*sigh*

Controversial Artwork Stolen from School

A group of photographs depicting purportedly homosexual Mormon missionaries was stolen Thursday from Salt Lake Community College, where they were the cause of fierce debate and near violence since going on display earlier this week. The three silver gelatin prints by Don Farmer, part of a larger exhibit, show young men dressed in missionary garb in intimate situations.

“Certainly, we are treating this as a theft,” said Doug McCleve of the Utah Highway Patrol, which handles police duties for the school. The pictures were reported missing at about 8 a.m. Thursday. There was no damage to the building or the remaining pieces in the show, McCleve said.

For now, police have no idea who stole the photographs. Some students, offended by what they considered disrespect to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, tried to take the pictures down Tuesday when they were first put on display.

The thief could be charged with a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the value of the pieces, McCleve said. College spokesman Joy Tlou said SLCC officials are “distressed” about the theft. After a shouting match erupted Tuesday in the lobby where the show was hung, students worked out a compromise to move it to a classroom, and most people on both sides seemed satisfied, he said.

For Farmer, who took the photographs to document his feelings about growing up Mormon with homosexual leanings, the past few days have been “quite the shock… For someone to take action through a crime to say what they need to say is not the way to go about it,” he said. “I would never have fathomed that sort of action against art.” The photos are selenium toned gelatin prints on museum-quality archival paper—they were not easy to make and would be nearly impossible to reprint the same way, Farmer said. “They are invaluable.”

Art dealer Jim Debakis went to look at the photographs, but they were gone when he arrived at the campus. “I was very disappointed. I think it takes a certain kind of arrogance on the part of an individual or group who thinks they’re offended by it, therefore nobody else should see it,” he said. “The world is a little blacker when some people presume to edit what anyone else should see or shouldn’t see.” Gordon Storrs, who advises the student gay/lesbian/transgender group at SLCC, originally asked Farmer to submit the photos. He thought they reflected many students’ struggles with homosexuality. “I thought it would provoke discussion,” he said. “Colleges are a place where we can have discussions about issues, and being gay is a big discussion.”

Instead, Storrs said, some people called him derogatory names at the opening reception for the exhibition. Now, he is saddened that the photographs are gone and may never be returned. The value of the photographs would typically be determined by the price fetched by other photographs by Farmer. Ironically, Debakis theorized, the furor over the photographs might have made them more valuable—and thus earn the thief a more serious criminal charge.

They’ll never learn.