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How do I handle this anger I’m feeling and still be authentic? How do I bridle these passions, and channel this anger so I can feel Christlike love again? The Lord and I talked it over quite a bit in the past week, and I’ve found an answer. It’s not everyone’s answer, but it’s mine.
All students have the right, regardless of sexual orientation to enjoy chaste, affectionate public behavior without any fear of reprisal. LGB students are worthy of the same rights, protections, and freedom of loving expressions which are afforded their heterosexual peers.
A small group of students and faculty looking to create an LGBTQ support group at Brigham Young University-Hawaii joined forces with Affirmation to reorganize the chapter for the island. Their first event attracted over 45 LGBTQ Latter-day Saints and their allies and their Facebook group has surged to over 100 members and counting.
You can claim change when any privileges available to heterosexual people are available to homosexual people and any privileges available to cisgender people are available to transgender and gender non-binary people. Until then, we all have work to do for our marginalized population of LGBTQ students.
BYU released an updated honor code, removing all references to homosexuals or same-sex relationships. Instead, the code now calls for students to, “Live a chaste and virtuous life, including abstaining from any sexual relations outside a marriage between a man and a woman.”
While applauding the increase in transparency and clarity the new handbook provides, Affirmation remains concerned that Church policy diminishes the lived experience of LGBTQ individuals.
Having served as Affirmation’s online content and data manager since 2017, Joel brings the right mix of talent, experience, and understanding to Affirmation’s senior staff position as director of operations.
Seeing things from the point of view of the other guy (or church, or government, or political party, or LGBTQ group) doesn’t mean we have to totally agree with them, convert, and join their side, but it does give Christlike love a fighting chance in this world.
There seems to be more rules at the intersection of LDS and LGBT than just about any other place on the map — the list seems endless. it’s reassuring to know that there’s Someone in the middle of the intersection of LDS and LGBT who’s directing the traffic, and He knows every driver and pedestrian there, where they’ve been and where they’re headed.