David-Edward Desmond

In 1966, 26-year-old David-Edward Desmond founded a break-off from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). At some point it was located in Denver, Colorado. The United Order Family of Christ was for young Gay men only, ages 18 to 30. Because they practiced a uniquely Mormon form of communalism in which they held "everything in common", Desmond affirmed that the Family was "not for the great majority of the Gay LDS" [Latter-day Saints ]. The United Order Family of Christ lasted at least until 1972.

David-Edward Desmond was born Oct 24, 1940, in Spokane, Washington, to Wayne G. Koch and Betty Grasty. His parents separated soon after he was born and he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Lafreda “Freda” Launer Desmond. David legally changed his surname to Desmond in 1963, around the same time that his grandmother Freda passed away in Ashland, Oregon. He enlisted in the military in 1963 and was discharged in 1966. He married Sally Jo Hathaway in St. George, Utah in 1965 and they were sealed for eternity in the St. George LDS Temple there. It is believed that their marriage did not last long.

David died May 11, 1983, in Pullman, Washington and is buried in Fairmount Memorial Park in Spokane.

A book on the various schisms of the Latter-day Saint movement, Divergent Paths of the Restoration, published a letter written by Desmond about 1971, which gives details about the church he had founded several years earlier:

"We received your letter today and thought that we would take the time to write you and tell you what we are and what we hope to do. First let me tell you that we are not a new group that has not stood under the test of time. We have been together for over six years and in that time our Order has grown stronger and stronger and stronger. We are Gay and we are LDS. We love our Father in Heaven and serve him but we do not serve our Church as it now stands. We were given the commandment to love our brothers and when we find it easy to obey that command, we are told by the Church that we misunderstand the meaning of love.

"The United Order is just what the name says. We are united and we are an Order. We hold everything in common. We have one checking account and one savings account. Everything is in common for the common good. The ages of our Order are from 18 to 30. Only one member of the Family is over 25. The family is made up of officers (called keys) and members of the Family. The Keys hold council with the Father and direct the Family in the way that brings them union and peace with the will of the Father in Heaven. The leader of the Family is the First Key. He is the same as the First President of the Church. He is the mind, the will, and the heart of the Order. He has given the Order an understanding of the will of the Father that we have never known before the union of the Family. He is so close to the Father that there is no question in the minds of the Order that he and the Father think and live as one. It is known when he is in mind with the Father because members of the United Order see a golden light around his head and we know that the Family is about to grow in knowledge and wisdom.

"This family is not for the great majority of the Gay LDS for it belongs only to those who can put themselves in second place and the will of Father and Family in first place. Those who must own and do on their own will find service and Union with the United Order is hard and not rewarding. Those who see life as a time of service to the Almighty Father and not themselves and feel that common living and. loving with others is the way for them, these people should belong to the family.

"Write soon, your brothers, United Order/Family of Christ, David- Edward Desmond, First Key of the Order."

(This biographical statement written by Connell O'Donovan. Sources: Steven L. Shields, Divergent Paths of the Restoration: A History of the Latter Day Saint Movement, Los Angeles: Restoration Research, 1990, 4^th edition, pp, 175-176; D. Michael Quinn, Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example, University of Illinois Press, 1996, p .382 and footnote 81; and http://familysearch.org for vital statistics on Desmond.)

Biography Date: July, 2004' rev. Sept. 2025

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