Earlier this year, Andrew White (below), a student at Brigham Young University, told his roommate he was gay. Even at BYU, that should be fine. You can’t *act* on your sexual orientation, but homosexuality in and of itself shouldn’t be a problem.
I guess his roommates and landlord couldn’t handle the information:
Court papers also say that the roommates said “because of [White’s] homosexuality, he should not be permitted to live in the apartment, to study at Brigham Young University, be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or work at the Missionary Training Center.”
White refused to leave the apartment and went to bed, but claims in court papers that the roommates entered his room, dragged him out of bed and began removing his personal belongings from the residence. The documents say the three men again threatened White with physical violence, took his keys and said they would toss his belongings from the roof.
White left and slept in his car and later sought medical treatment for bruised ribs, the lawsuit states.
…
Andrew White was served an eviction notice by managers of The Village at South Campus on Jan. 23, 10 days after the disagreement between the former student and his three male roommates escalated from gay slurs into fisticuffs, court papers say.
White doesn’t currently attend BYU but he is hoping to return soon. It’ll be interesting to see how the school and other students handle this situation as it progresses, especially with regards to his roommates (if the allegations are proven true). They don’t have a good reputation on LGBT issues, but I don’t see how they can defend White’s treatment. You know, this would be a no-brainer at most universities. The fact that we have to wonder if White will get any justice beyond the legal system shows you just how much damage this sort of religious mentality causes.
(Thanks to Laurie for the link)
***Edit***: An earlier version of this post included a picture of the wrong student. My mistake entirely. I’ll figure out what happened and make sure that doesn’t happen again.