(RNS) — When, in 2020, Brigham Young University’s Provo, Utah, campus erupted in rainbow-colored protests after the school quietly removed — then reaffirmed — its ban on “homosexual behavior,” David Sant was a closeted queer BYU student afraid to join the fray.
But now, as the director of the new documentary “A Long Way From Heaven,” Sant is spotlighting BYU’s treatment of LGBTQ students who, like him, felt pressured to stifle parts of their identity at the flagship school of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Known as much for its rigorous academics as it is for its honor code, which upholds LDS prohibitions on everything from tea drinking to premarital sexual activity, BYU also bans “same-sex romantic behavior,” which means LGBTQ students are often cautioned to tread lightly: Hand-holding alone can result in discipline.
In this atmosphere, Sant began developing his documentary in secret a few months after student LGBTQ activists and allies made national headlines for lighting up the iconic “Y” overlooking BYU’s campus in rainbow colors. Earlier that year, the Church Educational System administrators who oversee BYU’s campuses stated that while the ban on homosexual behavior was no longer explicitly in the honor code, “same-sex romantic behavior” was still “not compatible” with the code’s principles.
Many of his subjects risked their degrees to participate in the film, said Sant, 27, who had already graduated by the time he began the project. “A lot of people risking their relationships with their families. … More than one member of BYU’s faculty and administration are scared of being fired because of their participation.”
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