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POLICY (HOMOSEXUAL) - GEORGE ALBERT SMITH'S
1948 RESPONSE TO HOMOSEXUAL MEMBERS
"A Brigham Young University student's reminiscence (both unpublished and published) describes an incident in which President George Albert Smith also encouraged two young men to "live their lives as decently as they could" within their homosexual companionship. Both were BYU students and one was the son of a stake president. This father arranged for them to see the church president because the young men "were lovers and felt concerned and guilty because of their sexual activities." According to the published account by one of their gay friends at BYU, this is what happened during the interview at LDS headquarters: "They stated their case to him and acknowledged their love for each other. President Smith treated them with great kindness and told them, in effect, to live the best lives they could. They felt they had gambled and could have been excommunicated right then and there; instead they went away feeling loved and valued." According to their friend this occurred in 1948, "perhaps in the spring." In the section for 11-12 April in President Smith's 1948 appointment book, there is an unexplained entry, "Homo Sexual," which he did not include in his diary for this period. The reminiscent account is also consistent with George Albert Smith's compassionate response to others whose circumstances and behavior did not conform to official LDS standards."
- from Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century
Americans, D. Michael Quinn, University of Illinois
Press, 1996, p. 372.