Ben Williams, 2016

File — Box: 2, Folder: 9

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Ben Williams was born in Texas and raised in southern California. In 1972, Williams joined the LDS Church and moved to Utah to go to BYU. He knew from an early age that he was attracted to boys and talks about what it was like to grow up with that difference. Before going to BYU, Williams went to Cal State Fullerton, where he also joined the gay student union. After his boyfriend joined the military, Williams began to look for meaning and purpose, which is how he found the LDS Church. When he joined the church, he didn’t know enough about the church to know about its stance on homosexuality, so there was not a conflict for him. Williams describes the hidden gay lives male students were leading at BYU and the punishment and retaliation they faced from the administration if they were found out. He then attended the University of Utah, after returning to California for a while. At the university, Williams met and married a woman. He talks about the gay community in Salt Lake City during that time, bars and places he would go to meet men. Eventually he started to realize he was living an inauthentic life as a straight man and started to accept his identity. Williams was involved in Affirmation, a support group for gay LDS men. He describes the evolution of that group, as well as other gay groups in Salt Lake City, some of which he started himself. Williams was a part of the Community Council, which brought together many of the groups in order to coordinate services and events. Williams talks about the effects and influences the HIV/AIDS epidemic had on Salt Lake City and the gay community. He describes the aftermath of the epidemic and what it means to him that he survived.
Interviewed by Seth Anderson.

Dates

2016

Conditions Governing Access

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