
CONTACTAbout UsCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
As friends mourn the death of Chris Wayne Beers, a gay man and former Mormon missionary and church employee who took his own life Sunday, some are noting tensions between LGBT people and the church, which opposes gay relationships.
Utah native Beers, 38, had worked in the missionary and travel departments for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to a Web posting by Affirmation, a group working for LGBT equality within the LDS church. At the time of his death he was employed by the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City.
Mitch Mayne, a gay man who serves as executive secretary of the church's Bay Ward in San Francisco, commented on Beers's death in a Facebook posting. He did not know Beers but had been in contact with a friend of his, he noted, before saying, "While struggles with his faith may not have been the direct reason he took his own life, I'm hard pressed to imagine that there isn't an indirect cause, at least. If we, as Mormons, did what we were supposed to do for all of our brothers and sisters -- love them unconditionally -- Chris would never have been stripped of his family of faith. He would not have been forced to choose. He would have had a deeper, richer and more spiritual support network to walk him through what life brought his way. Sadly, like many, he was given the 'Sophie's Choice:' live life according to a heterocentric cultural practice and do so alone, without a partner -- or live life without your family of faith and the strength of that spiritual community."
Services for Beers are scheduled for tomorrow in Bountiful, Utah. A memorial website has been set up at ChrisBeers.blogspot.com.
trudestress
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
31 Period Films of Lesbians and Bi Women in Love That Will Take You Back
December 09 2024 1:00 PM
18 of the most batsh*t things N.C. Republican governor candidate Mark Robinson has said
October 30 2024 11:06 AM
True
After 20 years, and after tonight, Obama will no longer be the Democrats' top star
August 20 2024 12:28 PM
Trump ally Laura Loomer goes after Lindsey Graham: ‘We all know you’re gay’
September 13 2024 2:28 PM
These 15 major companies caved to the far right and stopped DEI programs
January 24 2025 1:11 PM
True
Latest Stories
No LGB without the T — queer community protests Trump's transgender erasure at Stonewall
February 14 2025 6:30 PM
Opinion: Cowards like ‘moderate’ Sen. Susan Collins prove that the U.S. Senate is now Trump’s Duma
February 14 2025 5:42 PM
Why LGBTQ+ groups are angry at RFK Jr.'s confirmation
February 14 2025 5:26 PM
WorldPride 2025 expects huge ‘visibility’ march & rally in D.C. amid Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ agenda
February 14 2025 4:55 PM
Ohio bill would ban ejaculation without intent to conceive — with exceptions for LGBTQ+ people
February 14 2025 4:38 PM
Trump is ‘dangerously’ conflating gender-affirming care with a human rights violation
February 14 2025 12:42 PM
White House Correspondents' Association president Eugene Daniels blasts decision to block AP journalists
February 14 2025 11:39 AM
True
'Transgender' references erased from Stonewall National Monument website
February 14 2025 9:48 AM
From PEPFAR to peril, what happens when lifelines are cut?
February 14 2025 7:00 AM
Worcester: sanctuary city for the transgender community
February 13 2025 6:27 PM
Blame Mitch McConnell if you’re scared and angry
February 13 2025 5:06 PM
Federal judge orders restoration of health agency web pages
February 13 2025 5:02 PM
Kennedy Center scrubs LGBTQ+ Pride concert after Donald Trump takeover
February 13 2025 4:49 PM
BREAKING: Federal judge blocks Trump’s gender-affirming care ban for minors
February 13 2025 4:34 PM
These Blue states are making it easier for transgender people to update their documents
February 13 2025 12:09 PM
These are not ordinary times: How the Human Rights Campaign plans to move forward
February 13 2025 12:01 PM
Trending stories
Recommended Stories for You
Trudy Ring
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.