It would be a watershed moment if SUU caves in and disinvites Holland. Here's the link: https://www.change.org/p/remove-jeffery ... rect=false
https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2 ... ds-church/
Thousands oppose an LDS Church apostle’s commencement speech at SUU because of his anti-gay statements
An online petition criticizes Jeffrey R. Holland for “openly” opposing “LGBTQ+ individuals.”
By Scott D. Pierce
| March 17, 2023, 8:22 a.m.
| Updated: 1:44 p.m.
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Southern Utah University announced Thursday that a Latter-day Saint apostle will be the keynote speaker at its April graduation ceremony — but within hours, thousands of people had signed an online petition demanding that Jeffrey R. Holland be disinvited because he has “openly opposed LGBTQ+ individuals.”
The change.org petition criticizes Holland for his call for “‘musket fire’ toward the (LGBTQ+) community.” In an August 2021 talk at Brigham Young University, Holland advised faculty and staff that they should take up their intellectual “muskets” to defend The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its “doctrine of the family and … marriage as the union of a man and a woman.” He also criticized the commencement speech by BYU’s 2019 valedictorian, who declared himself a “gay son of God.”
[Read more: ‘We must have the will to stand alone’ — Read or watch LDS apostle Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk at BYU]
The petition was posted after SUU President Mindy Benson announced that she is “delighted” that Holland will be the commencement speaker at the Cedar City school April 28.
“His address will offer inspiration to our graduates to embrace lifelong learning and give back to their communities as they leave SUU and continue to build their lives,” she said in a news release.
Holland was born and raised in nearby St. George, the release noted. His “southern Utah roots and dedication to education and learning are timely as we wrap up our 125th anniversary year,” she said.
Before becoming an apostle in 1994, Holland served as the ninth president of BYU in Provo.
[Read more: Can a ‘unique’ BYU really be true to its two missions: faith and scholarship?]
But the online petition asserts that including Holland in SUU’s commencement “would fail to serve the student body, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community and students who do not [ascribe] to the religious teachings of the LDS Church.”
As of 1 p.m. Friday, more than 6,300 people had signed the petition. Among the comments from signers:
• “As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, this makes me question what SUU is really about. No student should feel uncomfortable or disrespected. This is not OK, we are better than this.”
• “I deserve to graduate in peace knowing I am supported by my university. They can plug their Q Centers, diversity quotas and pride flags. But until the school itself stands up for their queer students, it means nothing.”
• “If SUU wants the students at the campus to feel safe on our campus, they need to prove they care about the LGBT+ community and the most basic step in doing that is not asking somebody who despises those people to speak at THEIR graduation.”
SUU did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday morning.
In addition to Holland, Benson and a representative from the class of 2023 are scheduled to speak at the commencement.
In May 2021, controversy erupted at Utah Valley University when Wendy Watson Nelson — the wife of LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson — was invited to be the commencement speaker. Opponents of the move cited published works from her in which she suggested “homosexual activities” hurt the institution of marriage and labeled gay relationships as “distortion and perversion.”
When Wendy Nelson spoke at the graduation, UVU president Astrid Tuminez repeatedly thanked her for doing so.
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