Mixed emotions: BYU-Provo, BYU-Hawaii and BYU-Idaho on Rainbow Day 2021

color the campus Y.jpg

Evan Smith writes:

I’m inspired by what some LGBTQ BYU-Provo students did March 4, 2021. That was the anniversary of the church’s “clarification letter” that crushed their hopes that a change made last year to the student Honor Code would allow for same-sex dating.

Here’s my mix of emotions:

- Thrilled that LGBTQ students stood up for themselves and claimed space at BYU by organizing the Color the Campus event yesterday.

- Happy so many people showed up in rainbow attire to support them.

- Sad that other students organized a counter gathering to say that LGBTQ affirmation was contrary to church teachings (it’s not).

- Overjoyed when I saw pictures of the Y lit up with rainbow colors.

- Profoundly disappointed that BYU’s official response was to say the lighting was not authorized and that the university would “make certain” that students knew they needed prior approval. (I guess the school/church hasn’t learned much from the Honor Code debacle last year.)

- Sad to see that the second sentence in the story in church-owned Deseret News made clear the lighting was not BYU-approved.

- Encouraged to learn that a group of supporters was at the base of the mountain to cheer on the students who held their colored flashlights on the Y for over an hour in the cold.

- Upset that the police were also there because some Provo residents called them to complain about the Y being lit up.

- Grateful the police publicly confirmed they couldn’t do anything because using colored flashlights is not vandalism.

- Most of all, I’m proud of the LGBTQ students at BYU for not being ashamed of who they are and for letting the world know they deserve to be accepted and treated with full equality. #rainbowday #colorthecampus #byu

On the very same day: “Two VERY different responses from BYU Provo and BYU Hawaii tonight about #rainbowday,” wrote Nathan Kitchen, president of Affirmation.

“The first is a lovely personal message directly from the BYU Hawaii president with a picture of a rainbow rock the LGBTQ students made to commemorate Rainbow Day [see photo below]. The second is a short and terse tweet from BYU Provo making sure everyone knew they had no part in lighting the Y.

Be like Hawaii.

Edit: The painted rock came from Affirmation Hawaii president Hao Le. She writes: "My friends and I patiently waited for our President outside of the office to give him the rainbow rock painted by our LGBTQ+ BYUH students. I can’t imagine being in the position of running the school in a pandemic, but he made a little bit of time to talk about LGBTQ+ issues on our short walk after work. Christ love sparks in him!”

Small action, significant impacts for our LGBTQ+ students. Mahalo for your kindness and all you do for our students, President Kauwe. Well done Hao! Well done!

BYUH president tweet.jpg

BYU-Idaho students also commemorated #rainbowday, according to Scroll, the student newspaper.

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