Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, December 10, 2008
Religion Magic Underpants, Inc., Rehangs Censored Art
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 8:18 AM
This just in...
Portraits of gay Brigham Young University students taken by a photography major for a class project are back in an exhibit at the school's fine arts building four days after school officials removed the display.
Michael Wiltbank, a senior from Eagar, Ariz., photographed students who identified themselves as gay, then paired each one with a portrait of a friend or family member who provides that student with support. The photographs were not labeled. The artist's statement said labels create societal divisions. "It is my hope this body of work can be a vehicle for tolerance, support, love and change," Wiltbank wrote.... BYU spokesman Michael Smart said a miscommunication between administrators in the College of Fine Arts and Communication led to the removal....
Wiltbank said he spoke with college leadership on Monday. Later that day, bloggers around the country began to criticize BYU and its owner, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some attacked the school and church. The Deseret News requested a statement from the university Tuesday morning. The display went back up Tuesday afternoon.
Slog was the first blog to jump on this story. The Mormon church hates the publicity, the scrutiny, and the mockery that their support for Prop 8 bought 'em—but they better get used to it. This ain't over.
4
"The artists's statement said that labels create societal divisions," like that's a bad thing? I respect Slog's willingness to publish this truly powerful and dangerous viewpoint, which if followed would convert Slog into a place free of the namecalling and insult coinage that I treasure so.
5
Hooray for us (and the other, lesser blogs that may have covered this story as well)! The Mormons are learning to fear us...good, good.
6
Now we can be drunk with power...mwhahaha!
I actually think we can take a lesson from president Bush and "bring the fight to them". Why fight them in our own territory when we can battle the fuck out of them in their home? There should be no place they can hide from scrutiny.
I actually think we can take a lesson from president Bush and "bring the fight to them". Why fight them in our own territory when we can battle the fuck out of them in their home? There should be no place they can hide from scrutiny.
7
I passed this along after reading SLOG. Nothing like publicity to get some Mormon hubris on display.
The artist's blog posts (before he took them down to avoid expulsion for advocating homosexuality) linger in my mind. It sucks to be stuck in such an evironment.
The artist's blog posts (before he took them down to avoid expulsion for advocating homosexuality) linger in my mind. It sucks to be stuck in such an evironment.
8
Advocating homosexuality, indeed. Somebody needs to make a trip to BYU to actually advocate homosexuality - they could hold up a sign that says, "Try gay."
9
Technically, it should be refered to as "Brigham Young University, the educational divsion of Magic Underpants, Incorporated". Like University of Phoenix, but with an actual campus, and without the pothead connections.
11
This is just typical of the gay fascist movement censoring the freedom of religious organizations to censor their students' freedom of expression! Unfortunately, the oppressed godly religious people who control all of Utah and Brigham Young University caved in to all the hateful, censorious, fascist gay pressure. (BTW, the guy on the right is a total babe.)
15
@3 - Ah, but does the display have a picture of Hitler next to a picture of noted gay Nazi Ernst Roehm? I would imagine not; Hitler had Roehm killed in a power struggle ("The Night of Long Knives").
16
Good! I hope the mormons get stuck with a huge magnifying glass over their heads showing the world all their bizarre rituals in detail.
17
@7
Who is 'stuck' anywhere?
Everyone knows exactly what the rules and culture at BYU are before they apply.
There are a lot of places you can go to get a pat on the back for being gay, if that's what you want.
BYU isn't one of them.
Who is 'stuck' anywhere?
Everyone knows exactly what the rules and culture at BYU are before they apply.
There are a lot of places you can go to get a pat on the back for being gay, if that's what you want.
BYU isn't one of them.
18
How sad for these kids. I wish that I could give each and every one of them a full scholarship to another university so that they could escape from Magic Underpants, Inc. altogether and have a real life. The mental cruelty inflicted on young gays and lesbians in the name of God is atrocious.
19
Some of this is not real world.
Colleges run by Fundies are far worse than BYU - Liberty Bell and Bob Jones for example and cause the LDS Church pumps hundreds of millions into BYU it is the LARGEST Private U in the USA, and the cheapest.
In education circles it is deemed a quality degree.
Bashing BYU will not define the scope of homophobia at religious colleges, it is far bigger bigger bigger .....
I admit it is fun, but, on the long term one small target.
Colleges run by Fundies are far worse than BYU - Liberty Bell and Bob Jones for example and cause the LDS Church pumps hundreds of millions into BYU it is the LARGEST Private U in the USA, and the cheapest.
In education circles it is deemed a quality degree.
Bashing BYU will not define the scope of homophobia at religious colleges, it is far bigger bigger bigger .....
I admit it is fun, but, on the long term one small target.
20
@17: Me, for one.
When I attended BYU at 16 (finished high school early) I really didn't have other choices; it was either go where my parents were willing to pay for my education, or [insert eternal damnation here]. I ended up coming out after a few months; soon after, I was given the choice to withdraw, repent, or be expelled. I chose to withdraw and spent the next year in some truly soul-crushing circumstances, as my family all but disowned me.
It seems very easy to mock gay Mormon kids for attending BYU, but honestly, they don't have much in the way of feasible options -- and the younger you are, the less options you have. While I'm glad (retrospectively) that I decided the way I did, I really can't fault someone that would rather endure the torture of silence at BYU than enter that kind of hell.
Because that's what it is, when you're under 18 and your family hates everything you are.
When I attended BYU at 16 (finished high school early) I really didn't have other choices; it was either go where my parents were willing to pay for my education, or [insert eternal damnation here]. I ended up coming out after a few months; soon after, I was given the choice to withdraw, repent, or be expelled. I chose to withdraw and spent the next year in some truly soul-crushing circumstances, as my family all but disowned me.
It seems very easy to mock gay Mormon kids for attending BYU, but honestly, they don't have much in the way of feasible options -- and the younger you are, the less options you have. While I'm glad (retrospectively) that I decided the way I did, I really can't fault someone that would rather endure the torture of silence at BYU than enter that kind of hell.
Because that's what it is, when you're under 18 and your family hates everything you are.
21
Revenge makes people small and ugly. Are you trying to right a wrong or will it ever be enough until all the Mormons are dead? Do you want justice or do you just wnat to hurt people? If it's the second of those two options then you are no better than the people who hate gays. The tide will turn in America, it is turning. In ten years gay marriage will be legal in this country. When that happens and the conservative position on gay marriage becomes a decidedly minority view will you be any better than the people who are oppressing you? Somehow I doubt it.
22
@ 17: The kid went to BYU to try and pray away the gay. Have a little compassion for his confusion.
26
We could learn a lot from Michael Wiltbank. What we need is precisely "a vehicle for tolerance, support, love and change," and that requires empathy from us gays as well as from Mormons. What a beautiful gesture.
27
@ 21 "Do you want justice or do you just wnat to hurt people?"
Actually, I'll take a little of each. 100% of either sounds boring.
Actually, I'll take a little of each. 100% of either sounds boring.
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