Gay Valedictorian

What I find most interesting about this story is the crowd cheering. That would not have happened when I went to BYU.



https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/byu-matty-easton-comes-out-105359266.html



At first thought, I am like, good for him. At second thought, I am like, why the need to make a big deal out of this and announce it on a stage? I knew several gay people at BYU.

I don't care what you do behind closed doors as long as you're not harming someone else. But when I go to a commencement speech I don't want to hear about your sexual preference. I would have stood up and booed. Not because he's gay and I hate gays, but because he's being selfish and using his stage and a captive audience that came to hear something else.

His Ellen show appearance showed up on my Facebook feed, so I watched a little bit of it. This guy actually told Ellen that he was afraid at BYU because if he shook another man's hand that he might get kicked out of school. Really?!? Shook another man's hand? I understand that it's popular to celebrate one's gayness. But it is ironic that he was talking about "living a more authentic life" and being completely disingenuous in the very same breath.

BYU approved his speech. They knew what was in there. There's no rule against being a homosexual at BYU. There is against homosexual dating, other than that all the rules of behavior are exactly the same as heterosexuals. It seems like now this young man is trying to get a few extra minutes out of his 15.

hawkwing wrote:

BYU approved his speech. They knew what was in there. There's no rule against being a homosexual at BYU. There is against homosexual dating, other than that all the rules of behavior are exactly the same as heterosexuals. It seems like now this young man is trying to get a few extra minutes out of his 15.

Did they know he was going to say that or did he go off topic? Again, that's not the place for that. Very selfish. Although I guess most valedictorian speeches are kind of beating the chest, aren't they? Look at me and my achievements! I went to my wife's graduation ceremony/speech, but did not go to mine for my B.S. or MBA. I don't even want to know what kind of "advice" they tried to give at Saint Louis University for my MBA graduation.

byufan4ever wrote:

BYU approved his speech. They knew what was in there. There's no rule against being a homosexual at BYU. There is against homosexual dating, other than that all the rules of behavior are exactly the same as heterosexuals. It seems like now this young man is trying to get a few extra minutes out of his 15.

Did they know he was going to say that or did he go off topic? Again, that's not the place for that. Very selfish. Although I guess most valedictorian speeches are kind of beating the chest, aren't they? Look at me and my achievements! I went to my wife's graduation ceremony/speech, but did not go to mine for my B.S. or MBA. I don't even want to know what kind of "advice" they tried to give at Saint Louis University for my MBA graduation.

As far as I understand, his speech was delivered as written and was vetted by BYU in it's entirety before delivery.

hawkwing wrote:

hawkwing wrote:

BYU approved his speech. They knew what was in there. There's no rule against being a homosexual at BYU. There is against homosexual dating, other than that all the rules of behavior are exactly the same as heterosexuals. It seems like now this young man is trying to get a few extra minutes out of his 15.

Did they know he was going to say that or did he go off topic? Again, that's not the place for that. Very selfish. Although I guess most valedictorian speeches are kind of beating the chest, aren't they? Look at me and my achievements! I went to my wife's graduation ceremony/speech, but did not go to mine for my B.S. or MBA. I don't even want to know what kind of "advice" they tried to give at Saint Louis University for my MBA graduation.

As far as I understand, his speech was delivered as written and was vetted by BYU in it's entirety before delivery.

That is my understanding as well. Given the context, history, and background, I think it fine he said what he did as the valedictorian.

ABYUFAN wrote:

His Ellen show appearance showed up on my Facebook feed, so I watched a little bit of it. This guy actually told Ellen that he was afraid at BYU because if he shook another man's hand that he might get kicked out of school. Really?!? Shook another man's hand? I understand that it's popular to celebrate one's gayness. But it is ironic that he was talking about "living a more authentic life" and being completely disingenuous in the very same breath.

Meh, he's just getting max mileage out of his 15 minutes.