teaches that gender is defined in the premortal existence, and that part of the purpose of mortal life is for men and women to be sealed together, forming bonds that allow them to progress eternally together in the afterlife. It also teaches that sexual relations within the framework of opposite-sex marriage are healthy, necessary, and ordained of God.
All homosexual or same-sex sexual activity is forbidden 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 all sexual relations outside an opposite-sex marriage, but all, including those participating in same-sex activity and relationships, are allowed to attend weekly church worship services. However, in order to receive church ordinances such as baptism, and to enter church temples, adherents are required to abstain from same-sex relations or any sexual activity outside a legal marriage between one man and one woman. Additionally, in the church's plan of salvation noncelibate gay and lesbian individuals will not be allowed in the top tier of heaven to receive exaltation unless they repent, and a heterosexual marriage is a requirement for exaltation. The church's policies and treatment of LGBT people has long been a source of controversy both within and outside the church. They have also been a significant cause of disagreement and disaffection by members.
Bruce Clark Hafen is an American attorney, academic and religious leader. He has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1996.
Marlin Keith Jensen is an American attorney who has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1989. He served as the official Church Historian and Recorder of the church from 2005 to 2012. He was the 19th man to hold that calling since it was established in 1830. Jensen was made an emeritus general authority in the October 2012 general conference.
Richard G. Wilkins was an American lawyer and proponent of a socially conservative view of marriage and the family. He was the Robert W. Barker Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School which is part of Brigham Young University (BYU) until his retirement. He also served as the director of the World Family Policy Center at BYU which was affiliated with the Clark Law School and the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies. He was an assistant to the solicitor general of the United States in the 1980s.
Bookcraft was a major publisher of books and products for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Von Gary Keetch was a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from April 2015 until his death. He was a shareholder in the law firm of Kirton McConkie and a member of the firm's Constitutional, Religious and Appellate Practice section. He defended land use rights of religious groups against state regulations, and argued against liability of religious groups for crimes committed by their members.
Stanley D. Neeleman is the Terry L. Crapo professor of law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School of Brigham Young University. Neeleman is an expert in tax and estate planning law. He has also served in many positions in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He will soon began service as president of the Sao Paulo Brazil Temple.
James R. Rasband has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since April 2019. He was previously the Academic Vice President (AVP) at Brigham Young University (BYU) from June 2017 until shortly after he was called as a general authority. He also previously served as dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School (JRCLS). He has also been the Hugh W. Colton Professor of Law.
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. Historically, experiences for BYU students identifying as LGBTQIA+ have included being banned from enrolling due to their romantic attractions in the 60s, being required by school administration to undergo electroshock and vomit aversion therapies in the 1970s, having nearly 80% of BYU students refusing to live with an openly homosexual person in a poll in the 1990s, and a ban on coming out until 2007. Until 2021 there were not any LGBTQIA+ - specific resources on campus, though there is now the Office of Student Success and Inclusion. BYU students are at risk of discipline and expulsion by the Honor Code Office for expressions of same-sex romantic feelings that go against the school's code of conduct such as same-sex dating, hugging, and kissing, for gender non-conforming dress, and students and faculty are still banned from meeting together in a queer-straight alliance group on campus.
On many occasions spanning over a century, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have taught that adherents should not masturbate as part of obedience to the code of conduct known as the law of chastity. The LDS Church places great emphasis on the law of chastity. Commitment to live the law of chastity is required for baptism, and adherence is required to receive a temple recommend, and is part of the temple endowment ceremony covenants devout participants promise by oath to keep. While serving as church president, Spencer W. Kimball taught that the law of chastity includes "masturbation ... and every hidden and secret sin and all unholy and impure thoughts and practices." Before serving full-time missions, young adults are required to abandon the practice as it is believed to be a gateway sin that dulls sensitivity to the guidance of the Holy Ghost. The first recorded public mention of masturbation by a general church leader to a broad audience was in 1952 by apostle J. Reuben Clark, and recent notable mentions include ones in 2013, 2016, and a 2019 update to the Missionary Handbook.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been involved with many pieces of legislation relating to LGBT people and their rights. These include playing an important role in defeating same-sex marriage legalization in Hawaii, Alaska, Nebraska, Nevada, California, and Utah. The topic of same-sex marriage has been one of the church's foremost public concerns since 1993. 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. Over a dozen members of the US congress had membership in the church in the early 2000s. About 80% of Utah state lawmakers identied as Mormon at that time as well. The church's political involvement around LGBT rights has long been a source of controversy both within and outside the church. It's also been a significant cause of disagreement and disaffection by members.
This is a timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the 1980s, 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. 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.
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. 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.
This is a timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the first decade of the 2000s, 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.
References
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-08-29. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ "Church Delegates Attend World Congress of Families", Ensign , June 1997, p. 75.
- ↑ Elisa (4 March 2022). "The Real Gay Agenda: Homophobia, Russian Fascism, and the LDS Church in Eastern Europe" . Retrieved 4 March 2022– via Wheat & Tares.
- ↑ "Yale Same-sex Marriage Symposium :: Speaker Bio : Lynn Wardle". Archived from the original on 4 March 2005. Retrieved 23 August 2008.
- ↑ ISFL web-site
- ↑ "Faculty Profiles". BYU. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
- ↑ BYU Faculty Profile/Lynn Wardle
