I’ve had the words of the BYU fight song memorized since I was a kid. But in Boulder, Colo., on Sept. 27, during the Cougars' 36-14 victory, I might as well have been singing it for the first time.
I stumbled over the words while Colorado students flowed out of the portal beneath, shouting expletives up at us. Normally jabs from other fans about my team don’t bother me, but these weren’t about my team.
They were about my religion.
We endured the chants of "(expletive) the Mormons" and insults from students the entire game. As we left, the heavy feeling in my chest didn’t lighten.
Walking close to my 15-year-old brother, I clenched my fists as the discriminating expletives kept coming. Back at the car I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. This was our first road BYU football game together.
It was not the experience I had thought it would be.
Over the last few months I’ve tried to get to the bottom of this issue. I talked with students, fans and administrators. I discovered that these chants are affecting lives in ways far beyond football.
BYU director of athletic communications Jon McBride has experience dealing with the discriminating chants that have happened many times in recent years.
Nobody wins in religious bigotry.
"Saying (derogatory chants about) BYU is one thing, but when you’re saying that about an entire religious group you're going beyond that team and beyond that sport," McBride said.
Boulder was no exception.
Liz Horton grew up just outside of Boulder and has been a Buffaloes fan her entire life. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormons. When it came time to apply for college, Horton didn’t hesitate and applied to the University of Colorado.
On Sept. 27, she was wearing Colorado gold in the student section. An acquaintance started introducing her as "Lizzy the Mormon" and soon it spread.
Horton recalls “someone started shouting ‘She’s a Mormon, she’s a Mormon!’ and people were turning around and giving me dirty looks.”
And that’s when I got hit
in the back of the head with a beer can.
Things got even worse for Liz when another student tried to lift her skirt to see her underwear.
“I think she wanted to see if I was wearing garments,” Horton said.
Garments are sacred clothing that members of the Church wear underneath their everyday attire.
For Horton, that was the final straw.
She left the game early, went home and submitted her request to transfer schools. What was once her dream school turned into a scary experience, all because she is a "Mormon."
Over the last few years discriminatory chants have occurred at BYU games across the country. Some schools have publicly apologized but faced no real consequences.
The Big 12 Conference changed that by fining the University of Colorado $50,000 for the chants on Sept. 27. This seemingly set the precedent that other schools would also be fined in the future.
But then on Nov. 22 “(expletive) the Mormons” chants were taken up multiple times in the student section at the University of Cincinnati. Despite being asked to stop over the stadium loudspeakers by school administrators, they continued.
For Brandi Hicken, who was at the game, these chants revived traumatic memories.
On Sept. 28, one day after the BYU vs Colorado game, an LDS congregation in Michigan was attacked. Four people were killed in the shooting and the church building was set on fire. Brandi Hicken is a survivor of this tragedy.
In a social media post she describes her experience at the game. “We almost didn’t come because it felt scary and overwhelming since the attack on our church,” she wrote.
I was nervous putting on my BYU fan gear
Her anxiety continued throughout the night and over the next few days. During that time she wrote a letter to the Cincinnati athletic director describing her experience. She called on him and others to use their influence to stop these chants.
Unlike Colorado, the University of Cincinnati has yet to be fined.
I reached out to the Big 12 for comment but league officials did not respond to any requests for an interview.
For years these chants have been brushed off as jokes or the result of students being under the influence. Horton, the Colorado student, thinks alcohol definitely plays a role.
“They were probably drunk or high,” she said, “but I don’t think that’s a valid excuse and it's not acceptable under any circumstance.”
McBride urges fans to see the bigger picture.
There's obviously a ripple effect.
Whether you're joking about hating Mormons or not,
that hate has an impact and that spreads.
Passion, hostility and sports are synonymous. But there comes a point when passion against an opponent bleeds over into harassment of an individual. Passion and respect can exist simultaneously in our stadiums and venues.
My hope is that nobody has to experience what Horton and Hicken experienced. I hope that the ripple effect is not one of ignorance or hate, but one of respect.
But most of all, I hope that others out there don’t have to hold their breath walking out of stadiums or stand close to their younger brother, praying that he will be safe.