Homosexuality has been publicly discussed by top leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church)—Mormonism's largest denomination—since the late 1800s. The frequency of teachings on same-sex sexual activity increased starting in the late 1950s. Most discussion focuses on male homosexuality and rarely mentions lesbianism or bisexuality. Below is a timeline of notable speeches, publications, and policies in the LDS church on the topic of homosexuality. 1800s to the 1950s 1897 – First Presidency member George Q. Cannon used the media attention on the 1895 conviction and two-year imprisonment of famed Irish poet Oscar Wilde as an opportunity to publicly condemn homosexual behavior as an abominable, filthy, nameless crime. He continued stating that the only way to stop homosexuals was for God to wipe them out. 1952 – An increase in US public discourse around homosexuality in the McCarthyist Lavender scare era contributed to the first explicit mention of the topic in general conference. The apostle Clark lamented homosexuality was found among men and women, and that homosexual people exercised great influence in shaping culture. 1958 – General authority Bruce R. McConkie published Mormon Doctrine, in which he stated that homosexuality is among Lucifer's chief means of leading souls to hell, and that it's better to be dead clean, than alive unclean. The book was viewed by many both then and now as representing official church doctrine despite never being endorsed by the church. 1960s 1964 – The apostle Spencer W. Kimball called homosexuality a malady, disease, and an abominable and detestable crime against nature that was curable by self mastery. He cited one lay bishop (a businessman by trade) assigned by the church to administer a program of sexual orientation change efforts through which he claimed there had been numerous "cures." He said the police, the courts, and the judges had referred many individuals directly to the church. 1965 – Kimball again addressed homosexuality calling it a gross, heinous, obnoxious, abominable, vicious sin. He stated that those with homosexual desires were like alcoholics and could correct and overcome their desires. In the BYU speech he stated the university will not knowingly enroll nor tolerate anyone with homosexual tendencies who failed to repent, and that it was a damnable heresy for a homosexual person to say God made them that way. He also stated that sometimes masturbation was an introduction to homosexuality. 1965 – Ernest L. Wilkinson,