Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example

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To learn more about responses to: D. Michael Quinn

Wiki links	Early Mormonism and the Magic World View — (Index of claims) "LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890–1904" The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power — (Index of claims) Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example — (Index of claims)
Online	Duane Boyce, "'A Betrayal of Trust (Review of The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, by D. Michael Quinn)'," FARMS Review 9/2 (1997). [147–163] link John Gee, "'An Obstacle to Deeper Understanding' (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)'," FARMS Review 12/2 (2001). [185–224] link William J. Hamblin, "'That Old Black Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)'," FARMS Review 12/2 (2001). [225–394] link Klaus J. Hansen, "Quinnspeak (Review of Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review 10/1 (1998). [62–66] link Gregory L. Smith, "Feet of Clay: Queer Theory and the Church of Jesus Christ," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 43/3 (5 March 2021). [107–278] link George L. Mitton and Rhett S. James, "A Response to D. Michael Quinn's Homosexual Distortion of Latter-day Saint History (Review of Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review 10/1 (1998). [67–104] link Rhett S. James, "'Writing History Must Not Be an Act of Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)'," FARMS Review 12/2 (2001). [395–414] link Stephen D. Ricks and Daniel C. Peterson, “Joseph Smith and ‘Magic’: Methodological Reflections on the Use of a Term,” in Robert L. Millet, ed., To Be Learned Is Good If . . . (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1987), 129–147. Matthew Roper, "Unanswered Mormon Scholars (Review of Answering Mormon Scholars: A Response to Criticism Raised by Mormon Defenders)," FARMS Review of Books 9/1 (1997): 87–145. [{{{1}}} off-site] (page 87–145; see especially section "Joseph Smith and 'Magic'")
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Response to Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example

The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power

A FAIR Analysis of: Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example, a work by author: D. Michael Quinn

Response to claims made in Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example by D. Michael Quinn

Jump to details:

• Index of claims
• Klaus J. Hansen, "Quinnspeak"
• George L. Mitton and Rhett S. James, "A Response to D. Michael Quinn's Homosexual Distortion of Latter-day Saint History"

Index of claims

Summary: Responses to specific critical or unsupported claims made in Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example indexed by page number.

Reviews of this work

Klaus J. Hansen, "Quinnspeak"

Klaus J. Hansen,  FARMS Review of Books, (1998)

According to the pre-Socratic philosopher Xenophanes, if cows had a god it would be a cow. Later thinkers would expand this into the notion of the egocentric predicament: the enormous—if not insuperable—difficulty we encounter in conceiving the world in terms other than of our own experience and understanding. A recent, telling example is that of the late Sinclair Ross, distinguished Canadian novelist and writer, who, coming "out of the closet" late in life, confided to a young friend that he could never quite believe that this young man "or any other male, was quite so straight . . . [he] couldn't be tempted by the pleasures available in a male body, or that such a body wasn't part of every man's fantasies. He was pretty sure it was."1 An even more extreme and perverse expression of this "egocentric" perspective is that of Adrienne Rich who, from her lesbian orientation, can conceive of heterosexuality only as enforced behavior for purposes of procreation (pp. 120—21).

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George L. Mitton and Rhett S. James, "A Response to D. Michael Quinn's Homosexual Distortion of Latter-day Saint History"

George L. Mitton and Rhett S. James,  FARMS Review of Books, (1998)

D. Michael Quinn is a former Mormon historian now turned homosexual apologist.2 His Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example appears to be, among other things, another attempt to generate tolerance and perhaps even acceptance for the notion of a special homosexual identity. This highly controversial book also seems to be Quinn's attempt to talk Latter-day Saints into ceasing to view homosexual acts as immoral. It follows that if there is a homosexual identity, either genetically grounded or socially constructed—he seems to want to have it both ways—then apparently he thinks Latter-day Saints should cease being what he considers homophobic and make a place for homoerotic behavior within the church.

The core of Quinn's story is that in the nineteenth century, beginning even with Joseph Smith, the Saints were considerably more tolerant of sodomy than they are at present. In this essay we will focus on this aspect of Quinn's confused and confusing book, and not on the ideological staging that introduces his politically motivated and radically revisionist account of the Mormon past.

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