Institutional change: sometimes just the stroke of a Sharpie
Sometimes institutional change is nothing more than a stroke of a Sharpie. When I was a BYU undergrad, the only Coke machine with caffeine was (shhh) in the basement of the Harris Fine Arts Center. Now high-octane Coke is in plain sight at the BYU Art Museum cafe. Someone just took a Sharpie and crossed out “caffeine-free.” Done.
A skit at BYU during my freshman year in 1971 (sung to the tune from The Music Man): “We got trouble (oh, we got trouble), right here at Brigham Young, with a capital T and that rhymes with C and that stands for Coke. . . The first big step on the road to the depths of deg-ra-day--I say, first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon, then beer from a bottle!”
Girls’ Camp song from the 1980’s: “Choose the Sprite, when the Coke is placed before you. . . “ (sung to the tune of “Choose the Right,” of course).
Some changes come easy (even if it does take literally 50 years). Some changes come hard. But it’s OK to hope for change, especially for our LGBTQ siblings. Here’s how Evan puts it in Chapter 2 of Gay Latter-day Saint Crossroads:
7. Don’t suggest that a hope for change in church doctrine is a bad thing. Few church messages have been more consistent than that “the Restoration of the Lord’s gospel [is] an unfolding Restoration that continues today.” (Russell M. Nelson, Prophet, https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/president-nelson-invites-sharing-gospel-restoration, 2020). Never try to take away the hope for change in the church, because that hope is what allows them to both truly love themselves or their LGBTQ loved one and still believe in the church. As the parent of an LGBTQ child, as I’ll describe further in Chapter 5, I think it is impossible for me to be both a loving parent and a believer in the church without hoping for change.
[Side note: For people who are tempted to condemn the prayers and personal revelations of fellow church members that conflict with current church practices, remember that in Acts chapter 10, the Gentile Cornelius knew of God’s will that the gospel should be preached to the Gentiles before the lead apostle Peter did.]