FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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- FAIR Study Aids—Resources for Latter-day Saints interested in an apologetic and/or scholarly perspective on the Sunday School curriculum.
Aversion therapy performed at BYU in the 1970's
Recently, several newspaper articles have appeared that discuss homosexual aversion therapy performed at BYU in the mid-1970s. During this period, a graduate student at Brigham Young University conducted a clinical study in the use of aversion therapy to treat ego-dystonic homosexuality. Ego-dystonic homosexuality is a condition where an individual's same-sex attraction is in conflict with his idealized self-image, creating anxiety and a desire to change. At the time, the American Psychiatric Society considered ego-dystonic homosexuality to be a mental illness, and aversion therapy was one of the standard treatments. Experiments were run on a volunteer basis adhering to the professional standards of the time. FAIR examines the history of this aversion therapy in the following FAIR Wiki article: Aversion therapy performed at BYU in the 1970's
Analysis and response to the documentary 8: The Mormon Proposition
A June 2010 documentary called "8: The Mormon Proposition," written and produced by Reed Cowan, claims to be an expose of the role that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints played in the passage of California Proposition 8. Reviews of the film generally agreed that it was a polemical treatment of the issue, pitting the Church as villain in a quest to limit or remove the rights of same-sex couples. FAIR reviews some of the individual claims made in the documentary.
A Brigham Young "quote" related to California Proposition 8?
A quote alleged to have been uttered by Brigham Young recently began gaining wide circulation on the web. The quote appeared to be a "smoking gun," with Brigham mentioning practically every controversial issue in which he was ever said to have been involved. Ex-Mormon critics of the Church became excited about the quote and attempted to verify its source because it represented, according to one ex-Mormon critic, "an astounding batch of ammo if it is a true quote from B[righam] Y[oung]." There was even an allusion to Proposition 8:
"If there ever comes a day when the Saints interfere with the rights of others to live as they see fit, you can know with assurance that the Church is no longer led by a Prophet, but a mere man."
Despite the attribution of this phrase to Brigham Young in numerous locations on the web, Brigham never actually uttered this phrase. The entire quote was confirmed to be a fabrication by an anonymous blogger. We examine the full "quote" here: