An organization started by Brigham Young University alumni has raised nearly $40,000 to help LGBTQ students transfer after the school reaffirmed a campus prohibition on open same-sex dating, reported East Idaho News.
The university, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, had in place a ban on homosexual behavior in its honor code. When that section was removed from an updated honor code in February, students thought Brigham Young University had changed its stance, only to find out two weeks later that it hadn’t.
The church clarified that the policy remained the same in a statement, prompting the OUT Foundation – an organization founded by three gay graduates of Brigham Young University in 2017 – to start a GoFundMe for LGBTQ students impacted by the seeming reversal.
“In that brief time period, many queer BYU students have come out and displayed acts of queerness on campus (taking and posting pictures of themselves kissing/holding hands with people of their same-sex, etc),” the GoFundMe states. “These same students are now at risk for punishment from the Honor Code.”
The funds will go toward transferring students’ application and transcript fees as well as other costs associated with leaving the university.
