BYU Political Review

Brigham Young University, commonly referred to as BYU, is a private coeducational research university that can be found in Provo, Utah. The students of this university have set up an online site called the BYU Political Review, a campus forum for political discussion. This site is a complete creation of the students, they set it up, they run it, they edit it, they do it all, and posts that are published on the BYU Political Review are well thought out and written.

We came across an article written by Austin Smith, a student majoring in computer science from Virginia, in response to the recent failure of the Common Ground Initiative that was published on the BYU Political Review site. The Common Ground Initiative was put in motion by Equality Utah, a set of bills that would protect the lgbt community in Utah while being mindful of the reasons the LDS Church had for being so involved in California with Proposition 8. Austin calls out the students at BYU on the actions of the LDS Church,

"Upon hearing about the recent defeat of a number of bills, known as the Common
Ground Initiative, that would have given more rights to gay couples in Utah,
many BYU students may have responded with a cursory “Good!,” hastily thinking
that the sanctity of marriage has been upheld and not giving the news another
thought. Utahns’ zeal to protect the traditional definition of marriage,
however, was not under attack by these bills."

He also pointed out that the senators and representatives of Utah fell short of protecting some of their more vulnerable citizens in Utah, those who identify and belong to the lgbt community. In closing Austin voiced hope that Utah would be able to settle their differences and pass similar bills protecting the lgbt community of Utah in the future.

Read the full article!