https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.or ... ence#_edn7Then Elder Oaks said challengingly, “I would like to hear a little more musket fire from this temple of learning.”[11] He said this in a way that could have applied to a host of topics in various departments, but the one he specifically mentioned was the doctrine of the family and defending marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Little did he know that while many would hear his appeal, especially the School of Family Life who moved quickly and visibly to assist, some others fired their muskets all right, but unfortunately didn’t always aim at those hostile to the Church. A couple of stray rounds even went north of the point of the mountain!
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If a student commandeers a graduation podium intended to represent everyone getting diplomas in order to announce his personal sexual orientation, what might another speaker feel free to announce the next year until eventually anything goes? What might commencement come to mean — or not mean — if we push individual license over institutional dignity for very long? Do we simply end up with more divisiveness in our culture than we already have — and we already have too much everywhere.
Well one graduate has shown Elder Holland that some students will not be hushed simply because the old, white, priesthood toting guy from Salt Lake City commanded them to shut up.
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/04/27/b ... -orr-lgbt/Jillian Orr, 28, majored in psychology at BYU in Utah, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), commonly known as the Mormon church.
The university has strict anti-LGBT+ policies enshrined in its Honor Code, which students can be expelled for breaking. For example, requiring that they “live a chaste and virtuous life, including abstaining from any sexual relations outside a marriage between a man and a woman”, and even banning “same-sex romantic behaviour” because it does not “lead to eternal marriage”.
Half-way through her course Orr, who was raised Mormon, realised that she was bisexual. Even though Orr felt uncomfortable and alone in such a hostile environment, she “came to the realisation that this is who I was and it was beautiful”, she told Today.
However, she decided to stay because of the low tuition fees, well-respected psychology department, and the fact that her credits for BYU’s many required Mormon religion classes would not be transferrable to another university.
Ahead of her graduation ceremony, her little sister suggested that she make a statement on stage, and offered to sew a Pride flag to the inside of her gown.
In now-viral TikTok, Orr showed herself flashing the inside of her gown to the audience as she crossed the stage.
This kind of peaceful activism (Holland would call it friendly musket fire) is necessary, as change in the church (and transparency for that matter) only comes when they are publicly shamed into doing so.
