Lost boys (Mormon fundamentalism)

Term for young males excommunicated or pressured to leave a polygamous Mormon community

"Lost boys" is a term used for young men who have been excommunicated or pressured to leave polygamous Mormon fundamentalist groups, such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Although sometimes officially accused of apostasy or disobedience, it is thought that they are mainly pressured to leave by older adult men to reduce competition for wives within such sects, usually when they are between the ages of 13 and 21.

Since boys and girls are born in approximately equal numbers, and women do not enter the community in large numbers, the pool of available women is not sufficient for all men to have multiple wives. While some boys leave by their own choice, many have been banished for conduct such as watching a movie, watching television, playing football, Another article from 2005 estimated that between 400 and 1,000 boys and young men had been pressured to leave for such reasons. also have left or been pressured to leave because they did not want to be part of polygamous marriages. Boys in these sects are commonly raised to not trust the outside world and that leaving their communities is a sin worse than murder. With little education or skills applicable to life outside of their community of birth, they must learn to live in a society they inherently distrust yet know little about and as a result, some lost boys become homeless or end up in the criminal justice system. The FLDS church was sued by six "lost boys" in August 2004 for "alleged economic and psychological injury." Brent Jeffs details his early life as the grandson to a FLDS prophet and his eventual excommunication as "very different". At an early age, Jeffs' father decided to leave the church and take his family with him. The off Broadway play Exit 27 (2013) dramatized the story of four lost boys struggling to survive in the desert outside Colorado City. Playwright Aleks Merilo based the script on interviews conducted with lost boys living in Hurricane, Utah.