Talk:Timeline of LGBT Mormon history in the early 20th century

Pastelitodepapa (talk) 01:14, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

Pastelitodepapa (talk) 01:22, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

Pastelitodepapa (talk) 01:34, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

Pastelitodepapa (talk) 01:40, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

Pastelitodepapa (talk) 01:49, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

Re-examining July 1908 Listing
Upon reading the source article for the July 1908 entry, I think this example should be removed or at least heavily qualified in the main text of the wiki. While I do not have access to Quinn’s commentary, the historical news article says that the crime committed by the seven boys on the camping trip was “an unnameable offense.”

Rather, per the news article, the prosecutor in the case against Superintendent Thomas, used the phrase “horrible orgy” to describe the whipping that the boys received. Orgy does not refer to what the boys were punished for—it’s used to describe the sounds of their screams while being whipped, which were partially drowned out by the school band practicing outside. “Orgy” here appears to use something like the first definition listed by Merriam-Webster at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/orgy, as “secret ceremonial rites … usually characterized by ecstatic singing.” A possible implication here is that the boys’ screams were a “horrible” version of orgiastic singing, with the whipping performed in secret as connoted by the word “orgy.”

While this article and occurrence are of historical interest, there is no evidence that they are connected to Mormon LGBT+ history. I would be interested to see Quinn’s commentary on this item from the citation, but absent direct discussion from him, I believe this entry should be removed from the wiki. Winterad (talk) 10:53, 11 April 2023 (UTC)


 * Hi, thanks for your input. Quinn's secondary source book synthesizes dozens of articles and other primary sources to discuss this event, and it's clear from the investigation of the school in 1909 that the boys engaged in sexual behavior on the camp out. I put another primary source reference as a starting point and included some quotes from the report. You are correct that the specific primary source previously listed, the Tribune article does not explicitly discuss the nature of the boys' behavior. I recommend reading Quinn's book pages 325–327 for more information. Pastelitodepapa (talk) 02:01, 12 April 2023 (UTC)