June 28, 1969, Stonewall in NYC, BYU in Provo

Many know a new kind of resistance by gays to persecution started during the Stonewall riots in New York City on June 28, 1969. Police routinely raided gay bars taking gay people to the police station and harassing them generally. So much of the world has moved on to understanding being gay is not something people choose to be and it has no effect on anyone else. The source of prejudice then as  today is "sin." Once they spot sin in others, true believers demand what they call "justice." Justice is to harassment of enemies in life and celebrate their eternity in a fiery hell. The real name for Christian "justice" is revenge. 

What is entertaining to follow is the slow but steady erosion of this homosexuality-as-sin narrative. For decades it was profitable for preachers, denominations and Christian non profits to rail against this "sin." The push for gay marriage caught them by surprise. They came out on the short end.

There are still holdouts clinging to this losing bit of religion and we can entertain ourselves by watching them fold. Some have not folded yet but the writing is on the wall. One of them is Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. BYU is owned by the Mormon Church. The Mormon Church with billions of dollars stashed away and run by Jesus infused white males can hold out for a long time. But, it cannot hold on forever.

Gay students at BYU have been slowly picking away at its prejudiced attitude for 20 or more years. Just recently the powers of the university finally decreed an end to detective work seeking out and expelling gay students and concluding it did not oppose gay students being enrolled. However, gay students are not allowed any affectionate expressions in public. This rule does not apply to heterosexual students.

There has been slippage up at Mormon headquarters in Salt Lake City which probably is why the slippage in Provo. Even with billions of dollars, Mormons cannot tolerate the public relations embarrassment of lower membership and student numbers. 

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