PROVO, Utah — A group of Brigham Young University students and community members gathered Tuesday to protest against discrimination based on sexuality.
“It’s all about equality,” said David Shill with the group called Strikeout Queerphobia. “We want to be treated the same as straight students, and the same as any American.”
With pride flags, signs and spirit, people took to the streets on National Coming Out Day to help raise awareness about the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ students at BYU.
“Queer students are not allowed to date, whereas heterosexual students are allowed to date, so that’s probably the biggest discrepancy there,” Shill said. “Peer mentors not being allowed to disclose their identity, their orientation. Teachers not being able to have too many 'safe space' stickers or to have rainbows.”
Another group called the Black Menaces helped organize the rally. Even though BYU is a private school, it still receives federal dollars, so they hope every student there can have a right to express who they are.
Nate Byrd with the Black Menaces said their goal is to "end the legal discrimination of queer students at religious universities.”
“We still believe that religious freedom is important, but we don’t believe that it should be used to discriminate against anyone in particular," he added.
Along with BYU, students and community members at religious universities across the country had walkouts in support of the fight for equality.
Byrd said it’s important for people to see how vital race is in the LGBTQ+ conversation, and for all of us to support those who need it.
“A lot of the times, the face of the LGBT movement can be not as diverse as we want it to be," he said. "We want people to remember that there are people of all creeds, colors, sexualities as a part of that movement."
Megaphone in hand, people also shared their own personal stories.
“I’m a queer student, so I’ve had to live every day for the past year and a half just feeling all these negative emotions, feeling like I can’t be myself, feeling like I have to hide certain parts of my life,” said Madison McEwen, a student at BYU.
A common theme among those who spoke was that seeing people gather like this makes them believe change is possible.
“It makes me excited. It gives me hope for the future. I think this is a big deal and I think it makes me feel like I’m not alone,” said McEwen.
