BYU Official: Mormon Students in 'It Gets Better' Video Won't Be Punished Unless They Act on Their Gay Feelings
Last Friday I posted an "It Gets Better" video made by Mormon students at Brigham Young University. The video has since gone viral and has more than 300,000 views, and has the attention of BYU officials, who say the gay students won't be punished unless they act on their gay feelings:
The students featured in a video about being gay at Brigham Young University are not in obvious violation of the honor code, according to Carri Jenkins, an assistant to the president of BYU. Jenkins went on to say that for the video alone, the students would not be punished. The honor code, Jenkins said, is “based on conduct, not on feeling, and if same-gender attraction is only stated, that is not an honor code issue.”
All BYU students sign on to the honor code upon enrollment. The code outlaws premarital sex and breaking the code “may result in actions up to and including separation from the university.”
“Homosexual behavior is inappropriate and violates the honor code. Homosexual behavior includes not only sexual relations between members of the same sex, but all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings,” reads the honor code.
I've reposted the video, AFTER THE JUMP...
PS:
Yeah, and that higher being won't care what holes you shove your dic* into.
Posted by: JackFknTwist | Apr 10, 2012 11:52:17 AM
I think it comes down to what people are more scared of: A) being lost in a mysterious universe without any real purpose, or B) having a god that sees homosexuality as a sin. Im very comfortable with A. It doesnt frighten me. But I think most religious people are scared and rather want to believe B.
Posted by: Alex | Apr 10, 2012 12:05:42 PM
Another reason we bash religion ?
Because it is endlessly aggressive.
Posted by: JackFknTwist | Apr 10, 2012 12:13:41 PM
To all of us who are criticizing these young adults for continuing at BYU or as members of the LDS church, here's a question.
Which oppressive institution that has the authority to ruin your life have you stood up to today?
I think these young adults are courageous, forcing BYU and the LDS church to acknowledge their existence as human beings. They are putting themselves at risk in more ways than one. They are forcing a conversation the BYU and the LDS would rather not have. Instead of telling them they should just leave, we should be telling them this is exactly how change begins.
Posted by: james | Apr 10, 2012 12:19:00 PM
Dismissing this video as a PR stunt really misses the point of the It Gets Better Project. The goal is very simple: to stop kids from killing themselves. If these students help even one kid, then I say good on them.
Changing anti-gay policies is a very worthy endeavor, but it is not the aim of IGB. Instead, making sure we are actually ALIVE to work and agitate for equality is the necessary prerequisite, and it is the stepping off point of the Project.
For a lot of us, graduating high school was the light at the end of the tunnel. We just needed to hold on till that day, when we'd be free to live and flourish. But for kids whose parents force them to attend conservative religious colleges (I've known several), that tunnel is even longer -- and their despair and desperation is even greater. Maybe the voices and testimonies of these BYU students will prevent some of those kids from letting their despair extinguish their lives.
Posted by: Andrew | Apr 10, 2012 12:26:49 PM
"It Gets Better" - so much better that if you keep going along with what our cult says, you can still get your own planet when you die!
just remember: all you have to do is Come Out, and then never ever experience love. you can have love when you die. and you're on your own planet.
because we Mormons make sense.
*puke*
Posted by: LittleKiwi | Apr 10, 2012 12:31:10 PM
I like the video - but it is SO DEPRESSING until the upbeat message at the very end that half the gay mormons watching it will blow their brains out after 5 minutes.
Posted by: Yeek | Apr 10, 2012 12:32:49 PM
Um, just what exactly is a "gay feeling"?
Posted by: jamal49 | Apr 10, 2012 12:49:08 PM
JACK M you asked TJ: - How dare we bash religion?" that "It's not the idea of religion itself, it's when people use religion as a weapon of hate . . ."
What I don't think you have grasped, JACK M, is that that is the essence of religion, disinformation, ignorance, oppression, hatred, a political agenda, basically everything that FAITH is not.
I don' know which is worse, the perversion or denigration of a faith till it becomes a dry husk, like the hollowed out husk of a moth in a spiders web, whose essence has been sucked out by the spider, that people pretend is still a living, thriving faith, but is really a representation of all that is ugliest in them and the world . . . a religion
OR
That people, desperate to assuage their fears in an uncertain world, to compartmentalize and departmentalize everything that eludes their understandings of the world about them, to force order, if not on the intractable rock we live on, than at least the others who share the rock with us . . . are willing to believe adopt a TRUE religion, like Mormonism, a true religion being a religion that has no legitimate basis in Faith, cannot, apart from specious, outrageous claims, be traced back to a legitimate faith, that has only ever been a husk, a cult . . . and in the name of this husk, this cult channel all that is ugliest in the world and them.
I suppose there is very little difference between the two; a religion, like Mormonism, that was only ever a religion; or a Faith that died and became a religion with all the characteristics of a cult . . . because in the final analysis . . . both are a blight upon the human race.
To employ critical thinking where religion(s) is(are) concerned is not a trivial exercise in violence, is not slamming religion merely for the sake of slamming religion, but an attempt to enlighten ones self and others to the true face of religion.
We should acknowledge those FEW amazing individuals who actually practice their faith, even those whose faith has miraculously transcended TRUE religions, like Mormonism, for two reasons:
First and foremost for exemplifying that which is nest about them and the world we live in.
Secondly: Because they provide a visual that allows us to know the difference between religion and faith, and what we can expect from people who practice a religion.
Posted by: Ricco | Apr 10, 2012 12:53:53 PM
Andrew wrote: "Dismissing this video as a PR stunt really misses the point of the It Gets Better Project. The goal is very simple: to stop kids from killing themselves. If these students help even one kid, then I say good on them."
Andrew, I think you miss the point of the It Gets Better Project. The goal is to reassure young people, especially those who have been bullied and who are contemplating suicide, to hang on and hang in because once you leave school or home and get away from oppressive circumstances, things will get better. You will discover people who will love and support you and allow you to be yourself.
This video says none of these things. It says we are going to stay and BYU, and if we repress ourselves, they might even let us stay even though we are (gasp!) homosexuals, though of course, we will never act on our feelings.
Sorry, this is not the purpose of the It Gets Better Project. These kids are walking zombies and badly need real help. They will not get that at BYU. So sad.
Posted by: Jay | Apr 10, 2012 1:31:36 PM
To all reacting to what I posted: Um, you did get that I was being über-snarky, right? I was responding as I have seen others respond, which I find to be completely ridiculous. By all means, bash religion when it deserves to be bashed. Actually, if you want to know what I really think, read RICCO's post. I know many people of faith who are comforted by their faith even as they question it and truly try to live up to the spirit of spirituality, becoming the best they can be while supporting the same in their fellow man. And I am appalled at the sheep who believe what they are told by religions, false prophets, charlatans, and all manner of evil wolves in sheep's clothing.
Posted by: TJ | Apr 10, 2012 1:53:37 PM
It gets better... just be celibate, sexless and ashamed. No thanks.
So glad I wasn't born into Mormonism. Catholicism was bad enough.
My advice to gay Mormons: you can't stop being gay, but you can stop being Mormon. That's the only way you'll be happy.
There's no reason you can't believe whatever you want outside of an official church, if that part of your life is so important to you.
But you have to face the facts: It will never "get better" if you stay in your church, because that church will *never* accept you being who you are, which means it doesn't deserve you.
Posted by: R | Apr 10, 2012 3:25:34 PM
Hmmm, does masturbating qualify as 'acting' on you're feelings?
Posted by: ratbastard | Apr 10, 2012 3:27:17 PM
@Jack: "I doubt any person who says that has ever really been raised in a true fundamentalist household."
Sorry, no. I was raised MORMON and at age 30 I finally, definitively put "the Church" behind me. I finally learned some self-esteem, and concluded that I could no longer respect or believe in a religion that hated me and wanted me dead.
Besides, most of those BYU kids spent 18-24 months in some foreign country as a Mormon Missionary trying to convince OTHER PEOPLE to abandon the religion of their forefathers and join the Mormon Church. They've all seen that it's possible to walk away from a church that doesn't work for you. So, ya know, it's not that big a stretch to walk away themselves from a hateful "church" that (1) hates them and (2) wants them dead.
Posted by: Daddy Todd | Apr 10, 2012 5:45:05 PM
Those who vilify the LDS Church fall into the same trap as those who demonize the struggle for equality. While BYU and the Mormons certainly have a fraught history with homophobia, the characterization of a 14m member church that has donated billions of dollars in humanitarian aid as an evil organization bent on Christianist domination is unfair. While certainly conservative on marriage, the official positions on abortion, immigration, socio-economic justice,and separation of church and state are genuinely moderate.
Also, do not judge those who wish to reconcile their faith with their orientation. There are many who need faith in their lives, both for existential reassurance and moral guidance. Faith brings peace to many who desire it. For many in Utah, their congregations form the backbone of their social network, and to turn your back on that community, (so to speak) is very difficult, emotionally and practically.I could not reconcile my life with the precepts of the LDS church, but I do not begrudge those who try.
We should all seek for understanding, rather than attacking those whose views differ from our own.
Posted by: Daniel | Apr 10, 2012 6:49:22 PM
If these kids convince just one closed minded student or faculty member or church member to open their minds through just being themselves then job done. Well done kids and fellow members my family, regardless if you choose a different religion then my own non existent one. You're family, and despite these haters, we love you! Well done.
Posted by: Opinionated | Apr 10, 2012 7:05:29 PM
What's "inappropriate" is the Mormon Church interfering in politics, they way they did with Proposition 8 in California, and the way they are currently attempting to in Maryland. Someone needs to stand up to them and let them know that what they do is UNAMERICAN.
Posted by: westcoast88 | Apr 10, 2012 8:47:27 PM
The absolutists are wrong. Religion is good. Religion is bad. The fact is religion is both. While much of what religious hierarchies do is reprehensible, there are many good religious people who work everyday to help there fellow human beings. FYI: Millions of catholics contribute to Catholic Charities and it is the second largest contributor to social services in the USA behind the Federal Government. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!
Posted by: jack | Apr 10, 2012 9:03:09 PM
YEAH, IT GETS BETTER TEMPORARILY
I classify the morhole attitude as from 1980, looking very sick next to the NYU "it gets better", looking like 2012.
And TJ, you are acting like an "Aunt Tom", trying not to displease De Massa.
Posted by: Bob | Apr 10, 2012 9:29:44 PM
@Daniel,
I question that lds spends billions in humanitarian aid. I would guess that it's a way of bribing the natives into converting. That's just a guess, but an educated one. I do know that they don't do jack in the US. I know, having been in and around charitable works for thirty years. And the Mormons are nowhere to be found. But why do they supposedly do so much abroad where they can't be seen? Again, it's probably bribes.
Posted by: Wilberforce | Apr 10, 2012 9:39:32 PM
BOB - and you are acting like someone who wouldn't get sarcasm if it came up and told you how nice that shirt always looks on you. Please, re-read, and read my later response. Or not.
Posted by: TJ | Apr 10, 2012 11:30:17 PM