A Mormon professor claims she was fired from her job after she posted a statement on Facebook that was supportive of the LGBT community.
Ruthie Robertson was fired from Brigham Young University-Idaho after posting a statement on Facebook on June 5 which both supported LGBT people and pointed to the church’s efforts to oppose same sex-marriage.
“In honor of LGBT Pride Month, I thought I would reveal some things in the name of authenticity,” Robertson wrote in a long post only visible to her friends.
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“This organization has openly and forcefully opposed same-sex relationships and legalized same-sex marriage. They pushed members in California to fight against Prop 8, and had a policy claiming that same-sex relationships were a sin and discouraged individuals from participating in them,” Robertson wrote in the post.
She detailed how the church started to refer to same-sex couples as apostates in 2015, subjecting them to disciplinary hearings to determine whether they would be excommunicated.
The full post has been published on the Salt Lake Tribune.
Robertson has received abuse and threats since her story went public.
She went on to point out “we like to pick and choose from the scriptures, and if we choose to use the Old Testament as a defense for condemning homosexuality… there’s a whole lot more we need to be condemning as well.”
One of Robertson’s Facebook friends shared her post with Brigham Young University-Idaho’s president and her department head. The private college is owned by the Mormon church.
Robertson said she had never talked about LGBT rights in her political science class. She knew her post was controversial but she told KIFI/KIDK, “I couldn’t take it back.”
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Brigham Young University-Idaho said it won’t comment on a “personal matter.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) opposes same sex marriage, and its doctrine differs between same-sex attraction and sexual orientation, teaching that acting on same-sex attraction is a sin.
The Brigham Young University Idaho also draws a line between same-sex attraction and “homosexual behavior,” saying it is “inappropriate and violates the Honor Code,” and that all university members must maintain a “strict commitment to the law of chastity.”
The church hasn’t commented on the issue, instead pointing media to the college.