Let the Consequence Follow

I attended the Utah County PFLAG meeting a few nights ago and I talked a bit about what we were doing at the Y. People asked the same two questions as always..."the administration allows it?" and "do people get in trouble for going?". If I'm being honest with the world, which I feel I need to be on here, I've always wanted to answer those questions with "Does it matter?". I know a lot of people look at us and say we're changing things, and that we're leaders in this big political/religious movement, but it's never been about that for me. The reason USGA is there is for the people that come. I've said it before and I'll say it again...this school needs USGA. I've heard countless stories about how much of a difference it has made for people, just to be able to come and be completely and honestly themselves for two hours a week, and not do it alone. I really have no political agenda, or religious agenda, or even a gay agenda for that matter. I come every week and I continue to make a place for the people. I don't care who disagrees with me, even if that is the very administration of the institution I go to, or the leaders of the church I belong to.

In church I learned the hymn Do What is Right. My favorite verse is #3, but the thing I want to pull here is the chorus. It says "Do what is right, let the consequence follow...God will protect you; then do what is right". I feel like not a lot of people really live up to this, even though we talk about it all the time. "So-and-so was not afraid to bear her testimony"..."what's-his-name refused to work on Sundays"...blah blah blah. What about standing up for your fellow human being and not caring what others think? What about loving your neighbor UNCONDITIONALLY! That means love that is not limited or restricted, does not impose or depend on anything else, or is not determined or influenced by someone or something else. It is complete and absolute. It is the love Christ has for each of us. Anything less than that is not true unconditional love.

I don't care if what I am doing with USGA gets me in trouble with the BYU administration. I don't really care what happens to me. USGA is not about me. It's about everyone who comes. It's about building a safe place to feel Christ's love. It's about paying that love forward to your brothers and sisters no matter what they are going through. It's about coming and hearing these people essentially bearing their testimonies of the true love they have felt from Heavenly Father, knowing that He loves them as a gay person, and that He approves of the path they have chosen. I feel the spirit more often in USGA than I do in church anymore.

I have heard lots of people, from my fellow students all the way up to people in the administration itself, say that they think it's great what I'm trying to do here, yet that's as far as it goes. They refuse to talk about it, or step forward and support it. You have no idea how many times I've heard from people that "their hands are tied". It just hurts to see these people who claim to be Christians and act with the love of Christ sit there and not have enough faith to do what they feel is right and stand up for what they say they believe. I know that this is where I am supposed to be and what I am supposed to be doing. I will do what I know to be true and will let the consequences follow. I know that I have God on my side and that He loves me, so what else should I fear.

~Bridey J.