These clips were all so thought provoking and truly brought issues to light and put forth topics
thought of as complex to be quite simple. Focusing on the first video we watched, “Same Love”
by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis I felt reminiscent. My mom would play this song frequently
when it first came and choregraphed lots of dance combos for her classes. I never knew it took a
focus on gay marriage till much later (about two years ago). However, I’m glad I didn’t see that
till later because I feel like it gave me a real perspective of the song, it’s about Love. There’s no
need to get confused about who’s in a relationship with who, it’s important to know that there is
love and will always be love. This is why I always loved to dance to it, because it reminded me
to love because that’s the light that holds us to the world. Then heterophobia video was really
striking to me, because it spoke a truth. If the world was only gay and heterosexuals were out of
the norm, we would be living in exact parallel of today. As I watched the parents who were
offended by anything that had to do with heterosexual behavior, I was appalled. How could
someone be so volatile to something they don’t fully understand or want to even try to
understand? I have always felt this way towards people who think that way, and I think that’s
due to my parents and the environment I grew up in. Being a part of the dance world it’s quite
common to find gay men and lesbian women. My mom was friends with a large community of
LGBTQ people, and inherently so was I. While my dad was super conservative, my mom
influenced him to be open minded and so I was taught to be so as well. I was always taught from
a young age that homosexuals are daughters and sons of Heavenly Father too, and that while we
didn’t support what they chose to do sexually, we love them as people and as our friends no
matter what. My dad would always talk to me about political situations in cases where people
would refuse service to homosexuals. That if I was a bakery and got an order for a gay pride
cake, I should make it because all I’m doing is my job. But, if I was just to make one without
being asked that would be promoting something that’s not my belief. So I have the right to
support what I want to support, but if I should treat everyone equally and bake them a cake if the
order a cake. As I got older and couldn’t imagine how people could be so cruel to people who
were homosexual and go as far as to push those people towards suicide. Sadly, those hateful
people exist, and even if the roles were to be switched the result would be the same, because it’s
hard to love someone when you shove a wall between you and them. The last video set forth by
BYU-Provo really struck home for me, because of my best friend and my brother. My best friend
is asexual and attends Provo and worries about telling others because they’ll judge her for not
wanted to get married. My brother has rejected the church and become bisexual and I really want
him to come back to the gospel. He also won’t date a Mormon girl because he’s afraid his beliefs
will only disappoint her. These people at BYU are proof that it’s okay to be different, that it
doesn’t change your testimony or the fact that the gospel is true. I was actually surprised that we
don’t have something like that on this campus, that feels so much more open and diverse than
Provo. Especially with how high the LGBTQ population is at this school, since I know the
majority of my friends on campus that are gay and bisexual. So this video gave me hope that
things are “getting better” and maybe everyone can understand the reality of LGBTQ and how
simple parts of it is in relation to the gospel, to life, and human thought. I know that when
looking at these topics as a whole makes things complex, but for me everything is simple,
because at the end of the day we’re all just trying to live life and make the best choices for
ourselves.