Heather Gay is one of the participants on Real Housewives of SLC. I've never seen the show because I'd rather have a root canal than watch any of the Real Housewives franchise, but Heather was written up in the NYTimes yesterday, and it is a pretty interesting article. She is about to release a memoir, and is in a trademark battle with LDS Inc because she is trying to trademark the term Bad Mormon for using on coffee mugs and other merchandise.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/style/heather-gay-real-housewives-bad-mormon.html

If you are paywalled out, not all that much in the article is essential to your salvation. Here are the relevant points:

>But “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” is responsible for some of the most dramatic story lines in the franchise — one cast member [Jen Shah] pleaded guilty to widespread fraud in federal court and another is married to her step-grandfather — and Ms. Gay’s struggles with her faith are often relegated to B or even C plots. “Bad Mormon,” Ms. Gay’s new memoir, which comes out on Feb. 7, is her opportunity to explore her own feelings at length.

How Utah is that?
One housewife convicted of fraud.
One housewife married to her step-grandfather
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYlJH81dSiw
And one a divorced BYU grad returned missionary writing a book entitled Bad Mormon.


>Ms. Gay, 48, details the pain, confusion, shame and depression she experienced during four-and-a-half decades of loyal membership in the church, and her eventual decision to leave. She describes being asked questions about her sexual experiences by her bishop when she was a teenager (a practice others have spoken out about); “preaching eternal life while dying inside” as a 20-something missionary in the south of France; and pushing through a decade of a zombielike existence with her ex-husband.

>In June 2022, Ms. Gay filed a trademark application on the words “Bad Mormon” for use on merchandise like beer mugs, shirts and socks. The church is opposing the application, claiming that Ms. Gay’s trademark intends “to cause confusion, tarnishment and dilution,” and that her use of the word “bad” is “deceptive in that it falsely represents that Opposer, the Church or its members are bad or otherwise behaving immorally or contrary to the teachings of the Church.” The case is currently scheduled for oral arguments in May 2024. The church did not offer any comment on the matter.


Since the book is coming out next week, I suspect there will be local news stories about it, but this was a national story. LDS Inc can't catch a break these days. It's one negative story after another.

Couldn't happen to a nicer cult.

I'm wondering, if Heather Gay wins her suit, if ex-Mormons will no longer be able to describe themselves as having been "bad Mormons" on this forum. While I'm not aware of anybody here using this specific phrase, it certainly could happen.

Yes. It seems like too broad a thing to be able to trademark. I hope she gets pushback. It's like someone saying they own the term village idiot.

Like summer point out, Mormons have publicly made a fuss about not being "Mormon" so why should they be able to have objections if she puts anything with "Mormon" on a stupid mug?

I'm not about to watch the TV show because I'd rather eat broken glass. The fact she is willing to be on such a show doesn't endear her or her problems with Mormonism to me.

OTOH, making problems with Mormonism public might do some good. I doubt she'll go into the factual historical problems. She could come off as a whiny disgruntled person if all she does is complain about being offended and how she was treated for this or that. It could confirm what Mormons already assume: she was offended and couldn't keep their standards.

I think if someone trademarks names or words or phrases, that means they're the only ones who can get money from merchandizing those trademarked terms.

Taylor Swift trademarked the phrase "this sick beat" (among other phrases) so if someone else tries to sell merchandise with those words, she can sue them because she owns the trademark.

We can write bad mormon as long as we don't sell merch related to it - if the phrase ends up being trademarked.

I'm open to feedback about my understanding of trademarks, so correct me if I'm wrong.

“preaching eternal life while dying inside”

That is one of the most loaded phrases I have ever read. Those six words speak powerful volumes.

The problem is the way cults like Mormonism work, the adherents do not even know they are dying inside, or at the very least, pickled--all the freshness gone as they are brined.

Luckily, looking back to my Mormonism, what I really felt was "on hold".

There's lots of factual reasons to leave, but I always toast those who have just had enough and not gonna take it anymore. Take the lid off the jar and get the hell out.


And besides, since they are "done" with the word Mormon. Why shouldn't anybody do what ever they want with it. No one should own a word.

I confess to watching one of the two Dehlin videos with Gay.

I have never seen any of the Real Housewives shows. The premise is offensive and I have trouble thinking any of the exhibitionist participants have much to offer to anyone but voyeurs.

And yet Heather is a substantial person. Perhaps if not Mormon she would have been another vacuous TV star; fifteen minutes and all that. But the experience of growing up in a cult and then having to think ones way out as she did requires depth and reflection. Does the experience create introspection and integrity or just reveal traits that were not previously evident?

In any case her suffering is real and her willingness to take on the church and her families is courageous. She may be more open than most of us would prefer but her experiences are not unlike many of ours.

I was impressed.

I'm a good mormon. I'm just a bad wizard.

Does the SLC church even trademark the name, "Mormon?" They are not the only Mormons.

They tried to trademark it and were turned down except for some minor educational endeavor names, for exactly the reason you mention. The name is widely used by various other churches, so exclusive use was not granted to LDS Inc.

I suspect they'll lost this too, and they know it. Probably banking on Heather Gay not having enough bank to fight the suit.

I would think the LDS church would resist any effort at all by someone with her last name.

Hehehe! Maybe she should make mugs with "Gay Mormon" on them! ;)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2023 03:37PM by Gordon B. Stinky.

I'd buy one!

Lot's Wife Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would think the LDS church would resist any
> effort at all by someone with her last name.

Yeah. Funny. Not funny. When you think about it. Here's another slant on 'gay'.

Forgive my foray into my Scottish heritage here - the word 'gay' made me think of the Scottish regiment The Gordon Highlanders who carry the nickname "The Gay Gordons".


The Gordon Highlanders Museum states: “…one of the finest regiments the British Army has ever seen – The Gordon Highlanders”. (Now amalgamated into The Highlanders - Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons).


From Visit Scotland site:

https://www.visitscotland.com/about/history/ww1-centenary/scottish-regiments/the-gordon-highlanders/

“After witnessing the courage and skill of the Gordon Highlanders in the Second Boer War, a young, roving reporter named Winston Churchill described them as 'the finest regiment in the world'.”


“The regiment inherited its nickname 'the Gay Gordons' from its parent regiment the 92nd Foot.”



Wiki: “Note that "Gay" in this phrase has the Scots meaning, "extraordinary" rather than the more commonly used English meanings.”


I love that: Gay meaning Extraordinary.

Take that, Mormons!

And all the other naysayers - here's looking at you Francis of the pronouncement Not a crime, just disordered. Yeah, that helps. Not.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2023 06:06PM by Nightingale.

In my lifetime the word gay has changed. We always used the word gay around the holidays.
Now, when I think of the movie The Gay Divorcee with Fred Astaire, it makes me laugh at the innuendo. A young person would be confused and assume something completely different.

Dagny, I remember when "gay" meant happy as well, as in, "We had a gay time at the party." I expect that particular meaning is dying out.

Am I a "Bad Mormon"for even saying "Mormon"? Once again my brain hurts real bad!

I think the only reason the church is in a huff over this Bad Mormon stuff is because she has a following or is trending at the moment. In the past, the church wouldn't give a hoot over members who left because they "wanted to sin" or forever offended.

However, the church seems to be in a panic mode. There must me middle level managers within the church who understand that there's more members who attend because of social activities (though minimal) and family pressure. Nobody goes thru the temple and says to oneself -Boy, this is the greatest thing I've ever felt. I am staying in this church forever!

My mom and her best friend in the church grew bored with the ward's book club. I think the only books that they were reading were crappy Deseret Books approved by Wendy and Sheri. They both joined the public library book club instead. I still can't believe that they read 50 shades of grey.

> I
> still can't believe that they read 50 shades of
> grey.

It sounds like one or two bishops may end up hearing from ladies whom they never expected to see in the confessional.

I almost posted a selection from this article, but I admit I found the person concerned so shallow and uninteresting that I didn't bother. Any of the women in this forum could have told a more interesting story and presented harder-hitting arguments. I suppose I should have known from the "Real Housewives" label...

Agreed.

"Anything that requires the adjective 'real' is by definition insubstantial."

--@realDonaldTrump, TRUTH Social

> is in a trademark battle
> with LDS Inc because she is trying to trademark
> the term Bad Mormon for using on coffee mugs and
> other merchandise.


I guess "Bad Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" won't fit on a mug!! ;)

Heather Gay married into the extraordinarily rich Mormon Gay family, who started the company, Nutraceuticals, which recently sold for $446 million dollars.

Mormon stories did a podcast of her story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svHV0bQEHwA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtUYWOc_JOo

I watched her podcast ready to cringe but I thought she was really genuine and I enjoyed hearing her story.

I have a TBM friend who is good friends with a member of the Gay family. I asked her if she was familiar with Heather and mentioned her Mormon Stories podcast. She had her bristles up right away, taking the side of the Gay family, thinking that Heather was evil for leaving her husband and "the church." I couldn't even have a discussion with her.

Here is TikTok video from. Heather.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRtPLRKo/