I don't know how many of you have read some of his work. He was (?) a prestigious LDS Historian. He has a Phd from Yale University and worked in BYU for a number of years. I also understand the Church hired him as a Historian and he was in charge of replying to the Tanners on several occasions. He was excommunicated in 1993 in the so famous "September Six" (this is for another thread but 6 scholars were excommunicated or disfellowshipped that same month).
Everything seemed to be okay with Dr. Quinn's work when he suddenly started voicing his views about homosexuality and start somehow "connecting" homosexual behavior to earlier Church leaders such as Joseph Smith.
He is now a self-proclaimed homosexual, he is broke, cannot cover health insurance and is living by his mother.
What about work? Brigham Young University threatened to withdraw funding for a conference it was co-sponsoring at Yale if he was allowed to speak.
Arizona State University administrators vetoed the department of religious studies in its recommendation to hire Quinn. ASU faculty believe officials fear alienating ASU's 3,700 students and offending Ira Fulton, a powerful Mormon donor who, according to Golden, has called Quinn a "nothing person."
Source 4
So, here you have a bright mind with no money and the Church School somehow making his life harder? Thoughts?
Edited: JB on 2nd Aug, 2012 - 6:58pm
I have read some of his work. I kind of like it.
His greatest sin isn't his homosexuality, at least as far as the Church and Mormons in the west are concerned. His sin is that he wrote frankly, and with great support, on the subjects of plural marriage and homosexuality, contradicting many of the cherished legends of Mormonism.
I have an electronic copy of excerpts from his book, The New Mormon History which reveals huge inconsistencies between what the Church teaches about the Manifesto, and what actually happened between 1890 and 1906.
These things make him hated among many Mormons.
Before the publication of "Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example" he wrote an article called "Male-Male Intimacy among Nineteenth-century Mormons: A Case Study."
I am giving you the link for the article digitalized:
https://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/document....HOW=27000&REC=1
Edited: LDS_forever on 8th Nov, 2006 - 9:23pm
Taking out the Mormon equation and just using the Bible alone we can read clearly that the Lord does not leave any room for homosexuality as being ordained or blessed by him. Dr. D. Michael Quinn can write 100 well thought out articles, it still will not justify homosexuality on the best day.