GRIFT: $40,000 Raised for LGBTQ Students Over BYU’s Longstanding Same-Sex Policy
Matt Travis
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As we reported a few days ago, BYU students held a protest over their University’s longstanding policy banning same-sex relationships on campus. This protest came due to some confusion regarding the removal of a portion of the student code of conduct specifically referencing (and banning) homosexual relationships.
Some students thought BYU’s removal of this section meant same-sex relationships were now allowed on campus. This was not the case. That should have been obvious to the students considering the University is run on Mormon values by the Mormon Church.
Since this story has made headlines, there have been several additional protests across the country (in Utah, Idaho, New York, etc.). Some protests even had hundreds of attendees.
Just like the protesters at the BYU campus, New York protesters had similar tactics.
Mant NY protestors purported that BYU is neither loving nor caring towards its LGBTQ students. Some protesters at the New York event chanted, “BYU, there’s no excuse. This is human rights abuse.”
The narrative being pushed in these protests isn’t exactly fair, though. It seems the school did the exact opposite of abusing or hating on LGBTQ students.
As we stated last week, the director of BYU’s Honor Code Office actually “encouraged all members of our campus community to reach out to those who are personally affected with sensitivity, love and respect.”
In addition to the new protests, a ‘Go Fund Me’ was setup by The Out Foundation, an advocacy group for BYU’s LGBTQ students. The organization is raising money for students who want to transfer schools due to the lack of policy change.
The fundraiser has been relatively successful. They started with goal of $10,000, but they’re currently at over $36,000.
On their ‘Go Fund Me’ page, they state,
In a cruel bait-and-switch, BYU announced 2 weeks ago that homosexual dating and behavior was going to be allowed by the Honor Code, only to fully renege said statements yesterday. In that brief time period, many queer BYU students have come out and displayed acts of queerness on campus (taking and posting pictures of themselves kissing/holding hands with people of their same sex, etc). These same students are now at risk for punishment from the Honor Code.
Their explanation of the events is slightly misleading.
First, the school never “announced” that homosexuality would be “allowed by the honor code.” Second, the school apologized for any confusion, and explained the events, showing it wasn’t meant to be a “bait-and-switch.”
The real story here is not that BYU is going to continue the same policy they’ve had for years.
The real story is that there are LGBTQ students who applied and began attending BYU, knowing full well that same-sex relationships were against school policy, and now want to play victim.
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