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Valedictorian at Mormon University Announces at Graduation: ‘I Am Proud to Be a Gay Son of God’ – Gets Cheers

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“Coming to terms, not with who I thought I should be, but who the lord has made me.”

A valedictorian for the top university of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stunned families, faculty, and friends on Friday when he announced he is gay.

“I stand before my family, friends and graduating class today to say that I am proud to be a gay son of God,” Matthew Easton, 24, declared at Brigham Young University’s graduation ceremony.

His acknowledgment was met with cheers and applause by many.

“I am not broken,” he said, as The Washington Post reports, sounding choked up. “I am loved and important to the plan of our great creator. Each of us are.”

“Four years ago, it would have been impossible for me to imagine that I would come out to my entire college,” Easton, who goes by “Matty” on social media, noted. “It is a phenomenal feeling. And it is a victory for me in and of itself.”

The Mormon Church has a horrific history of not only not supporting LGBTQ Mormon, but going outside of its community to attack issues like marriage equality, which it has done for decades.

So it might have surprised some when Easton kicked off his speech and early on offered congratulations to a wide variety of people, including his fellow students of color and his “LGBTQ friends.”

That elicited a “whoop,” cheers and applause from the audience, including Easton’s sister.

“You are seen. You are loved,” he told them all. And he talked about “coming to terms, not with who I thought I should be, but who the lord has made me.”

The LDS Church worked diligently to ensure the passage of California’s Prop 8 in 2008. Before that, it scuttled same-sex marriage in Hawaii, and reportedly has supported organizations dedicated to rolling back civil rights for LGBT people.

In 2015 the Church declared children of same-sex parents would be barred from the most definitive ceremonies the Church offers, and their parents would be “apostates” – heretics, in the vernacular. It was forced to literally declare God had changed his mind earlier this month, after reported suicides and tremendous outrage.

That change was not, by any means, an embrace of same-sex marriage or LGBT people, but some say they see a softening towards LGBT Mormons.

 

Image via Twitter

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Biden Dept. of Justice Reverses Trump Order – Declares LGBTQ Students Are Now Protected by Law

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In a major reversal of Trump-era legal policies the U.S. Dept. of Justice has issued a memo declaring that LGBTQ students are protected from discrimination under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools.

It is a major win for some of the nation’s most vulnerable people, and an interesting twist for the history books.

The memo, dated March 26 but just reported today by The Hill and Law & Crime, was authored by the same attorney who argued part of a major LGBTQ case before the U.S. Supreme Court, and won. That case paved the way for this new memo.

Pamela Karlan (photo) in 2019 argued in the landmark Bostock case, telling the Court in no uncertain terms: “When an employer fires a male employee for dating men but does not fire female employees who date men, he violates Title VII. The employer has…discriminated against the man because he treats that man worse than women who want to do the same thing. And that discrimination is because of sex.”

The Court ruled 6-3 that anti-LGBTQ discrimination is sex discrimination and therefore illegal.

“After considering the text of Title IX, Supreme Court caselaw, and developing jurisprudence in this area, the Division has determined that the best reading of Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination ‘on the basis of sex’ is that it includes discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation,” wrote Karlan, who now serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ.

Karlan’s memo, along with a broader Biden executive order, reverses a Trump executive order specifically stating that the Bostock ruling was to be narrowly applied only to employment.

Karlan is also the same attorney who testified during Trump’s first impeachment, explaining why his actions constitute bribery.

As Slate’s Joseph Michael Stern notes, “Pam Karlan is one of very few people to win a civil rights case at the Supreme Court then implement that decision as a federal civil rights official. That’s gotta feel good.”

For her, and for millions of LGBTQ students.

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Watch: Dr. Rachel Levine Becomes First Openly-Transgender Nominee to Be Senate Confirmed in Historic Vote

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Dr. Rachel Levine has just been confirmed to be the Assistant Secretary of Health at the Dept. of Health and Human Services in a historic vote, making her the first Senate-confirmed openly-transgender nominee. The vote was 52-48, with all Democrats voting for her, and two Republicans joining the “yea” votes.

“At a time when hateful politicians are weaponizing trans lives for their own perceived political gain, Dr. Levine’s confirmation lends focus to the contributions trans people make to our nation and deflates absurd arguments calling for their exclusion,” Annise Parker, the former Mayor of Houston and now President of the Victory Fund and Victory Fund Institute said.

As The Washington Post notes, Dr. Levine will become the highest-ranking openly transgender official in U.S. history.

“I firmly believe that turning points, such as today’s Senate confirmation vote for Dr. Levine’s appointment, are powerful indications that this nation is truly heading down the pathway to lasting transgender equality,” former Obama administration official Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, who was the first openly transgender official to work in the White House, told the Post.

President Joe Biden nominated Dr. Levine, who serves as the Pennsylvania Secretary of Health and is a Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine.

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US Senate Confirms Pete Buttigieg as Secretary of Transportation and First Openly-Gay Cabinet Member

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The United States Senate has just confirmed Pete Buttigieg as Secretary of Transportation, by a large margin. Buttigieg, a former Democratic candidate for president who quickly won a strong following, along with the Iowa caucuses, becomes the first openly-gay Senate confirmed Cabinet member in U.S. history.

The bipartisan vote was 86-13, a large margin by any standard, but especially in these hyper-partisan times.

A Millennial, at 39 Buttigieg also becomes the youngest member of the Biden Cabinet.

South Bend’s former “Mayor Pete,” now “Mr. Secretary,” says he is “honored and humbled.”

This is a breaking news and developing story. 

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