PROVO, Utah — Thousands of new students arrived on the campus of BYU this week, and according to some, they should have received welcome material complete with LGBTQ+ resources.
But that didn't happen.
The founder of the RaYnbow Collective, a non-profit aimed at creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ students, faculty and staff at BYU, said she worked with multiple organizations to provide information to students in pamphlets put into welcome bags.
Among the other organizations were the Cougar Pride Center, BYU USGA, Equality Utah and the OUT Foundation.
What happened instead, Maddison Tenney claims, is that the materials were taken out of the welcome bags and some were destroyed.
"I remember as a freshman not knowing any resources. Being too religious for the gay community and too gay for the religious community, and not feeling like I had a place," said Tenney.
She says when she came back from her mission, she didn't want anyone else to feel that same way. It's why Tenney says she felt like she needed to get the information into the hands of incoming freshmen this week.
"They just need to know that they’re not alone," explained Tenney.
A BYU spokesperson confirmed the material was removed, saying it "came through the advertising section of the student newspaper, was being distributed through residential buildings on campus, the decision was made to remove some materials from an organization outside the university."
The removal caught the attention of other LGBTQ+ advocates like Jillian Orr, whose show of the rainbow flag under her gown at graduation gained her worldwide attention.
"It was meant for them to be seen and me, who is a part of that community, to be seen," Orr said.
She added that allowing the marginalized LGBTQ+ community on campus to be seen and not silenced is her goal.
Though a TikTok video posted she posted Thursday, Orr said the pamphlets were "full of resources, of housing, of scholarships, of therapy resources, for LGBTQ youth that are going to BYU."
"Today BYU broke their contract and they destroyed them," she said. "They took them out of those baskets and they destroyed them and I’m so mad. I’m so mad at BYU right now."
Within hours, there were thousands of likes and comments on Orr's post, many also expressing their outrage.
"It was blasted so fast," Orr said. "And what it shows is that the reason it’s getting so much attention and traction is because it’s unacceptable. It’s because it’s not okay."
The BYU statement provided to FOX 13 News says the school is open and accepting to everyone.
“BYU recognizes and welcomes LGBTQ individuals as part of our broader covenant-keeping university community. We love and welcome our LGBTQ students, employees and friends and want them to feel a sense of belonging as we work together to be true to our covenants and the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
The school said they were unaware of the gift bag preparation.
"That's the nuanced experience of being gay at BYU, is that you do find hope but also hope is taken away really easily," said Tenney. "You don’t have any control over that."
Tenney said many of the pamphlets were saved and groups are now raising funds to reprint more to distribute at upcoming Pride events on campus.
Below is the complete statement offered by a BYU spokesperson:
BYU recognizes and welcomes LGBTQ individuals as part of our broader covenant-keeping university community. We love and welcome our LGBTQ students, employees and friends and want them to feel a sense of belonging as we work together to be true to our covenants and the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
BYU’s focus is on creating unity and belonging within our campus community. Our Vice President of Belonging Carl Hernandez has been able to meet with the students who created these materials, where they talked about the mission of the new Office of Belonging and the important role students play in creating a sense of unity and belonging on our campus.
We would like our students and employees to utilize our new Office of Belonging as their primary resource in these efforts. When we learned that a bag of promotional materials, which came through the advertising section of the student newspaper, was being distributed through residential buildings on campus, the decision was made to remove some materials from an organization outside of the university.
Residence Life and New Student Orientation were not involved in preparing these bags and were not aware of the contents until after they had been distributed to some on-campus resident halls. The decision to remove the materials by Student Life was based on the university’s commitment to provide support through the Office of Belonging and our counseling services and not to allow outside entities to imply affiliation with or endorsement from the university.
The student newspaper is reviewing its approval process for advertising content, and it has reimbursed the person who placed these ads for the materials and advertising costs. Many of these flyers have also been returned to the students who created them.
