Gay Mormon students at BYU come out in web video [View all]

[LAGC]

Students from a strict Mormon college that prohibits "homosexual behavior" have launched a Web video aimed at reassuring other gay and lesbian youth struggling with their faith and sexual orientation.

The video recently posted to YouTube by 22 Brigham Young University students is the first of its kind with ties to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which forbids gay sex and marriage. By posting the video, the students could face excommunication from the church and expulsion at BYU, where gay students are prohibited from touching or kissing.

The campaign is part of columnist Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" project, which seeks to give voices and hope to bullied gay and lesbian teenagers. In the video, several BYU students confess that they considered suicide because they didn't think they could be Mormon and gay.

"In our religion, there is a lot of misunderstanding and ugliness about homosexuality," said Kendall Wilcox, a former BYU faculty member who produced the video and serves as an adviser to the school's unofficial gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender support group. "We wanted to send this message that God loves you just as you are."
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Living in a heavily Mormon state (Idaho), I can't imagine how tough it is for these brave souls to come out like that and risk excommunication from their church and total rejection from their extended families.

But the Mormon Church is never going to change if believers from the inside don't speak up and make their voices heard.

Bravo, bravo.