 |
Counselor May Anderson (left, 1864-1946) and
Primary President Louise B. Felt (right, 1850-1928). They were
called the "David and Jonathan" of Primary. They met when May
was 19 and Louise (or "Louie," as she preferred to be called)
was 33. They lived together for many years and were inseparable.
After Anderson's death, May became Primary president herself.
Suggested readings: Quinn, Michael D., Same-Sex
Dynamics Among Nineteenth Century Americans: A Mormon Example,
pp. 242-247. |
| Evan Stephens (left, 1854-1930):
Director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; composer of many Mormon
hymns. Stephens died a bachelor, but during his life he lived
with a series of young men with whom he had strong emotional attachments.
Noel S. Pratt, right, was one of his chums.
Suggested readings:
Quinn, Michael D., Same-Sex
Dynamics Among Nineteenth Century Americans: A Mormon Example,
pp. 232-242.
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 28:4
(Winter 1995), pp. 105-178.
Ray L. Bergman, The Children Sang:
The Life and Music of Evan Stephens. |
|
Ada Dwyer Russell (1863-1952):
Well-known Utah Mormon actress who performed in the Salt Lake
Theater, on Broadway, and on the London stage. Russell entered
a long-term relationship with Amy Lowell, a nationally prominent
poet and lesbian, in 1912. Russell was the subject of Lowell's
poetry from 1912 until Lowell's death in 1925.
Suggested readings: Quinn, Michael D., Same-Sex
Dynamics Among Nineteenth Century Americans: A Mormon Example,
pp. 172-173. |
 |
Leonard Matlovich (1943-1988):
A veteran of the Vietnam War, Leonard Matlovich challenged the
US Air Force policy on automatically discharging homosexual service
members as "unfit for military service." A speaker at several
Affirmation events, Matlovich died of AIDS complications in 1988.
His famous epitaph at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington
DC reads, "When I was in the military they gave me a medal for
killing two men and a discharge for loving one."
Suggested readings:
Bell, Jay, "Sgt.
Leonard P. Matlovich: Patriot, Mormon, and Activist."
O'Donovan,
Connell, "Leonard
Matlovich Makes Time." |
 |
May Swenson (1919-1989): Renowned
lesbian poet, chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from
1980 to 1989. Born in a Mormon family in Logan, Utah, Swenson
spent most of her adult life in and near New York City. According
to critic Harold Bloom, she ranks with Marianne Moore and Elizabeth
Bishop as one of the three best women poets of the twentieth century.
Link & Suggested readings:
May Swenson: A Tribute
May Swenson: Life & Writings
Susan Elizabeth Howe, "'I Do Remember How It Smelled Heavenly': Mormon Aspects of May Swenson's Poetry," Dialogue: A Journal
of Mormon Thought 29:3 (Fall 1996) , pp. 141-156.
May Swenson's Portrait to Be Hung at Smithsonian
"In Love Made Visible"
"The Elect"
|
