At first they looked like colorful sparks.
Bright bursts of blue and green and red flashed Thursday night on the dark mountain that stands over Provo. An orange one would shine for a second and then extinguish. Another in purple would strike up a few feet away before flickering out.
And then, just a few minutes before 8 p.m., they seemed to catch fire. Tens of the little lights all ignited at once.
In rows of rainbow colors, they took a distinct shape: The lights illuminated the letter “Y” that sits on the hillside representing Brigham Young University.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A group of people, including many BYU students, shine Pride colors on the Y on the mountain above BYU in Provo on Thursday, March 4, 2021.
The powerful display was planned by a group of LGBTQ students at the private religious school. And while Bradley Talbot, a gay student who organized the event, said it wasn’t a protest, he acknowledged that it was meant to send a message.
“We’re here,” he said. “And we’re part of this institution. We should have a place at the Y.”
On Thursday, the students claimed their spot on the literal concrete letter.
The group’s lighting of the “Y” came on the anniversary of when the school, along with the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that owns it, sent out a letter in March 2020 clarifying its stance on same-sex romantic behavior.
The month prior, the university had quietly removed the section banning “homosexual behavior” from its strict Honor Code that outlines what behavior is allowed by those who attend the conservative school. LGBTQ students had celebrated what they hoped that it meant, kissing in front of statues at BYU. And many said they came out as gay only because they believed — and were told by some Honor Code staff — that the school and faith now allowed it.
But they say that was ripped away with a painful reversal when leaders said three weeks later that just because the section was taken out of the code, it didn’t change anything and their relationships were still “not compatible” with the rules at BYU.
Talbot, a senior, said the event Thursday was as much a commemoration of that day, as well as a condemnation of it.
“That day felt like a betrayal for a lot of LGBTQ students,” he said. “It was traumatic. So this was a day for us to reclaim that and try to turn it into something positive.”
— The Salt Lake Tribune will update this developing story.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) A group of people, including many BYU students, shine Pride colors on the Y on the mountain above BYU in Provo on Thursday, March 4, 2021.
"light" - Google News
March 05, 2021 at 11:54AM
https://ift.tt/3bjvjBM
LGBTQ students at BYU light up the 'Y' in rainbow colors - Salt Lake Tribune
"light" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Wm8QLw
https://ift.tt/2Stbv5k
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "LGBTQ students at BYU light up the 'Y' in rainbow colors - Salt Lake Tribune"
Post a Comment