Gay BYU Students Come Together To Create Inspiring “It Gets Better” Videos

Posted by Christopher Welch on Apr 9, 2012 in Inspirgaytion | 6 comments

22 GLBT students from Brigham Young University have come together to create a series of videos for Dan Savage’s ‘It Gets Better’ project. BYU is owned and operated by the highly conservative Church Of Latter-day Saints which has previously donated large sums of money to promote anti-gay legislation including California’s Prop 8.

Students at BYU must adhere to a set of rules or Honor Code which including abstaining from sexual contact. Up until 2007 students could be expelled from school for even discussing their sexual orientation. This rule was amended five years ago.

With over 1,800 GLBT students on campus, BYU is currently dealing with how to maintain their very clear stance against homosexuality and gay marriage without completely alienating an increasingly more vocal and open population of homosexual students. The student body formed it’s first GLBT support group, named Understanding Same-Gender Attraction, in 2010 after officials lifted a ban on advocacy of homosexuality.

Head on over to the BYU It Gets Better page and check out some of the awesome videos. Any gay Mormons out there? What was your coming out experience like?

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=559010239 Graham Parker

It’d be super-cute and inspiring if he weren’t still, yknow, self-identifying as a member of a religion that ,AS A RULE, /HATES/ what he is and hates other people like him. He’s also talking about what boys “shouldn’t do” so he’s just furthering the opinions that oppress other kids that are dealing with things like he is.

http://www.facebook.com/badromance44 Daniel Holt

Oh please. That’s like saying because you’re gay you can’t be religious. FYI most major religions “condemn” homosexuality. Just because the majority of people who identify with a certain religion are bigoted, it doesnt mean that other people are required to accept that hate as a part of their spirituality. Religion and spirituality are different for everyone.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1151975112 Jeremy Steele

i am pretty sure this kid still has denial issues. i have to agree with graham on this, gays for the mormon church is like roaches for raid. and i seriously doubt that being openly gay at byu is a total cakewalk since its pretty much a breeding ground for ignorant bigots. its like saying i had a great time as an openly gay guy at bob jones university. it begs me to ask where he is having this great time.
http://twitter.com/johnwatersfan Grant

At first, I was kind of shocked and surprised that BYU would have a gay organization or why any gay person would go there, but I realized that some people may not know in advance that they’re gay, and if their coming out occurred during college (which it did for me), then it is great to have a group there for support. I imagine it’s quite difficult being a gay Mormon. I can imagine that having it as part of your life for so many years, it’s hard to break away from that part of your life. I actually have to commend these people for trying to reconcile their religion and their sexuality. It’s a difficult road to cross. I grew up Catholic, and eventually I realized that it wasn’t for me, and I’ve given it up, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for everyone. It may even be more brave to try to change the workings of your religion from the inside instead of giving up on it.
nick olson

One thing (among many) that strikes me here is that the group identifies themselves as UNDERSTANDING SAME-GENDER ATTRACTION, which directly reflects the aim of the Conservatives to de-humanize the LGBTQ community. Conservatives have expressed how they want to take away the power of a community of people by disregarding how they label themselves, and replace the identity with a substitute that implies it is a character flaw that some individuals have. This group name directly uses the substitute title of “same-gender attraction” to separate the community building aspect of identifying as “LGBTQ” from its members. The name itself reflects the ideas of the church which unfortunately influences these poor individuals by taking away their power as a community who can relate to each other, and replace that community with a way to try to “control” a quality of the people in the group.
niko v

just cute lol

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