Ep151: LGBTQ Students at BYU Share Their Heartbreaking Reality in New Documentary

On this episode of Mormonish Podcast, Rebecca and Landon are joined by the creative team behind an amazing new documentary about BYU and the treatment of the LGBTQ community in recent years and the past.
The documentary, "A Long Way From Heaven" is the creation of David Sant (Director), Tyler Pace (Producer), and Jessie Gibbons (Director of Photography) and is an absolutely beautiful and heart wrenching depiction of LGBTQ students struggling to find a place at Brigham Young University amidst all the mixed messages the church and administration conveys.
This labor of love premiered in Lehi, UT on Friday March 15th to a packed house. We were so thrilled to see that a few clips of Mormonish Podcast even made it into the documentary.
We know you'll love this conversation with these amazing people!
Mormonish Podcast Episode Referenced in the show: • Ep100: The 1980's BYU ...
Contact Along Way From Heaven Creators
IG: @rainbowyfilm
Venmo: @rainbowyfilm
Twitter: @rainbowyfilm
Tik Tok: @alwfhofficial

***How to DONATE to Mormonish Podcast:
If you would like to help financially support our podcast, you can DONATE to support Mormonish Podcast here: www.mormonishpodcast.org/support
Also at: PayPal: paypal.me/BiblioTechMedia?cou...
Venmo: @BiblioTechMedia
***WE HAVE MERCH! ***
If you’d like to purchase Mormonish Merch, you can visit our Merch store here: www.etsy.com/shop/mormonishmerch
We appreciate our Mormonish viewers and listeners so much!
Don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to Mormonish Podcast!
Contact Mormonish Podcast: [e-mail]

[@goodshepard00]

Punishing people for being LBTQ is like punishing people for having brown eyes or being left-handed. Time for the cruelty and discrimination to end at BYU and everywhere.

[@goodshepard00]

Thanks for video. Good information.

[@pollydunn3191]

It was one of my granddaughters that introduced me to the Netflix documentary Keep Sweet Pray and Obey about Warren Jeff. She comes from an active Mormon family where her dad has served in a bishopric and her older brother served a mission. She decided not to go on a mission even with all the pressure put on her. Because of all the pressure she went to South Carolina and lived with my daughter for the last year. 😂 Most of this younger generation thinks for themselves. There is no way anyone is going to stop them from watching these nice young people's documentary. I'm sure it will do very well especially among the BYU attendees. 😂

[@dianethulin1700]

I was approached by the Missionaries in Petaluma CA last weekend (Butter & Eggs Festival) to take their pictures. I turned around and there were three of them, which I found strange. One of them gave me his card. It's the church rebrand with Jesus Christ featured prominently. I felt so bad for them to be on missions! Young folks- don't go!

[@edsqueenlarene6917]

Shared! Hope to see this documentary soon!! ❤

[@Songsofourown23]

Hi great Podcast, The Quote was When people show you who they are believe them .... the first time is by Maya Angelou not Mary Oliver. ❤❤❤

[@orisonorchards4251]

You guys are so brave! I'm proud of you!

[@jonjahr3403]

If they haven't already, The people that made this documentary should look into the possibility of using David Archuleta's new song Hell Together as a soundtrack to the movie. Maybe include it as part of the ending credits or something. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

[@DrPsychofraculator]

Jesse, what a terrible thing they did to your education!

[@caraosullivan7089]

Looking forward to watching that documentary! I went to BYU from 1978 to 1985 and some gay freinds who were there at that time had tales to tell. Unbelievable.

[@rebeccabibliotheca]

You should watch our other episode linked in the show notes! It covers that era at BYU!

[@tawnyachristensen7310]

I hope the film gets into the UTU festival in St George so I can see it!

[@pollydunn3191]

I personally never understood why anyone would want to go to BYU. I'm always soooo happy when my grandkids don't want to go there. I went to the LDS business college for one semester and later found their credits were worthless and it was expensive. Also I met more dysfunctional kids there just in the dorms I lived in 😂 than when I went to Utah State and belonged to a sorority. One of my best friends from high school went to BYU for one semester and got sooo weird. 😂

[@goodshepard00]

Perhaps some folks go to BYU for a bigger dating/marriage pool. Best wishes.

[@pollydunn3191]

@@goodshepard00 from what I've heard that's only true for the male population.

[@BrianWaller-qe7gr]

Probably because the tuition is significantly less than traditional college. Unfortunately that comes at another cost of abiding by church rules regardless if you’re a member or not

[@BrianWaller-qe7gr]

@@pollydunn3191not when you’re me and not desired by any female lol

[@2mcarp]

Is there a link to the trailer? I listened via the podcast, not KZbin, but I thought they said there was a link in the video description.

[@mormonishpodcast1036]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oImtknapfNmBfbMsi=GJ0MDK8QwdDLgpJc

[@Titiandtheband]

I get this will upset people but don’t go to byu. Now that being said I wish and they should not kick anyone out for being gay and some students discover their sexuality at university and then are terrified by the homophobia at BYU. But BYU will probably never change unless miracle of miracle happens and they ok being gay , bi etc. but don’t hold your breath

[@gabykogut6462]

where can i watch the documentary?

[@mormonishpodcast1036]

We are waiting for the film festivals to announce which films will be shown and then we’ll know.

[@tjedwards4254]

Make friends. You'll get to keep them outside of God's presence.

[@othersheep5491]

The brethren’s optics are astounding. At this point if they were to be caught tying a damsel to the railroad tracks while fining her for trespassing, I’d just think, Snap, Sounds like home! I miss the way they emphatically warned that we were A BoMb in Nations from the pulpit for decades. It came out grave, stern, and loud, in 5, distinct, jowl smacking syllables. Abomination. I hope your sacrifice, talents, and the brightness of your project dispel all the dark lies and consequent fears that these men calculatingly spread. Unconditional Love is scorching! I hope the great members they hide behind see your work and also love accordingly. Honestly, they acted like Jillian ripped off her fig leaf or something. The hate and harm isn’t sustainable. May this one be the nudge, y’all The emperor needs to go put his clothes back on.

[@Net1085]

What was the “clarification” that the school made after the original change to the honor code?

[@rebeccabibliotheca]

The clarification was that any expression of same-sex romantic behavior would get you in big trouble and kicked out. When the change was made to the honor code 2 weeks prior, people believed that they could date, hold hands, kiss, their normal things that BYU students can do. And so they started doing those things. Then two weeks later the clarification said you cannot do anything. And of course all the students were then petrified that they would get in trouble. As Landon stated in the podcast, we believe the specific verbiage was taken out of the honor code to help BYU get into the big 12 as far as football. They didn’t want anything in writing that would show the bigoted stance. So now it is not in writing but there was an addendum that others don’t know about that say no expression of same-sex romantic behavior

[@Net1085]

@@rebeccabibliotheca thank you. I appreciate the great explanation.

[@firecloud77]

Camille Paglia---- "I have always been fascinated with the subject of androgyny. I explored it in history. The more I explored it, the more I realized that historically, the movement toward androgyny occurs in late phases of culture, as a civilization is starting to unravel. You can find it again and again in Greek art and all of the sudden see it happening. All of the sudden the sculptures of handsome nude young men athletes that used to be very robust in the archaic period suddenly begin to seem like wet noodles." "The people who live in such periods, in late phases of culture, whether it's the Hellenistic era, whether it's the Roman empire, whether it's the Mauve Decade of Oscar Wilde in the 1890s, whether it's the Weimar Germany." "People who live in such times feel that they're very sophisticated, they're very cosmopolitan. [Fey voice] Homosexuality, heterosexuality, so what, anything goes, and so on. But from the perspective of historical distance, you can see that it's a culture that no loner believes in itself." "And then what you invariably get, are people who are convinced of the power of heroic masculinity, on the edges. Whether they are the Vandals and the Huns, or whether they're the barbarians of ISIS, you see them starting to amass on the outside of culture, and that's what we have right now." "There is a tremendous and rather terrifying disconnect between the infatuation with the transgender movement in our own culture, and what's going on out there." --Camille Paglia

[@DegaVertigo]

Oh no, it’s the end of our culture! *wrings hands while clutching pearls*

[@firecloud77]

@@DegaVertigo So, by your way of thinking, there is no such thing as cultural decline. Fascinating. I will assume, then, that you've never read a history book.

[@DegaVertigo]

@@firecloud77 Please do not assume that I don’t believe that cultures can change, decreasing and/or increasing in prevalence and quality. There is even a culture I wish to see decline: the culture of oppression. In your “history book” quote, Paglia seems to be parroting this idea that the Weimar Republic declined - not due to a hyper-nationalist party bent on oppressing cultural minorities - but because a narrow sliver of the German population tolerated gays and those who did not fit the gender binary… Paglia, despite her academic credentials, has engaged in the worst kind of historical revisionism-Nazi apologetics-AND YOU QUOTED HER DIRECTLY DOING SO.

[@firecloud77]

@@DegaVertigo Fascinating how the obsession with the normalization and promotion of gender dysphoria has warped your perception of reality. Now Camille Paglia is a "Nazi apologist." Wow. Godwin's law in action.

[@firecloud77]

@@DegaVertigo You know that by employing Godwin's law you just lost the argument, right?

[@PaUpPi]

The only thing Joseph Smith was right about is the fact that no religion is true. He just made another one. Being a Christian doesn't involve a particular denomination. The grace of Christ convicts us to try and live better, but we are all sinners and will always be sinners. Trying to stay away from different sins looks different for each of us. Jesus loves us all, and when you know he died for you, it frees you to love like he does. #loveoneanother

[@pollydunn3191]

AMEN!!!❤️

[@latterdaysquirrel]

Jesus set up a church that baptized people into it formally through ordinances. You don't understand the scripture.

[@joshuanorton3263]

WOMP WOMP

[@tawneenielsen4080]

I need to get ahold of you. The other side of this story is never talked about, which is just as damaging and hurtful and life altering. I have yet to see any of these podcasts talk about it, It's the one true topic that neither side with acknowledge. It sucks

[@alamoclayton0306]

“I never thought it was right to call up a man and try him because he erred in doctrine…I want the liberty of believing as I please. It feels so good not to be trammeled. It doesn’t prove that a man is not a good man because he errs in doctrine.” -Joseph Smith, Discourse, 8 Apr. 1843, JS Collection, Church History Library. Too bad the church has never studied the words of Joseph Smith.

[@latterdaysquirrel]

Rebellion and honest mistakes are two different things. At some point, you have to stop each particular, habitual sin: “Repentance is a thing that cannot be trifled with every day. Daily transgression and daily repentance is not that which is pleasing in the sight of God.” - Joseph Smith Jr.

[@orisonorchards4251]

BYU prioritizes indoctrination over education. Im embarrassed to have them on my resume!

[@TexasRoadrunner]

Sxsw

[@alamoclayton0306]

BYU doesn't follow the Book of Mormon teachings. “There was no law against a man’s belief; therefore, a man was punished only for the crimes which he had done.” (Alma 30:11)

[@jfree1998]

Why would you go to a religious school that is in direct conflict with your lifestyle? Not everyone needs to agree with your lifestyle or values. So stop forcing your beliefs onto others and go to a non religious school