page_title: LGBT Mormon people and organizations
section_title: Deceased former Mormons
hierarchical_section_title: LGBT Mormon people and organizations / Prominent LGBT Mormon people / Deceased former Mormons
caption_attribution_description: English: I shot this photo personally today.
context_page_description: 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 LGBTQ 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 queer people in public addresses. Since the 1970s a greater number of LGBT individuals with Mormon connections have received media coverage.
context_section_description: Maude Adams (1872–1953) was a famed actress who had several long-term romantic relationships with women. She was born in Salt Lake City to a Mormon mother and spent some of her early years from age 9 to 13 being raised in Salt Lake City by her Mormon grandmother and cousins. Although it is unknown whether Adams had ever identified as Mormon like her mother, she was never baptized Presbyterian despite attending one of their school and never joined Catholicism despite some stays at nunneries. She had additionally referred to her non-Mormon father as a "gentile", and invited the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to her 39th birthday performance.
  Mildred Berryman (1901–1972) was a pioneering researcher on lesbian and gay community in post-WWI Utah.
  Sergeant Leonard Matlovich (1943–1988) was featured on the 8 September 1975 cover of Time magazine with the caption "I Am a Homosexual" for his challenging of the U.S. military ban against gay men and lesbian women. He was subsequently discharged from the military for openly stating his sexual orientation and excommunicated from the Church two months after the article was released.
  Robert McQueen (1842–1989) was the editor for the major LGBT news source Advocate in the late 70s and 80s. McQueen had ceased involvement with the LDS church in 1964 shortly after his mission in Austria and was excommunicated in 1979 after publishing several church-critical articles on the LGBT-LDS intersection. He died from complications due to AIDS on 8 October 1989.
  Natacha Rambova (1897–1966) was a Utah-born, Mormon-raised artistic director, costume designer, dancer and Egyptologist and is believed to have been bisexual, though there is disagreement there. She was the granddaughter of the apostle Heber Kimball and possibly had a romance with lesbian actress Alla Nazimova before marrying her possibly bisexual actor husband Rudolph Valentino.
  Ada Dwyer Russell (1863–1952) of Mormon upbringing was an actress and the long-term romantic partner of poet Amy Lowell.
  Trevor Southey (1940–2015) was a renowned painter and BYU student (1965–1969) and faculty member (1969–1979). He and his wife divorced and he came out as gay in 1982. He died at the age of 75.
  May Swenson (1913–1989) was a famous poet born in Logan, Utah to Swedish parents. She graduated from Utah State University and a few years later at age 22 she moved to the gay hotspot Greenwich Village in New York City to pursue her dreams of writing. She lived with her partner for 25 years and after decades of writing died at the age of 76.
  Others individuals at the LGBT-Mormon intersection include Cam Clarke, Reed Cowan, C. Jay Cox, Angela Ellsworth, Steven Fales, Antonio A. Feliz, John C. Hamer, Todd Herzog, Manny MUA, Sue-Ann Post, W. H. Pugmire, John W. Bryant, Patriarch Joseph Fielding Smith, and evidence exists that this list may include historical figures like May Anderson, Louie B. Felt, Evan Stephens, David Hyrum Smith, and John C. Bennett.
caption: Sergeant Matlovich, was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for heroic service in the Vietnam War, but was discharged from the military and excommunicated from the LDS church for being gay.
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK DX6490 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "230", "Image YResolution": "230", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2006:08:05 18:37:30", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "264", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "930", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7066", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/90", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:08:05 15:01:05", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:08:05 15:01:05", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "13/2", "EXIF ApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "62/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2304", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1728", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "804", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "80", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "75", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}