Lynne Whitesides

Lynne Kanavel Whitesides was a Mormon feminist and was noted for speaking on the Mother in Heaven.[1] Whitesides was the first of the group to experience church discipline and was disfellowshipped September 14, 1993. Though technically still a member, Whitesides stated that she "exploded" out of the church and her marriage in 1993 and considered herself a practitioner of Native American philosophies.[2] She died from pneumonia on July 7, 2025.[3]

Whitesides as a Mormon

Whitesides was known for her public discussion of Heavenly Mother and the absence of feminine divinity in LDS worship. She served as a Sunstone Symposium chair, president of the Mormon Women’s Forum, and chair of the B. H. Roberts Society.

Why She Left

In September 1993, Lynne Kanavel Whitesides became the first member of the group later known as the September Six to face formal discipline from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was disfellowshipped following a disciplinary council held by local church leaders in Utah.

Church leaders stated that the discipline was connected to apostasy. Much of the concern centered around Whitesides’s public speeches and writings on Mormon feminism and the concept of Heavenly Mother. She had openly criticized what she viewed as the marginalization of women within LDS theology and culture, and she advocated for broader discussion of feminine divinity within Mormonism.

Whitesides had become a visible figure in Mormon intellectual and feminist circles during the late 1980s and early 1990s. She was active in organizations such as the Mormon Women’s Forum and frequently spoke at independent Mormon events, including the Sunstone Education Foundation symposiums. Her public visibility drew increasing attention from church leadership during a period when several Mormon scholars, writers, historians, and feminists were being investigated for heterodox teachings or public criticism of the church.

Unlike some members of the September Six who were excommunicated, Whitesides was disfellowshipped, a lesser disciplinary action that restricted participation in church ordinances and leadership roles but did not remove her membership entirely. Reports from the time indicated that local leaders asked her to cease promoting ideas they believed conflicted with church doctrine.

Whitesides later distanced herself from institutional Mormonism, though she continued speaking publicly about spirituality, feminism, and religious identity for many years afterward.

Notes/Sources

1. "Mormons Penalize Dissident Members". The New York Times. 1993-09-19. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-11.

2. Whitesides, Lynne. "Spiritual Paths After September 1993." Sunstone Symposium, 2003 on YouTube.

3. "Latest from Mormon Land: Member of the 'September Six' disciplined by the church dies; Oaks mentions Heavenly Mother(s)". MSN. 9 October 2025. Retrieved 9 October 2025.

Source Notice:

This article contains material adapted from Wikipedia under the CC BY-SA license. Original article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_Six