https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/09/deznats-religious-extremists-mormon-vision

A new group of religious extremists in the United States is seeking to promote and defend an ultra-conservative vision of Mormon belief and harass perceived opponents of those beliefs, which are often racist and bigoted or promote violence.

The conduct of so-called “Deseret nationalists” or “DezNats” has raised questions about how the Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is responding to the movement, whose members direct harassment at other Mormons, including those working in church-sponsored institutions such as Brigham Young University (BYU).

Some who identify as DezNats take extreme right positions on gender, sexuality and race. Others describing themselves as Deseret nationalists have advocated for a Mormon-ruled, separatist white ethnostate, located in the Great Basin area briefly claimed by the LDS church in the mid-19th century


Amy Chapman, a researcher at Teachers College, Columbia University, who has carried out research on the DezNat hashtag and the movement around it, said that while the movement was not as large as other, more secular far-right groups, it had extensive “real world effects” on those whom the movement targeted.

The movement and DezNat Twitter hashtag unites a loose collection of ultra-conservative Mormon activists.

In the past, as well as on public social media platforms, members of the movement have reportedly gathered in a private chat using the Discord service, where members freely exchanged “violent, racist, homophobic and sexist remarks”.

Some DezNats have denied that the movement nurtures prejudice, including Gregory Smith, who is running for city council in Ogden, Utah, reportedly has sympathies with the DezNat movement and has repeatedly used the hashtag.

But Chapman said she had long observed the account now revealed as Cicotte’s, and “the thing that struck me the most about the account was its negative attitude towards women and LGBTQ people”, adding that misogyny, homophobia and transphobia are recurring motifs in DezNat discourse.

Often, DezNat accounts claim to be defending the LDS church from advances in the status of women and LGBTQ people in secular society, the effects of which they see as corrupting.

This has led to campaigns of harassment against perceived adversaries, who are overwhelmingly either former members of the church or those perceived as members with progressive social attitudes.

I know it has been posted many times before, but it bears repeating: DezNat is for those who don't think regular Mormonism is stupid enough for them.

It's the Taliban!

Call me when they start excommunicating them.