Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Mormon Stories Podcast. I'm your host

Dr. John DeLin. It is January 24th, 2022 and we have a very important story that we're

covering today on Mormon Stories Podcast. We are committed to covering current events

that relate to the Church of Jesus Christ of Letters, Saints and its members and former members.

And a really big story that hit the news recently is the federal investigation into Brigham Young

University and specifically we're talking about the way that the Mormon Church through BYU Provo,

BYU Idaho, BYU Hawaii, the way the Mormon Church deals with its LGBTQ plus students.

This story has been covered very well in the Salt Lake Tribune. Unfortunately, that article is behind

a paywall. It's also been covered in the Desert News, the Washington Times, and on some of the major

news media outlets, but it has to do with what are active believing Mormons who are LGBTQ BYU

students? What are they allowed to do? Are they allowed to be out in the public square? Are they

allowed to hold hands? Are they allowed to date? Like other straight students? Are they allowed to

light up BYU's Y in Provo and just show love and support? Are they allowed to carry around

rainbow umbrellas or wear rainbow pins? And more importantly, are they entitled to federal funding

if they're violating the rights of their LGBTQ students if they're treating them unfairly?

And should BYU be accredited as a major national university or should it lose its accreditation

as a result of its treatment of LGBTQ students? And then finally, to what extent is the Mormon

Church and BYU going to continue to experience what some might say as a black eye or a drop in

enrollment? Poor reputation, as it relates to its treatment of LGBTQ students. So those are some

of the questions we are going to be dealing with today. And we're super grateful to Horado Semano.

What are my partners in goodness and righteousness? Horado has kind of been the producer for this

episode. We want to welcome you as always, Horado. Thanks for joining us. Thank you, John. I'm really

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