Earlier this week, a rather brave group of BYU students wore t-shirts that read, “I’m okay if you’re gay.” (The handsome gent at the bottom right is my friend Cary Crall, who helped organize this event. You may remember Cary from his controversial Prop 8 editorial published in the Daily Universe.)
At most universities, this wouldn’t be a provocative message. At the conservative BYU, however, I’m sure it raised some eyebrows. More importantly, it raised awareness that there exists a community of LGBT students and their allies at BYU.
Wearing t-shirts may seem like an insignificant show of support, but I doubt these students could do much more without jeopardizing their academic standing at the Mormon-owned school. BYU has a history of anti-gay policies, and only a few years ago philosophy professor Jeffrey Nielsen was fired for publicly supporting gay marriage.
I love this.
I wonder if it’s actually going to take large numbers of students jeopardizing their academic careers to force BYU’s hand in this – they won’t look good expelling, say, a couple hundred young people for speaking out on gay rights. So maybe mass rebellion is what’s needed. Not that I know if you could even locate two hundred people at BYU who support gay rights (they might be there, but from what I can see from the blog Godless at BYU, dissenters have to do their best to keep their heads down and aren’t aware of who does or does not agree with them).
Still, Viva la Revolucion!
Where can I get one of those t-shirts?
Pingback: Sunday in Outer Blogness: Gender Equality Edition! | Main Street Plaza