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Love for history at first sight: John Hamer (left) and his partner Mike Karpowicz (right) confer between sessions of the recent JWHA Conference in Springfield, Illinois. Photo Courtesy of JWHA.

Out & Proud at the JWHA: John Hamer and Mike Karpowicz

October 2005

At its recent annual conference, the John Whitmer Historical Association (JWHA) announced that its Board of Directors had unanimously offered the position of Executive Secretary to John Hamer and Mike Karpowicz of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Executive Secretaries are the chief administrative officers of the association.

JWHA is an independent association of historians who study the Latter Day Saint movement. Similar to the Utah-based Mormon History Association (MHA), JWHA is based in Missouri and was founded 33 years ago, primarily by members of the RLDS church (now Community of Christ). Today the organization has 500 members, including historians, students, and enthusiasts from within the various Restoration churches (the Community of Christ, the LDS church, the Strangite church, Bickertonite Church, the Remnant Church and others), as well as many more with no Restoration affiliation.

John Hamer (35) and Mike Karpowicz (31) are a gay couple who have been in a committed relationship for the past 8 years. They are both independent researchers working on the history of the Latter Day Saint movement. John's historical work includes making maps for history texts and for museums. At the recent conference, Mike presented a paper contrasting the diverging trends between the hierarchies of the LDS church and the Community of Christ since 1844. John was raised in the LDS church but has not been a believing member since childhood. Mike was raised as a cultural Catholic and developed his interest in the Latter Day Saint movement after meeting and becoming acquainted with members of John's family who are Mormon.

Their appointment to this leadership position jointly as a committed couple is a strong statement of acceptance by an important Latter Day Saint association.