More On: Brigham Young University
BYU removes flyers promoting assistance for LGBT people off-campus
When new students received welcome bags in August, Brigham Young University (BYU) took the leaflets promoting off-campus options for LGBTQ students out of them.
According to NBC News, the administration of the university, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, withdrew the literature from the bags because it wants students to use the new Office of Belonging as their main resource for such things.
The pamphlets, which were created by the non-profit Ranbow Collective, which is not officially associated with BYU, included lists of regional businesses that provide therapy, safe housing, mentorship, and other services as well as information about regular events available to LGBTQ students off campus.
Gay BYU student Maddison Tenney told NBC News that she created the brochures because she felt lonely as a new student at the school in Provo, Utah, where it is against the rules to engage in "same-sex love activity" since doing so may result in expulsion.
Tenney told the magazine, "I remember sitting in my white dorm room with these cement walls and breaking down. I didn't know anyone who wanted to be faithful and embrace their full selves in the same way that I did.
Tenney revealed that she paid the required $200 and signed a contract with Daily Universe, the BYU student newspaper that put together the welcome gifts. The leaflets, which she characterized as "quite vanilla, very in keeping with church doctrine," were subsequently delivered—5,000 of them.
We made a lot of effort to ensure that it was kosher and in accordance with policy, she said. We only received the response, "It looks amazing," from the other party.
Later, according to reports, Tenney received a message from a friend informing her that she had been ordered by her supervisor to take the RaYnbow Collective leaflets out of each bag outside of the students' dormitories.
Tenney looked into it more and discovered that the leaflets had been taken down because the Office of Student Life believed they violated church doctrine.
According to the administration, they "would prefer our students and workers to utilize our new Office of Belonging as their primary resource in these efforts," as they said in a statement to NBC.
The statement continued, "Student Life decided to delete the materials because the university is committed to offering support through the Office of Belonging and our counseling services and does not permit outside companies to imply affiliation with or endorsement from the university.
In its announcement announcing the establishment of the Agency of Belonging, BYU stated that the office would "focus largely on organizing and expanding belonging services and initiatives on campus."
