BYU removed LGBTQ resource leaflets from new student welcome packets

• Brigham Young University removes LGBTQ resources from welcome bags for incoming freshman.
• The university is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• Students are restricted by university rules from dating or showing affection toward members of the same sex.

In late August, Brigham Young University took the flyers listing off-campus options for LGBTQ students out of the welcome packets given to incoming freshmen.

The pamphlets, which were produced by RaYnbow Collective, a nonprofit organisation with Maddison Tenney, a BYU student, as its founder, focusing on education and allyship for queer students, contained details on weekly and monthly events open to LGBTQ students as well as lists of local organisations that could offer therapy, safe housing, mentorship, and other services. The university has no formal affiliation with the RaYnbow Collective.

Tenney, a gay student, claimed that she was inspired to write the booklets by her memories of how lonely she felt as a new student at the school, which is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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Tenney recalled, “I remember breaking down while sitting in my white dorm room with these cement walls. I didn’t know anyone who wanted to be faithful and accept their whole selves in the same way that I did.

She remembered seeing a chapstick tube in her freshman bag and thinking she could have used so much more to get through that moment in her life.

The brochures were submitted in collaboration with Daily Universe, the student newspaper at BYU that assembles the welcome bags. On August 12, Tenney claimed she paid the $200 charge, agreed to a contract with the Daily Universe, and delivered 5,000 booklets. She described the leaflets as “quite bland, very in accordance with religious doctrines.”

The leaflets were made in consultation with other LGBTQ organisations in the region, she claimed, adding that “we tried really hard to make sure it was kosher and in line with policy.” We only received the response, “It looks amazing,” from the other party.

Then, on August 23, Tenney got a message on Instagram from a friend who works as a resident assistant, informing her that she had been instructed to visit each room where the welcome bags were put and take out the RaYnbow Collective booklets.

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