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I wanted to start a new thread because this topic isn’t just about being “gay”. I really need to just point out some basic cultural differences between the Navajo nation and Utah Mormons and how this may be linked to the BOM. For hundreds of years (thousands perhaps) the Navajo people have carried a gene that is somewhat unique. It is actually considered a mutation. The gene codes for an enzyme, 5 alpha reductase. This enzyme converts the male sex steroid hormone, testosterone into the very biologically active sex steroid, dihyroTESTOSTERONE or DHT.
Many Navajo children are born with a mutation in the gene that codes for 5 alpha reductase. This causes an intersex condition where the male child (XY) is born looking like a female.
He has undescended testicles and may have been mistaken for a girl or called a “eunuch” as some might say.
What is very interesting is that when the child turns about 12 years old, suddenly, the enzyme system changes and becomes regulated by other genes. This “little girl” started to experience dramatic body changes. The testicles descend into the scrotum, the clitoris enlarges into a penis, the voice deepens, facial hair appears, muscles enlarge. It is just a very dramatic change – hard to believe, I know.
Now, in the Utah Mormon culture, these girls are “castrated”, meaning that their undescended testicles are surgically excised (rendering them sterile), they are listed as “female” on the Utah State Department of Health Birth Certificate. They are never allowed to marry women and are referred to as LESBIAN by the Utah State Legislature (and, unfortunately by the Church). They are NEVER legally allowed to marry and if they ever do fall in love and have a sexual relationship they are excommunicated, if LDS.
So, that is the current lot of all children in Utah born in the LDS Church who have 5 alpha reductase deficiency.
Now, lets look at what happens if the exact same child is born under the Navajo Nation and raised by the spiritual Holy Men of the Navajo.
The Navajo Nation will not castrate the child. They wait until the child is 12 years old. If the child menstruates, she is considered female and will be treated and raised as such. If the child fails to menstruate and produces semen instead, “HE” will be treated as a male. The “boy” is taken in and blessed by the Tribal Elders or Holy Men. He is taught how to be a man. He is protected and considered a “holy or spiritual being”. He is allowed to marry. He can participate in all sacred rituals and rites and is fully accepted and integrated into the Navajo culture. Many of these children have gone on to marry women and some have even fathered children.
I was a bit curious as to why the Navajo believed that intersex children should be treated this way. I asked, who taught you this custom? How did this tradition start? Why do you believe the way you do?
They said that long, long ago, there was a Holy Man, a Spiritual Man, a man of God whose name was Alma. This was the law of Alma or the Light of Alma or Del Luz De Alma.
I soon became enamored and fascinated with this Holy Man named Alma. I loved his philosophy, his intelligence, his wisdom. I just couldn’t get enough of him. I wanted to find out who he was, where he came from. I just needed to know him. There are others like me and an entire institute has been developed just to study this Alma. This is a new spiritual journey for me. This Alma is so much like Alma the Elder in the BOM that it is amazing.
I served my mission with the Navajo. I am adopted in the tribe, though I hold citizenship with the Muscogee Creek Nation. I know a little about what you speak of. As missionaries we had no knowledge of genes, or inter-sex roles among the children that we so dearly loved. I will say this, in the Dine’ (real name for Navajo) culture (and in my own Muscogean tribe to a degree), the word was always “We don’t talk about such things.” Often mothers didn’t explain their confindments to their children. One day a female relative came and after a while, newborn cries were heard from the hogan. Perhaps acceptance in the Native world has more to do with innocence and not getting ahead of semen or menstruation. Also understand there is a role adopted by some Dine’ to live their lives as a different gender. They are accepted and beloved. I prefer the Native belief rather than LDS teaching obviously. Please provide a link that describes this practice as an LDS doctrine. I am going to hold off on commenting until then. I know that I am using very harsh words, but I also prefer the ancient Navajo tradition to the modern Utah culture of “castration, isolation, take away all your rights and excommunicate you” for obvious reasons. I think that part of the restoration is to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ to what it used to be when it was in its pure form. The Lord’s intentions were then so clear. The Navajo claim that intersex children can grow up to do anything that other children can do – even be a Prophet of God and that intersex conditions should in no way impede a child’s spiritual progress or eternal journey. Some Navajo believe that their ancestors with this disorder were prophets and have gone on to receive an eternal and everlasting reward. One of these prophets was alleged to have married and even fathered a child (this is a small miracle because men with this disorder have a low sperm count), but still there are reported cases of men with this condition fathering children. That is why I don’t want to see them castrated. Some Navajo believe that the child of this man was a prophet and his son was a prophet. This is why I get soooooo upset over this marriage debate. Here are some links:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go2103/is_n3_v28/ai_n28708248/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-alpha-reductase_deficiency More info from a copy and paste:
What is 5-alpha reductase deficiency?
5-alpha reductase deficiency is a condition that affects male sexual development before birth and during puberty. People with this condition are genetically male, with one X and one Y chromosome in each cell, and they have male gonads (testes). Their bodies, however, do not produce enough of a hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT has a critical role in male sexual development, and a shortage of this hormone disrupts the formation of the external sex organs before birth.
Many people with 5-alpha reductase deficiency are born with external genitalia that appear female. In other cases, the external genitalia do not look clearly male or clearly female (sometimes called ambiguous genitalia). Still other affected infants have genitalia that appear predominantly male, often with an unusually small penis (micropenis) and the urethra opening on the underside of the penis (hypospadias).
During puberty, people with this condition develop some secondary sex characteristics, such as increased muscle mass, deepening of the voice, development of pubic hair, and a growth spurt. The penis and scrotum (the sac of skin that holds the testes) grow larger. Unlike many men, people with 5-alpha reductase deficiency do not develop much facial or body hair. Most affected males are unable to father a child (infertile).
Children with 5-alpha reductase deficiency are often raised as girls. About half of these individuals adopt a male gender role in adolescence or early adulthood.
How common is 5-alpha reductase deficiency?
5-alpha reductase deficiency is a rare condition; the exact incidence is unknown. Large families with affected members have been found in several countries, including the Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, Turkey, and Egypt.
Ray, I will have to go to work and get some of my Endocrinology books to provide more references and info.
Off topic and pure speculation but I have wondered how this particular mutation arrived in the New World. My personal theory (nothing scientific to back it up) is that it was brought over by Nephi, Lamen and Lemual’s WIVES. Yep the wives, the women. Men with this condition have a very low sperm count and may suffer from some infertility issues. They may have one child, but a large amount of children would be rare.
The opposite is true of women with this condition. The enzyme, 5 alpha reductase changes testosterone to DHT, but THERE IS NO KNOWN USE FOR DHT IN WOMEN. The women who carry this gene are perfectly normal and healthy. There might be one difference though. Because women do make small amount of testosterone (yes they do!) and because these gals could not convert testosterone to DHT, they had higher natural levels of testosterone. This would have produced a perfectly healthy lady with a tendency toward large muscles (because of the testosterone) a good sex drive and an adventitious spirit. This gals are tough.
Nephi said that his wife and the wives of his brothers were, “Strong, like unto men and that they did give much suck in the wilderness”. Now there’s a bunch of sisters with 5 alpha reductase deficiency (according to my imagination). Oh course these women were strong, what else would you expect?
My other purely speculative and nonscientific explanation of how and why this mutation appears in the Old World, the New World and the Pacific Islands is that these women were mariners of the sea – they traveled the ocean.
AND SO WHAT if there sons were occasionally born eunuchs – they had POLYGAMY. All it takes is just one fertile man to keep the population from extinction and if the Lord felt a need to command polygamy to keep this remnant of the House of Israel alive – He just went ahead and did it. They didn’t have all of these obstacles in Family Law, they had God.
MWallace, I’m so glad you identified that last post as pure speculation. I will say that a horde of young Navajo boys running toward the church house for Primary brought panic to me more than once. They only liked the BofM taught if they could ‘play’ the parts and ham it up (never a problem with me). The girls on the other hand, always had their heads down, giggling and refusing to answer questions. How we missionaries loved them all. How we hated that half the babies died the first year of life. We had such few resources, what could a couple of guys do, except dig a grave, wash and dress the little bodies. I’m in Navajo land today, just attended the Indian Market at Santa Fe this weekend.
Thanks George, I have always loved and respected the Navajo. I honor their sacred traditions. They claim that they have been mistreated by the government on issues such as “neglect of the hanta virus epidemic”, exposure to nuclear fall-out from nuclear testing etc. etc.
Now, a few of them have come forward with concerns that they may not be able to have marriages legally recognized in Utah, California etc.
I know that I AM ON A SOAP-BOX. I will be the very first to admit that I AM A LIBERAL LEFT WING ZEALOT WHO JUST HAPPENED TO LAND IN THE MORMON CHURCH. But honestly, I love these people so much. I also love the Church, but I can’t reconcile the Church’s stand on certain issues and this is one of them. I told the Navajo’s once that I would stand up for them. Honestly, I am like a tiny snowflake and the Church and State are giant snowplows. I know that in the end, I will just be plowed out of the way. Person’s with this rare genetic disorder may one day be extinct in the United States what with Hanta Virus, Nuclear fallout, castration, reservation, poverty etc. etc.
I just want to be able to say that at least one little snow flake stood up for their right to marry – before the snowplow comes.
Since the nasty word ‘castration’ has come up in this thread, I will mention a policy of the US government in times past (though I will change the word to ‘sterilization’). Google ‘Hiawatha Institution for Insane Indians’ when you have time. You will learn of an evil place, where patients were chained to their beds. You will read of Native peoples whose insanity had to do with simply speaking their Native tongue, getting on the wrong side of a Indian agent, suffering from alcoholism or perhaps senility. They should have been sent quickly home. The US government decreed though, that Natives being released from mental institutions had to be sterilized first (can’t have anymore damn Indians you know). PS: To get back to the thread, my great uncle Cullen (the last of 14 siblings) had dual sexual organs. He was raised a boy, but died around the age of six. Thanks for standing up for the Dine’, remember always their belief, “In Beauty it is finished.” It refers to life, creation, the world, perhaps even the gospel hope…
Thanks, George, I don’t want to get too graphic here, after all this is an LDS thread.
Sometimes I come home from working in an Endocrinology Laboratory and just need to vent about the treatment of some of the patients. I just realize that we all have to work if we are going to effect a change.
Thank you for sharing that story, MWallace. I wasn’t aware of the story, and it literally made me cry to know that those children are treated so well within their culture. It shows the depth of human love that is possible when we don’t place people into boxes, and in a world where we aren’t so scared of what isn’t the “norm”. Isn’t this the common medical practice for intersex in America? I do not think it is only LDS. I think the way intersex are treated by the medical community is (or has been in the past) bad. I think it is hardest because it is not discussed that there are shades of gender. So when parents go to the hospital to have a baby they expect a “boy” or a “girl.” They haven’t been prepared for any other possibilities.
I’ve always been fascinated by the intersex phenomenon. Am I mistaken in my perception of the problem being a medical practice problem? Obviously, I am referring to the surgeries being performed and not excommunications. I think our entire culture needs to become informed about it so they can act with compassion towards these people.
I, too, look forward to primary source information on how intersex have been treated in the church.
I’m locking this thread temporarily while we discuss it as admins. I’m not sure it is a StayLDS topic. I think it’s a medical issue that needs to be addressed badly, and I think it has important theological implcations, but I just don’t know if it’s a StayLDS topic. We need to talk about it as admins. Please understand.
There is a post about this general issue on Mormon Matters that includes 49 very thoughtful comments. Anyone who wants to discuss this topic further, please do so on that thread:
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