Hope that brings censure: Part 4/4
Part 4 of a 4-part series about hoping for change for the LGBTQ/LDS intersection.
Sometimes trying to be part of the change brings pushback, either mild or severe. For example, Richard Bushman was called to replace Elder L. Tom Perry as Boston Stake president when Perry was called as an Assistant to the Twelve in 1972 and later an apostle in 1974. Boston Globe journalist Kay Longcope interviewed Bushman’s wife Claudia for an article, “The Mormon Experience,” published April 13, 1975, which was three years before the Black priesthood/temple ban was reversed in 1978. Claudia’s comments in that newspaper article brought the censure of the Twelve, as related in the book Fifty Years of Exponent II:
It had only been a few years since Perry had served as president of the Boston Stake, and his New England roots may have been why he was selected to speak for the Twelve. Perry’s phone call identified what Claudia Bushman would later consider [one of] her two big mistakes that garnered the brethren’s disapproval. Perry called regarding a Globe article about the LDS Church in Boston; the article cited Claudia as saying that her husband “has tried without success to get [Black members] accepted as missionaries. There are many [white members] within the faith, she said, who wished the ban would be lifted.”
Perry worried the comments indicated the Bushmans were being “restive” [meaning rebellious or edgy]. (Katie Ludlow Rich and Heather Sundahl, Fifty Years of Exponent II, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2024), Kindle.
Of course, no one knew that the ban would be lifted three years after that journalist interviewed Claudia. But even Claudia expressing that many members “wished the ban would be lifted” brought the disapproval of the Church leaders. Given their positions in the Church, they couldn’t be more committed to the gospel — but were instructed to keep their hope for change to themselves.
This is not to be critical of Elder Perry or the leaders. They were and are doing the best they can in a hard job. We can hold onto our truth, be open to learning more, and hold space and grace for others.
But if you are likewise scolded for “getting ahead of the brethren,” know that many, many others stand with you, following the example of Cornelius, Carol Lynn Pearson (“Yesterday’s heresy is today’s orthodoxy”), Claudia and Richard Bushman, and more.
-Marci
This is Part 4/4 in a series about hoping for change.
Also see Part 1: Hope? or rebellion? Part 2: Hope in those 21 hours, and Part 3: Hoping for institutional change to catch up to personal revelation.