Shadow Faith or Organizational Breakoff?: Inflection Points and the Symbolic Convergence of Latter-day Saint Subculture

Recently released clarifications on LGTBQ policies by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leadership is disappointing news for advocates within the Church whose hoped-for changes in Church teachings regarding LGBTQ initiatives have now been thwarted. The result is a setting of irreconcilability for those who want change for LGBTQ advocacy in comparison to stances by Church leaders. Leading the movement for change, key Latter-day Saint celebrity influencers provide assertive public discourse for hoped changes in Church policies and teachings. Utilizing fantasy theme analysis, this study examines the LGTBQ-centered subculture by some Church members in the Gather group and its associated influencers. Fantasy theme rhetorics that contradict the Church’s official teachings are driving an alternative form of the faith at the Gather conferences and through social media. This subculture within the faith suggests a potential rhetorical vision of organizational rupture where an alternative version of the Church could be established.