In mid-February, Brigham Young University administrators quietly removed a section from the school’s honor code titled “homosexual behavior,” and many students celebrated it as a move in the right direction. It seemed that this change would allow gay students to openly date and show affection.
On Wednesday, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — which owns BYU — clarified that, “Same-sex romantic behavior cannot lead to eternal marriage and is therefore not compatible with the principles included in the Honor Code.”
The letter came from Elder Paul Johnson, who oversees all BYU schools in Utah, Idaho and Hawaii. He said the recent honor code update led to “some misinterpretation.”
“The back and forth just feels very irresponsible,” said Anna Wright, a junior at BYU in Provo. “And so dismissive of what so many people are going through.”
Wright thinks LGBT students should be treated the same as their straight peers when it comes to dating standards. That they should be able to hold hands and kiss as long as they don’t have sex outside of a heterosexual marriage.
Students brought their frustration to Church headquarters in downtown Salt Lake City on Friday afternoon in a protest organized by BYU graduate student Jorden Jackson.
“We want to go back to where we were two weeks ago when the homosexuality clause was removed from the honor code — before it was reinstated two days ago,” Jackson said.
Jackson is “cautiously optimistic” that this kind of demonstration could lead to change. But if not, she believes it’s still important to hold space for LGBT students to express their anger and sadness openly during a time when many feel betrayed and confused.
