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BYU professor calls gay student a Book of Mormon term associated with anti-Christ
The school has not reacted publicly, leaving some LGBTQ students fearful and spurring others to ask for action.
(Isaac Hale | Special to The Tribune) A Brigham Young University student sports various rainbow-colored items on his backpack in support of Rainbow Day as he walks with his friends on the campus of BYU in Provo on Thursday, March 4, 2021. A student at the school was recently called a Mormon term associated with an anti-Christ by a professor. The school has remained silent.
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Nelson’s headstone gets assist from temple renovation
(Michael Stack | Special to The Tribune) This notation appears on the monument that will mark church President Russell M. Nelson s grave in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. May 10, 2021.
It has become a common practice for a husband or wife to erect a headstone for the couple after only one has died waiting to list the death date for the surviving spouse to be engraved later.
Still, mourners strolling through the northwest quadrant of the historic Salt Lake City Cemetery might be startled to see a tall granite shaft emblazoned with the name Russell M. Nelson and the words “Seventeenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
| Updated: 4:59 a.m.
“We stand with Natasha,” chanted a group of about 30 people outside the offices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in downtown Salt Lake City on Friday afternoon.
People in the group held signs with messages including “sexuality is not a sin” and “excommunicate shame, not heroes.” They gathered to protest the decision by local lay leaders last month to revoke the membership of sex therapist Natasha Helfer, who has publicly opposed the church’s stances on masturbation, same-sex marriage and pornography.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Natasha Helfer, left, a sex therapist who lost her membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is joined by supporters as they petition the First Presidency to repeal her excommunication on Friday, May 7, 2021.
KUER File Photo
A mental health and sex therapist faced a membership council for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this month. She had her membership withdrawn last week.
Natasha Helfer is a licensed mental health and sex therapist who lives in Salt Lake City. Last week, she had her membership withdrawn from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after being charged with apostasy. Helfer has been outspoken about her views of pornography, same sex marriage and other sexual health issues, but her views aren’t in line with Church teachings. Her membership council was held in Kansas where she lived until 2019.