Color The Campus organized a lighting of the Y in the colors of the transgender flag Saturday evening.
This was the first demonstration on BYU campus property since the new demonstration policy was updated Jan. 10. The policy says the university allows “responsible and safe demonstrations” from students and employees only. Such events are banned inside university buildings and on Y Mountain.
BYU also clarified demonstrations have to align with BYU and Church values and an application must be submitted to the Dean of Students Office prior to the event.
“Demonstrations should be consistent with BYU’s faith-based mission, intellectual environment and requirements described in the policy,” the policy says.
BYU Police Lt. Jeff Long said the BYU administration has not asked their police department to enforce the demonstration policy or make arrests.
“If they wanted us to, obviously we would because that’s who we work for and BYU owns that property,” Long said. “But at this point, I think BYU realizes that’s not the best answer, there’s other ways to work around this.”
The Y was lit starting at 8 p.m. for around 15–20 minutes, Long said. He said BYU Police were not aware whether any students were present during the demonstration.
A BYU security guard unaffiliated with the police hiked up to the Y and made contact with several people involved in the demonstration, Long said. The guard asked them to stay off the Y and alerted them to anti-demonstration signs on the mountain.
“There were no confrontations, no arrests,” Long said.
The Color The Campus group on Instagram said no one from BYU was involved in the event.
“This is for our children,” Color The Campus said in a post Saturday. “The participants of tonight’s lighting are parents of LGBTQ+ children. No BYU students or faculty were involved in any capacity.”
BYU patrol officers responded to the Y trailhead but stayed in the parking lot, Long said.
