Faces of USGA

"When I think of the q***r community, I think of STRENGTH.
When I think of my q***r friends, I think of their light.

As a cis/straight BYU student, I have felt so blessed to participate in USGA and make friends there. Because those friends (q***r students at BYU) are some of the strongest people I know.

The friends I have made at USGA have taught me about strength, authenticity, boldness, compassion, and acceptance. Being q***r in Utah County is no easy feat and therefore has led to painful experiences for my friends- but also developed in them incredible strength.

What I want to say to my q***r friends is Keep Fighting. You are needed! Don't let your light be buried. We love you and support you and will listen to you and fight with you and for you."
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PC: Summer

"Just remember, you are going to make it. You are going to finish at BYU, and you are going to have a bright future. While you are here, there are professors and other students and other allies here to help. You are NEVER alone."
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PC: Summer

"What I know:
Q***r people exist.
Q***r people are valid.
Their choices are valid (whatever they are).
The hearts of q***r people are hurting- and we need to listen and to love.

We all know someone who is lgbtq+. Whatever we thought before-let's listen to them and understand. Let's stand up for our lgbtq+ siblings."
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PC: Summer Corry

"Being transgender and LDS is not an easy road to walk. I can’t tell you how many times people have advised me to leave BYU or the Church altogether. “The Church will never accept you,” they say. But I am not ready to leave. I feel called to stay LDS and to show my ward and those around me that there are transgender Mormons in their midst. That LGBTQ+ members are trying to stay and trying to be part of the gospel. But the biggest reason I stay and am visible as trans is for LDS youth. I need them to know that it’s possible to be transgender and Mormon. That it’s okay if they feel like their bodies don’t match their gender identity. I needed someone like me when I was a kid. I needed a mentor who understood what I was experiencing. I want to be the person I needed when I was young. Even if I only help one person, that’s enough for me."
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PC: Maddy Purves & Summer Corry

"I got my tattoo when I was 30. I considered getting a tattoo for 3 years before I went through with it. I decided on this fox for a few reasons: first, foxes are my jam. I love them. If you’ll notice, he’s in a very strong pose. I call him defiant fox. He reminds me to stand up for myself when things are hard. He reminds me to keep going. As an added bonus, he’s kept me from self-harming when I desperately want to, and he’s kept me from su***de a few times because I don’t want to hurt him. Tattoos aren’t for everyone, but he was absolutely the right choice for me and I don’t regret him for an instant. In the Church, we decorate our temples. My fox is the decoration on my bodily temple."
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PC: Maddy Purves & Summer Corry

"My name is Kris and I’m an English major. I’m a bit different from your average BYU student because I’m older. I started at BYU when I was 26, and I’m married and have a kid. This helps me fly under the radar with BYU because I look cisgender and heterosexual. Surprise! I’m not! I’m transgender and asexual. I have known I was male since I was 3 years old, but I didn’t have a word for it until I was 28. I lived smothered in shame my entire life. This was not something I could talk about with my family, because I didn’t want them to think I was a freak. My teenage years were the hardest. I felt alone, isolated, and disgusting. I felt broken. I tried as hard as I could to shove myself into a female gender role. Even my patriarchal blessing said I should “learn domestic skills.” I married when I was 20 and had my son at 21. I tried to be as girly as I could, but I was miserable. I struggled with depression and suicidal ideation constantly. It wasn’t until I was 28 that I learned the word “transgender.” I was so excited to learn that there were others like me. I couldn’t believe it. And then to learn that there were trans Mormons? It was incredible and freeing."
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PC: Maddy Purves & Summer Corry

A reminder from LGBTQIA+ students at BYU, .

#INeedHimToo A reminder that just because someone is le***an, gay, bisexual, trangender, q***r, or same-sex attracted, doesn't mean they aren't spiritual, Christian, or M...

I don’t believe we’re all meant to be straight. That everyone is supposed to follow one set of beliefs. To fit the same mold. To walk the same path. I don’t believe we’re meant to think and see things from one perspective.

My understanding is that God loves diversity; God created diversity. To me, the proof of God’s existence is in the intricacies of nature—the sprinklings of seeds on a strawberry, the properties of water that make it so indispensable to life. This diversity in nature and humankind is what makes us beautiful, what makes us stronger. Differences teach us compassion. They teach us how to connect and coexist peacefully.

As a child, I learned that we were created in the image of God. What God looks like, I can only imagine—but what I do know is that God includes everyone across the spectrum of being.

I am grateful for a God who wants us to have joy. For a God who understands our hearts. I am grateful for a God who made me gay. Without a doubt, I know it was intentional.
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PC: Maddy Purves

There came a point where I couldn’t pretend that I was “fine” anymore. I was “fine” until I wasn’t, when the overwhelming feelings of self-loathing swallowed up every last “fine” I’d said, and I had to admit that I was not OK at all.

After coming out, I didn’t think that I could love who I was because I grew up believing it was wrong. It’s been almost a year since then, and I’m still learning to love myself. The difference between then and now is that I’ve stopped telling people I’m OK when I’m really not. I started taking inventory of my own beliefs. I started to trust the truths that I felt were right in my heart.

The difference is, now I want to stay. There are too many lovely things in life I don’t want to miss.
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PC: Maddy Purves

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

My grandma once told me that there’s “no one right path to God.” The more I have experienced life as a q***r person, the more I believe this to be true. When addressing hard topics in religious spaces, many people paint the world, ideologies, and choices as either right or wrong. People want to be certain about being right. People are hesitant to ask questions and be vulnerable, afraid of being faithless or wrong.

Great religious leaders throughout history have been those who went against the grain. Jesus himself was a revolutionary, breaking societal norms and protocol. As said by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, “Well-behaved [people] seldom make history.” My version of this goes something like, “People who are different make the greatest difference.” I believe things will change for marginalized people in religious and secular spaces. I need to believe that things will change. Let’s all be part of that change!

Accepting my q***r identity has compelled me to ask questions, questions that don’t have answers, questions with answers that sometimes hurt. Accepting who I am has compelled me to become comfortable with uncertainty. It is in these uncertainties that I am learning to thrive. It is in these uncertainties that I am finding God. It is in these uncertainties that I am coming to know and be known.

Quote from 1 Corinthians 13:12
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PC: Maddy Purves

"Eleven Days

It took Moses forty years to lead the Israelites to the promised land. An individual can usually make the same journey in eleven days. That is quite a large time difference. When it comes to being more loving and open hearted towards members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and/or to members of the LGBTQ+ community, it will probably take a long time to change the cultures of animosity towards religion and internalized homophobia. On an individual level, however, a person can choose to stand apart and love wholeheartedly, unbounding in charity towards individuals in and out of the church and in and out of the closet. Just because it takes forty years for a culture to change or to travel a distance, a change of heart can happen in a moment or even eleven days.

“When you’re living in duality with your faith and sexuality, you can always love liberally, though you do not see what others see.” (“Amen” - Original Song by Peter Morgan)"

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PC: Maddy Purves