Advocates in angel wings shield LGBTQ event from 100 protesters yelling slurs in Utah

LGBTQ+ people and allies are absolutely everywhere—and that includes religious spaces and higher education. One example of this comes to us out of Brigham Young University (BYU), a school operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Provo, Utah. You might remember we covered the brave story of graduate Jillian Orr, an openly bisexual woman who went viral for revealing the Pride flag under her commencement robes. We’ve also covered how students show up for Pride even in spite of the school’s restrictive and archaic policies.   

Sadly, however, the campus is far from a safe space all the time. As reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, for example, 100 protesters took to the campus to harass and disparage LGBTQ+ students returning to campus for the fall semester, including calling them groomers and pedophiles—insults we know have long been flung at the queer community, but that have taken up more prominent residence in the last year or two thanks to Republican fearmongering. 

In spite of all of this terror and hatred, brave folk dressed as angels created a barrier between protesters (some of who appeared to openly carry weapons) and students, creating an emotional image harkening back to the 1990s when allies protested back against the Westboro Baptist Church, who brought disgusting signs to the trial of the two men who murdered gay college student Matthew Shephard in a hate crime. The angel concept also appeared at the funerals for victims of the Pulse massacre in 2016.

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