Mildred Jessie Berryman (September 22, 1901 – November 7, 1972), who went by "Berry"[7]: 66 [1] (also spelled "Barrie"),[8] was an early 20th century American pioneering researcher of lesbian and gay community in post-WWI Utah.

[6]: 354  In 1928 (or 1929),[6]: 354  Berryman began writing her thesis The Psychological Phenomena of the Homosexual[3]: 223, 228  on 23 lesbian women and 9 gay men, whom she met through the Salt Lake City Bohemian Club.

[4]: 897–898 [5] It appears that Berryman did not complete or publish her work due to discouragement from her advisor as well as a desire to protect her privacy and that of her siblings.

[16][4]: 897 In the study, most lesbian women and gay men (many of whom had Mormon background)[12] reported experiencing erotic interest in others of the same sex since childhood,[3]: 120, 222  and exhibited self-identity and community identity[17] as sexual minorities.

[3]: 223  The social and legal risks of discovery were high since any consensual same-sex sexual behavior likely fell under the 1921 Utah sodomy law which banned "sodomy or any other detestable and abominable crime against nature" that was committed "with either the sexual organs or the mouth," or the 1907 Utah law which punished "every lewd or dissolute person" with up to 90 days in jail.

[23] In 1934, she met a Mormon mother Ruth Uckerman Dempsey at their manufacturing job at Hill Air Force Base, with whom she later had a 33-year romantic relationship.