BYU Student Flashes Rainbow Gown at Graduation to Protest Anti-Gay Rules
posted a TikTok of her putting together the gown and wearing it to graduation where it received more than 2.7 million views and 5,700 comments since Sunday."At BYU it's against the honor code to be in a homosexual relationship," the on-screen text read as Orr used a sewing machine to stitch a rainbow pride flag inside her graduation gown."If you are discovered to be dating or just holding hands there are severe consequences," the on-screen text continued. "They threaten to take away your degree and kick you out of the university."BYU, located in Provo, Utah, is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Students who attend must follow the university's honor code, which includes abstaining from "alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, vaping, and substance abuse" as well as living a "chaste and virtuous life, including abstaining from any sexual relations outside a marriage between a man and a woman."An estimated 7.1 percent of American adults self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or non-heterosexual, according to data collected by Gallup.