As a BYU alum (BA 2014, MA 2016), I am proud to speak in positive terms about my experience at BYU, but I cannot stand by in silence as Elder Holland attacks my beloved community. I have long insisted that things keep getting better at BYU for LGBTQ+ people, but my optimism was hard-won through years of balancing the difficulties of being LGBTQ+ and a Latter-day Saint.
Elder Holland, there is no kindness in your words about LGBTQ+ people. You have not cried and prayed over this issue with real intent. If you had, we wouldn’t be here binding the wounds that you have inflicted. You have no empathy for LGBTQ+ Latter-day Saints; you have enmity for the LGBTQ+ community. I did not give two years of my life in Thailand as an LDS missionary and spend six years at BYU to “infect” or “destroy” the sacred temples of learning where I learned to love all mankind. When I came back to BYU after my LDS mission, I tried my best to stay in and love the LDS Church. In fact, I used to admire you, but now I find you to be a sad, pathetic human who cannot admit that the LDS Church has lost the culture war on LGBTQ+ rights. Did you even believe your words? Using muskets in this day and age to attack and bludgeon the LGBTQ+ community in an obscure reference to LDS Church history? What kind of taffy pulling exercise is this? You could have taken swords and turned them into plowshares. Instead, you have forged a musket to bludgeon my beloved community. We don’t deserve this treatment. You should know better and you should do better. Otherwise, we don’t believe your crocodile tears over the “same-sex issue.” The time is now to repent.
Jacob Newman, Millcreek
