Keep Off the Grass

Soulforce’s Equality Ride is returning to Utah this week, but this time they won’t be allowed on BYU campus, or on any property owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I really don’t know what they expected after last year’s visit, during which fifteen of them were arrested for staging a demonstration that consisted of . . . lying down on BYU’s lawn. (Without permission, of course, and in contravention of BYU’s non-demonstration policy. But still.) Apparently the Mormon Church is now afraid they will stage a sit-in at Temple Square, or maybe just take a nap on the grass, so they’ve been barred from touring the temple grounds and from volunteering at Church welfare facilities. But again, what did Soulforce expect?

Here are few other juicy links:

A pompous, self-congratulatory editorial on the subject that was printed in The Daily Universe (BYU’s student newspaper)
The nitty-gritty on BYU’s chastity policy, including a lovely paragraph on homosexual conduct or advocacy, “implied or explicit.” Interestingly enough, this page was apparently taken down sometime in the last two months, but thanks to the miracle of the Google cache, we can still access it.
Another Daily Universe article, this one a news story (and thus more journalistic in tone), which contains some absolutely delightful quotes from BYU spokesdemon Carri Jenkins.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 19th, 2007 at 2:42 pm and is filed under BYU, Utah, current events, gay issues, mormon issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

7 Responses to “Keep Off the Grass”

Oberon Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
……i’m thinking of a number……guess which one.
alea Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Do you ever wonder if Carri Jenkins wants to kill herself? She’s always having to defend the absurd stances of BYU. I would not want her job, that’s all I’m saying.
Jér Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
If I believed that Carri Jenkins were some kind of helpless pawn with no choice but to represent the university and its absurd stances, I might feel some stirrings of pity for her. But after watching Ms. Jenkins speak and reading her remarks on various subjects, I am convinced that either she truly believes everything she says as a representative of BYU, in which case she is deluded, misinformed, and/or stupid, or she is willing to lie and misrepresent the facts “for the good of the university” or “for the good of the students,” in which case she is a despicable liar. Either way, I don’t have much sympathy for her.
BYUReporter Says:
March 21st, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Hey all you beautoful people! I’m just wondering where you will be meeting for your demostration on BYU. I’d like to do a story on it. Just blog back on this page, or any other page that I’ve left a message on. Thanks!!!
Jér Says:
March 21st, 2007 at 3:24 pm
That information can be found on the Equality Ride official website, at http://www.soulforce.org/article/1167.
Anonymous Says:
March 27th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I’m just wondering why apparent journalists from BYU can’t spell simple words?
–Andy, BYU gradjooat
Jér Says:
March 27th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
I don’t know, but creative spelling and amusing factual inaccuracies have a long history at the Daily Universe. It wouldn’t really be the same without them. I mean, it would be like . . . like, a REAL newspaper, then!