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Datum: Donnerstag, den 28. Oktober 2004, um 19:29 Uhr
Betrifft: Halloween bei Mormonen?

Diesen Artikel fand ich bei affirmation.org:

White Shirts & High Heels: Musings on Mormon Cross-Dressing

by Hugo Salinas

I am a gay Mormon and I want to follow Jesus. Just like Jesus, I want to hang out with a bunch of guys; just like Jesus, I want my beloved leaning on my bosom;1 above all, just like Jesus, I want to wear a fabulous white dress.

Did you know that Mormon cross-dressing goes back, at least, to 1841? On April 5 of that year the Prophet Joseph Smith polygamously married 26-year old Louisa Beaman besides the Mississippi river; Louisa was disguised "in a man’s hat and coat," in order to keep a low profile.2

Mormon historian D. Michael Quinn has written about Brigham Young’s 35th child, Brigham Morris Young, who "frequently appeared in the dress and make-up of a woman during performances in LDS wards and stakes from the 1880s to the 1900s." Under the assumed name of Madam Pattirini, Young claimed to be a great Italian singer lady. "He would sing in a high falsetto voice," wrote Young’s son Galen. "He fooled many people."3

Less known than Young’s are the impersonations of Evan Stephens, the famous director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, who never married but enjoyed living with younger men. Stephens wrote in the Deseret Evening News that he used to "impersonate ’the old maid of ninety-five.’" "Mr. Stephens’s falsetto is immense," reads a newspaper review from 1882. In order to impersonate the old maid, Sephens dressed in drag, donning at least a bonnet and veil.4

The published excerpts from the diaries of LDS poet and author Carol Lynn Pearson stand out as a peculiar book: Not one, but two of the photographs in the book depict Pearson in drag. In the first photo, Pearson appears playing the part of Joan of Arc in The Lark; in the second, she appears in heavy make-up as a 19th century Mexican soldier for the LDS-produced movie And Should We Die.5 Interestingly enough, Pearson’s diaries were edited by Elouise M. Bell--a little bit of a gender-bender herself, as she enjoys donning butch, Madeleine Albright-like hats.6

We will never know how many LDS missionaries have experimented with drag on their P-days, but the tradition goes back many decades. A photograph taken in a studio in Minden, Germany, in June 1930, depicts Elders Lowell Bennion and Floyd Cannon happily smiling and posing as German peasant girls.7

In Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons, men and women have dressed in the clothes of the opposite sex innumerable times. Not only have we cross-dressed for many Halloween parties, but also for musical numbers, skits, conference banquets, and even campouts. James Kent, who would later give birth to the ineffable Imelda, produced a legendary episode of LDS gender-bender history the day he attended church meeting at the San Francisco Singles Ward in suit, shirt, tie, and high heels. When confronted by his bishop, James boldly replied, "What difference does it make whether or not I wear pumps to Church?" The bishop was obviously unhappy, but he didn’t pursue the issue, and James never felt the need to wear high heels--to church--again.8

How daring would it be for general authorities, or even the prophet, to add a little bit of drag to their sometimes too solemn lives? Apostles Bruce R. McConkie and Spencer W. Kimball went as far as to exchange coats, to the delight of the audience. Apostles Kimball, Benson, Petersen, and Cowley once comically placed a long English barrister’s wig on the bald head of Elder Milton R. Hunter.9 An illustration in Sunstone magazine goes one step further, depicting both Brigham Young and Merrill J. Bateman as 19-century female dancers. The montage accompanies a hilarious parody by Cherie K. Woodworth, who satirizes the sometimes absurd regulations of "the Lord’s University."10

Let us continue celebrating the legacy of Brigham Morris Young, James Kent, and so many other Mormons who have helped us achieve 163 years of Mormon cross-dressing. For more than a century and a half, LDS drag kings and queens have added a touch of color and humor to our meetings and our road shows. These bold Mormons have shown us that we should never take ourselves too seriously. Our sense of humor may help us keep our sanity in this crazy world and this crazy Church.

The Proclamation on the Family says that gender is an essential characteristic of our identity and purpose. I, for one, agree. But please don’t protest too much, President Hinckley, if once in a while I get tired of my monotonous Sunday suit and feel like attending priesthood in my fabulous high heels.

If my Heavenly Parents know how to appreciate my irreverent sense of humor, I too may someday become a King --or a Queen!--to the Most High God.

Notes:

1. See John 13:23.

2. See Linda K. Newell and Valeen T. Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith (Doubleday, 1984), pp. 95-96; Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 27:1, p. 9, reprinted in Vol. 34:1-2, p. 131.

3. D. Michael Quinn, Same Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example (Univ. of Illinois Press, 1996), pp. 135, 230-231.

4. Evan Stephens, "To the Choir Members," Deseret Evening News, 31 August 1887, p. 5. Ray L. Bergman, The Children Sang: The Life and Music of Evan Stephens (Salt Lake City: Northwest Publishing Inc., 1992), pp. 6, 83-86; "Yesterday’s Concerts," Deseret News, 30 September 1882; on Evan Stephens’s "gay" sensibility, see Quinn, Same Sex Dynamics, pp. 233-242, and Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 28:4, pp. 105-128.

5. Elouise M. Bell (ed.), Will I Ever Forget This Day? Excerpts from the Diaries of Carol Lynn Pearson (Bookcraft, 1980), pp. 81, 122.

6. Elouise Bell, Only When I Laugh (Signature Books, 1990), cover. The observation about Madeleine Albright’s hats comes from Madame Pattirini’s column, "Ask Madame Pattirini" (Affinity, October 2000, p. 4).

7. Mary Lythgoe Bradford, Lowell L. Bennion: Teacher, Counselor, Humanitarian (Dialogue Foundation, 1995), pp. 196-197.

8. Sunstone, March 1998, p. 53.

9. Edward L. Kimball & Andrew E. Kimball, Spencer W. Kimball (Bookcraft, 1977), pp. 227, 281.

10. Sunstone, June 1999, p. 62-63.

Für mich ein Beispiel, das Mormonen gar nicht immer so verklemmt waren, wie sie oft rüberkamen!

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