Mormons censor BYU art project, because it was kind of gay

[Are_grits_groceries]

One is gay, the other isn't. And the artist won't tell you which is which. That proved too much for the bigots running the Mormon church, and its Borg incubator, otherwise known as Brigham Young "University" (air-quotes added). Apparently exposing young impressionable Mormons to art, and another point of view, runs too great a risk of damaging their fragile narrow-minded sense of hate and intolerance.

Says the artist...
Apparently the topic of homosexuality is a bit much for the BYU audience and my part of our Fine Art Classes show was taken down today. It seems that censorship is favored over support and love. This really saddens me. I found out because a friend of mine went to the show and said that my peices had been removed and the show had been rearranged.

The show was rearranged so that no one who attended would realize that the works on display had been censored for political/religious reasons. So... shhh. Don't tell anyone.The student artist took pictures of openly gay BYU students—openly gay and openly ballsy—and a companion portrait of a supportive friend or family member. The artist didn't label the portraits; you don't know who in each pair of portraits is the fearsome, terrible, ungodly gay, and who is the tragically deluded enabler of evil—excuse me, "the supporter." You can see the pictures... here. But they deserve a wider viewing—hey, maybe the Salt Lake City Weekly ("We Not All Crazy Bigots Down Here, You Know!") could put them on its cover.
http://www.americablog.com/

Link to project: http://areyou1too.blogspot.com/2008/11/fine-art-portrait-project.html

Artist: I photographed all the portraits using similar lighting and cropping. I also used a tilt shift lens to achieve selective focus, so that the subjects eyes are the only part of the image in focus. This was purposefully done to force the viewer to look in the eyes of these individuals. I hope that through this project we can realize that all men (and women) are created equal in the eyes of God.
<snip>

I wonder how long anybody associated with the project will remain at BYU?

[trumad]

1. Guy on the right.

[Are_grits_groceries]

3. LOL! There are more pictures at his site

if you want to guess some more. Gaydar up!

[Ian David]

5. No, the guy on the left tweezes his eyebrows. n/t

[terrya]

2. Wow....

I don't know what to say. What the powers that be at BYU are showing is a bigotry, a homophobia so deeply entrenched, so pervasive. To try and deny that there are gay and lesbian people at BYU.

I very much admire the artist and what he's trying to do. Dammit, if BYU won't have anything to do with this, I hope the artist takes this exhibit elsewhere. It's a very thought provoking work of art.

[Mari333]

4. yes, their hatred has killed their own....

http://www.gaymormon.com/casestudies/indvbyalpha/matis-stuart/newsweek.htm

[meegbear]

6. That is a great project!

:thumbsup: