A recent convert in the ward in which I was Elders Quorum president had undergone transsexual male-to-female surgery prior to joining the church [sic] in 1977. The baptismal recommend listed both her prior and her current names and noted, "She is a transexual [sic]." A year after the baptism, a counselor in the stake presidency without referring the woman, said privately that the presidency had consulted with a General Authority (whom he did not name) about the possibility of someone who had undergone transsexual surgery being married in an LDS temple. The answer was yes. The General Authority was likely Hugh Pinnock, who at the time was the executive administrator (the equivalent of today's area president) over the stake in which the woman resided. In a letter to the stake presidency in June 1978, Pinnock wrote, "The answers that you are about to receive are somewhat consensus [sic?] in nature." He authorized the woman to receive her endowment as a woman, "going through with the name she was baptized under and that she uses at the present time." He also preauthorized a temple marriage, with the caveat that the woman "has explained to a man the condition of her present physical body."

Pinnock then underscored the fact that his authorization was not a statement of church policy. "Some of the brethren, as we discussed, still feel that she has an eternal male spirit in a physically mutilated body. All do not feel that way, however, or the letter which I have written you would not be possible." The stake presidency were so surprised at the answer that they contacted another General Authority, Robert Simpson. This time the answer was an emphatic "No!" Notwithstanding Simpson's answer, which did not represent church policy inasmuch as there was not yet any church policy on the subject. In February 1980 I attended the woman's temple wedding. Hugh Pinnock performed the ceremony.