"It Gets Better" at BYU

[dawn9476]

Students at BYU talking about their struggles with being mormon and gay.

http://www.afterelton.com/video/2012/04 ... university

[Whovian]

Hello..new here! First post.

This place is great! :dance:

I didn't know you could be Mormon and gay?

[fluttershies]

Hello..new here! First post.

This place is great! :dance:

I didn't know you could be Mormon and gay?

There are gay people in most religious communities - being religious doesn't mean you have some immunity to being LGBTQ.

[Jessica]

Last time I heard of any openly gay-friendly group on BYU's campus, I think the students were either expelled or arrested.

Edit to clarify - Arrested for a politcal gathering on campus which happened to be in favor of gay rights. A teacher didn't just call the police on a gay student or anything. Anyway, I'm pretty sure if the gathering were in favor of traditional marriage, nothing would have been done... Just like how at temple square there's a "no kissing rule" when a gay couple kisses there, but nothing is done when thousands of newlywed couples have their portraits taken on the temple steps while... get this... KISSING.

[Dhani_C]

Hello..new here! First post.

This place is great! :dance:

I didn't know you could be Mormon and gay?

You can most definitely be Mormon and gay. As long as you follow the same standards that single members of the church are held to (referring to abstaining from sex and, for them, dating members of the same sex) you can go to the temple, serve a mission, and hold callings in the church. There's actually a ward in San Francisco specifically for gay/lesbian Mormons. I also attend church with some gay members.

[Whovian]

There are gay people in most religious communities - being religious doesn't mean you have some immunity to being LGBTQ.

Sorry, let me rephrase that. I didn't know that if you are openly gay, you are allowed to remain in the Mormon church and attend BYU. I know that there are gay people in most religious communities.

There's actually a ward in San Francisco specifically for gay/lesbian Mormons. I also attend church with some gay members.

That's good to know. Progress :)

[ShadowyOne]

There are gay people in most religious communities - being religious doesn't mean you have some immunity to being LGBTQ.

Oh, the video by the OT made me a bit teary. I truly hope that things get better for all LGBT youth (and adults). Anyway...

Welcome, Whovian. Not to be snarky, as I haven't been around long myself, but maybe read around a bit before posting. Anyhow... OF COURSE you can be Mormon & gay. You can be Mormon, fundie, Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, (etc) and gay. Just because your church of origin rejects your sexuality, doesn't mean that you reject the religion that you feel in your heart. One hopes that all of these young people will find spiritual as well as social acceptance.

On a brighter note, one of the first It Gets Better things that made an impression on me was this AWESOME music video by Rebecca Drysdale, and I always love to share it with anyone & everyone. It's great as a music video, it is seriously funny, and, well, I think it's great!

cTQNwMxqM3E

ETA: video is NOT at all dirty by my standards (defrauding!) but may not be SFW due to curse words and slang for queer people of all stripes.

[DarkAnts]

Sorry, let me rephrase that. I didn't know that if you are openly gay, you are allowed to remain in the Mormon church and attend BYU. I know that there are gay people in most religious communities.

That's good to know. Progress :)

Supposedly, you can be gay in the mormon church. You just have to be celibate. Some Bishops will allow this but some wont. You can also be gay but trying to cure yourself by getting married. All Bishops allow this.

[chiccy]

There are gay people in most religious communities - being religious doesn't mean you have some immunity to being LGBTQ.

I assumed she was being sarcastic, but I guess sometimes with newbies it's hard to tell...

[mirele]

Yes, you can be Mormon and gay.

I dated a really, really nice guy for a number of years, he was pretty firmly in the closet (we're talking 30 years ago). Over the years, and as our relationship changed, he slowly came out to me. He's still not publicly out but he lives in Utah with another guy and gets paid to corrupt the youth of Zion.

What irritates me about the Mormon Church's position on marriage is that there's still a strong feeling gays and lesbians should get married heterosexually, even if that's not where their orientation is. Because that's what Heavenly Father wants. To me, this is the kind of social engineering anti-gay people warn everyone about. And, from having observed marriages that crashed and burned because one of the two parties was gay or lesbian and then came out, this kind of social engineering is devastating to everyone.

I still wish my friend was straight, because he was/is a fabulous guy. But, as a heterosexual woman, I deserve to be loved as a woman, not because God told a guy he had to love women OR ELSE.