A video is worth a million words

The term "family friendly" is not among those words.

I’m truly sorry to befoul your mind and soul with this.

That’s a male drag performer who goes by the stage name Jenna Tailia. Apologies for the poor video angle and inconveniently placed protesters, but on the other hand, you’re welcome for not giving you a more explicit look. This wasn’t the worst of the performance, but I couldn’t get the rest. His open legs and shimmying were obviously sexual, evoking the pornographic cliche of a woman eager to be violated. Anyone who claims this performance wasn’t sexual is lying or utterly out of sync with reality and humanity.

(UPDATE: here's a link to better-quality video.)

Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok

A drag queen named “Jenna Tailia” performed at an “all ages back to school drag extravaganza” in Provo, Utah

It was so sick and sad. I didn’t participate in the protest, but if I lived nearby I would be melting the phone lines to the Provo city council and other officials. I don’t want women dressed and “dancing” like that next to my children’s playground, and I certainly don’t want men doing it either.

The Sheri Don’t performer was less overtly sexual, but just plain sad. He lacks any apparent talent, so the pointless gyrating was nothing more than misogynistic scorn for a beloved woman and church leader.

The crowd recognized, consciously or not, that the sexuality is the point. That’s why removing clothing to reveal a much skimpier outfit, as many performers did at some point, prompted wild cheering:

It’s difficult to tell from the video, but his male anatomy was only barely concealed by that leotard.

The entire show was overwhelmingly sad. I sincerely hope the performers and organizers find ways to feel the spirit of the Lord in their lives, leading them to give up their false ideology promoting evil as liberation, darkness as light. I hated being there and I hate that I’m posting it. I pray this helps BYU students, parents, and administration recognize the true character of the forces arrayed against them.

To the commenters already jumping to declare me a pearl-clutching prude: yup! I take seriously the advice that “whatever you read, listen to, or look at has an effect on you,” so I try hard to avoid things that mindlessly corrupt my worldview and moral intuitions, and focus on things that feed my spirit with beauty and truth. My goal is to act—to be the one who decides what I value and how I feel—rather than being acted upon by mindlessly consuming whatever appalling nonsense is being churned out this season. And I take my responsibility to shape my children’s worldview extremely seriously. I’ve seen a lot of commenters online dunking with some version of “you’re a hypocrite if you oppose drag because you let your kids watch equivalent heterosexual or cisgender performances.” No, I don’t. I’m very choosy about PG and TV-PG shows, and anything rated higher than PG is almost certainly not worth it, for either adults or kids.

But I digress.

Encouragement to “transition” gender

Though the drag show is getting all the attention, and deserves much of it for being in flagrant opposition to everything BYU students and disciples of Christ have committed to be and do, it’s not my chief concern. One can repent of attending, organizing, or performing in a drag show (the repentance process should involve expulsion from BYU). One cannot remedy, in this life, the harms of gender “transitioning” via hormones or surgery.

(To those certain to retort: you cannot remedy suicide, either! There is no sound evidence—none—that gender “transitioning” lessens suicidality. You’re probably not inclined to believe me, but the stats don’t lie.)

My last post exposed how the “LGBT resource pamphlet” distributed to at least some students in the BYU dorms included items encouraging and facilitating gender “transition”—Planned Parenthood and Genderbands. It also invited students to the umbrella event comprising the drag show: Back to School Pride. My main priority in going was to see what was being advertised and handed out by the vendors.

One group encouraging “transition” was already under my nose: the Cougar Pride Center, who helped compile and distribute the pamphlet. I forgot that they directly facilitate social “transitioning,” which is totally against church teachings:

From the church’s Handbook: “Church leaders counsel against elective medical or surgical intervention for the purpose of attempting to transition to the opposite gender of a person’s biological sex at birth…Leaders also counsel against social transitioning. A social transition includes changing dress or grooming, or changing a name or pronouns, to present oneself as other than his or her biological sex at birth.”

From the organizers of this Pride event:

The map showing all the vendors included several of obvious concern:

Number 21 is Genderbands, which I already reviewed at length—they provide funding for cross-sex hormones and “top surgery” for young adults wishing to “transition” gender. They were intended to be here, but weren’t. Booths 20, 21, and 22 were not set up at all, I visited every booth but never saw Genderbands, and I asked a RaYnbow Collective organizer if they were there and she confirmed they weren’t but didn’t know why. I’m very glad they weren’t there, because of the horrible damage they are working to inflict on the bodies and souls of struggling young adults, youth, and families.

Number 10 is Celebrate Therapy, a private practice in Provo that was listed as a resource in the infamous pamphlet. It turns out they’re another prime example of how the pamphlet’s contents are in blatant opposition to church teachings, because they facilitate gender “transitioning,” both socially and via cross-sex hormones and/or surgery:

“Letter writing for gender affirming medical care” means helping clients obtain cross-sex hormones and/or “transition” surgery, in flagrant opposition to church teachings. “Grant writing” might mean helping clients apply for funding like that provided by Genderbands, to help pay for hormones and/or surgery.

Some of their therapists facilitating gender “transition,” in blatant opposition to church teachings, are current BYU students:

So both the pamphlet and the Pride event blithely highlighted by the Deseret News referred BYU students to organizations dedicated to helping them destroy their bodies and souls with gender “transition” procedures.

There’s more. Number 17 is Planned Parenthood. It was difficult to stomach visiting their booth because I oppose the murder of pre-born babies, but it was important to confirm my deduction that PP was included in the pamphlet because they facilitate obtaining prescriptions for cross-sex hormones for gender “transition.” Deduction confirmed:

BYU has a health clinic, by the way, including sexual health resources in keeping with church teachings. Referring students to Planned Parenthood is an endorsement of their services that are blatantly in opposition to church teachings. Including a lot of information on how to mitigate the consequences of breaking the law of chastity (and the BYU Honor Code) by having gay sex:

I neglected to note which booth was dispensing these, but it sums up the mood of a significant proportion of the event participants:

For those who don’t keep up with the lingo of progressive sexuality, “cis-” means “not transgender.” It’s often asserted as fact in progressive discussions that biological sex is a contrivance designed to oppress, rather than a plain fact of life on earth (and eternal reality).

Not everything was focused on sexuality. There were also vendors selling Ouija planchettes, tarot cards, and oracle readings:

There was also a booth for Thrive, an organization founded by John Dehlin, dedicated to “help[ing] people as they transition away from religion” (as stated on their website):

The pamphlet author and Pride organizer’s claim that the pamphlet “didn’t include anything that went against the school’s policies” gets more and more incredible the more you see. Gender “transitioning,” abortion, gay sex, occult spirituality, and leaving the church are all very much against church teachings and school policy.

Concerns with BYU and church resources

The pamphlet included only two items (out of more than thirty total) that are arguably official BYU resources; one is BYU’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). One would hope a BYU student struggling with sexuality and gender issues would receive from them not only compassion and clinical skill, but also straightforward support for church teachings. I am…not confident that’s true. I got this flier from the CAPS booth:

After hours crisis services: excellent. Suicide hotline: excellent.

Trevor Project: not excellent. They’ve built a strong reputation for helping vulnerable LGBT youth in suicidal crises, but have also been caught egging on teenagers who are unsure about their gender identity, urging them to identify as transgender and pursue gender “transition.” There’s no reason for a BYU office to recommend them alongside other suicide-prevention resources.

Encircle: inexcusable. BYU students have access to therapy via CAPS (though this flier is convincing me I would never trust my child to them), and so should have no need for the “affirming” therapy Encircle claims to provide. I give Encircle the benefit of the doubt that they provide help to kids who would otherwise be in very bad shape, but BYU students do not lack those resources. And “affirming” is too likely to be a euphemism for encouraging struggling teens and young adults to solidify their transgender identification and pursue hormonal or surgical “transition.”

The rainbow: not helpful for students who are sincerely trying to keep their covenants, and not appropriate for an official BYU organization.

My last item of concern should be taken for what it is: a conversation I overheard that may lack explanatory context.

At the Cougar Pride Center booth, a middle-aged man was talking with the volunteers there. He works in a supervisory position for FSY (For the Strength of Youth), the church’s youth conference program. He hires and oversees the young adult counselors who work with the youth attendees. He was telling the Cougar Pride Center personnel how delighted he has been to find that the young adults who apply to be counselors identify as LGBT in a much higher proportion than he expected, and are ideologically inclined to undermine church doctrine to the youth they lead. He encourages the LGBT counselors to “affirm” any youth participants who also identify as LGBT, implying that affirmation means prioritizing one’s LGBT identity above one’s covenants, justifying breaking the law of chastity because of one’s LGBT identity, undermining church doctrine on marriage and gender, and teaching that the church’s doctrine is harmful and will change (despite the insurmountable logical and ministerial problems with that assertion). The FSY employee and Cougar Pride personnel also speculated as to which Apostles they feel are secretly in favor of changing church doctrine on marriage and gender, and how frustrating it must be for them that other apostles are bigoted and stubborn.

I don’t want to cause alarm or cynicism by posting this. FSY is a wonderful program and does a lot of good. If your children are ready to go, they will probably have a wonderful experience. But. Be aware of the possibility of bad actors, seek inspiration with regard to your children’s specific circumstances, and talk with your children about what they learn and hear. It’s disheartening, even infuriating, that any leader would be so self-righteous and prideful as to spiritually manipulate a young person in their stewardship in order to undermine their faith in church teachings and leaders. But it happens. So prepare your children. Inoculate them. Help them to recognize bad arguments and know to come to you if something isn’t right.

It’s just plain difficult to live in a world where the ideology of Pride has infiltrated almost literally everything, from the Deseret News to FSY to BYU counseling services and faculty and administration and Freshman welcome bags and pretty much everywhere. None of us can be complacent for even a moment. Not if we want to succeed in raising our children in light and truth.

Parting thoughts for the Pride scene

The people I met and talked to as I wandered around the booths were absolutely lovely. I really love meeting new people and learning what and how they think, even when I have important disagreements with them. I’ve made strident recommendations (e.g. to expel all of these student activists from BYU) and I stand behind that, but it’s not a matter of hate. It’s more important to protect students from an appearance of BYU endorsing spiritual manipulation and a false gospel than it is to allow the activists to conveniently continue their tithing-subsidized education.

(By the way, BYU, the appearance of endorsement is definitely happening):

There’s more to come about BYU problems on this blog, but I sincerely hope to never be within eyeshot of a drag performance again. Journalism is not fun.