Natasha Helfer was excommunicated and lost her appeal a month to remain in the religion known widely as the Mormon church
Sex therapist Lisa Butterworth has been willing to delve into sensitive sexuality questions with clients who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They seek her out to have frank and open discussions about the faith’s stringent rules.
But after seeing another prominent sex therapist she considers a friend and colleague recently kicked out of the church, Butterworth is worried younger church members will seek out aid from fear of being reprimanded.
She wrote a letter condemning the decision that’s been signed by over 800 mental health professionals.
Helfer has been excommunicated and dropped her appeal last month to stay in the faith known broadly as the Mormon church — a move critics say reflects the church doubling down on some of its more conservative views on sexuality. The Salt Lake City-based church has cited remarks she made in support of removing the stigma around porn, masturbation, and same-sex marriage, saying that contradicts church teachings.
Such an ouster is rare and is the harshest punishment available for a member of the faith like Helfer, that had cultivated a national standing of pushing for mental health advocacy amongst church members. The vast majority of her patients come from a Latter-day Saint background, and many are mixed-faith couples where one person is owned by the church and another has left.
Lauren Rogers, that was raised at the church, started a petition urging the church to reverse the decision and organized a protest outside its Salt Lake City headquarters. She said she wished to fight for Helfer following her brother was excommunicated in 2015 for sharing his experience as a homosexual church member online.
“I wished to make up for not being there for (my brother) and be there with this particular woman who had been attempting to protect people such as him at the church,” said Rogers, who lives in Maricopa, Arizona. “Excommunication needs to done away with. I believe that it’s an abusive practice… and it’s a tool the church uses to silence people.”
Helfer said she worries her situation could set a precedent for removing different professionals and lead to catastrophic effects for church members who might no longer feel secure looking for treatment.
“Doing this to me alone is sending the message both to clinicians and, even more importantly, to the people you need ton’t trust sex therapists,” Helfer said. “Even though it doesn’t automatically mean that other professionals will directly be influenced, it is going to impact the people as to who will seek out those sorts of solutions.”
Church officials declined to comment on Helfer losing her charm or the complaint against them.
Members are educated not to have sexual intercourse prior to marriage, kiss , or provoke”emotions in your own body” which are supposed to be reserved for marriage. Gay sex also is prohibited.
Scott Gordon, president of FAIR, a volunteer organization that supports the church, confessed it can be difficult for gay and transgender people to belong to a faith that they feel does not fully accept them. However, he said, Helfer wasn’t ousted due to her profession or her perspectives on LGBTQ issues or novelty.
“While that may seem like it is the issue, it is really not the problem,” Gordon said. “The matter is actively going out and discriminated against the church. What the material is is nearly irrelevant.”
The message of Helfer’s ex-communication and of other members appears to be the faith can tolerate diverse opinions but”when that behavior seeks to affect other people, then that’s when the church takes official action,” explained Kathleen Flake, a professor of Mormon studies in the University of Virginia.
Sam Young, who led a campaign criticizing the church’s practice of allowing secular leaders to do one interviews with young people that sometimes included sexual questions, has been kicked out from 2018. Kate Kelly, the founder of a group pushing for women to be allowed in the secular clergy, was excommunicated at 2014.
In Helfer’s case, her former church leaders at Kansas sent her a letter in April after holding a disciplinary hearing explaining the reasons for her removal. The letter said her professional activities did not play a role but that she could no longer be a part because of a”pattern of deliberate and clear opposition to the Church, its doctrine, policies, and its own leaders.”
Following a year, they will consider allowing her back if she quits using”disparaging and vulgar language to describe that the Church and its leaders” and attends church encounters, the letter says.
Helfer stated she has no plans to modify her services but that she’s already learned from some customers who say they are no longer comfortable working with her.
“My clinic will survive,” she explained. “But a family with a young homosexual kid may cope with their issue very differently after seeing something similar to this — that may have long-term implications for them.”
