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Jeff Clute (1955 - 1995)

Jeffrey J. Clute was born on 19 October 1955. He died of HIV/AIDs complication on 10 February 1995 in Southern California.

Tribute by Joanna Brooks:

Note: This tribute was part of a speech Joanna Brooks delivered at the Kirtland Temple on September 18, 2011

I want to share with you today the story of one of my Mormon "ancestors"—not an ancestor by genealogy, but an important influence on the kind of Mormonism I've lived. His name is Jeff Clute. When I was a young girl growing up in Southern California, Jeff was a member of our ward—and he befriended our family. He was single, in his 30s. He had a gorgeous head of black hair and a great laugh. And he was an incredibly gifted pianist. He'd come visit our family on Sunday nights and sit at the piano and play.

On my seventh birthday, Jeff Clute gave me one of the most important gifts of my childhood. He gave me the entire set of Little House on the Prairie books. How did he know how very hungry I was for books? How did he know how I would find myself and my Mormon pioneer ancestors in those pages? How did he know how much I needed a heroine like Laura—who was not, as you may remember, the angelic blonde girl (like her sister Laura) but a scrappy, freckle-faced, dark-haired girl. The other one. The different one. How did he know I needed such a role model?

I tell myself now that Jeff Clute was a person of a certain perceptiveness who could see in me a girl hungry for words. And he gave me the gift through reading of a profound connection with Mormon pioneer heritage. A gay Mormon man gave me a version of my Mormonism that made a profound impact on me.

In the years that followed, my family moved, and we lost touch with Jeff Clute. Many years later, when I started to comb my memory for gay Mormon ancestors, I remembered him and I finally recognized who he was. "What happened to Jeff?" I asked my father. "He died," my father admitted. "It was AIDS."

I hesitate to tell this story because we have too many dead gay Mormon stories. Too many. And each death is a loss not only to Mormon families but to the entire Mormon tradition.

Please add your own tribute by sending an email to James Kent.