I'm proud of you

A few months back, I went to the movie theater to watch the movie, "The Help." I thought it was a great movie, but my favorite part of that experience was feeling such pride for the characters as they stood up for something they believed in and set groundwork to have things change for the better. And as they learned to not let stereotypes, easy judgements, societal norms, etc. affect how they treat others and—really—their perspective on life.

I know the two situations aren't the same, but I've recently felt very similar feelings as I've following some of the happenings on BYU campus related to the gay and lesbian community. 

This started with a link a friend shared to a live blog of a event hosted by the BYU Sociology department featuring a panel of gay BYU students to discuss homosexuality. (The BYU Daily Universe's article on the panel is here. I'd recommend looking up other articles too but I wanted to link to one directly from BYU.) 

Brandon, one of the first panelist mentioned, is the son of my high school seminary teacher. So I spent every morning for two years in the living room of his home. He's a few years older than me and was already at school when I moved in, but I know his family somewhat well.  I'm think it's amazing what each of these students is doing and am proud that they are so open and willing to share their experience to not only help people dealing with similar struggles that they've had, but to also help educate the LDS community a little bit on the subject. 

Following this panel event (the attendance of which I've heard was packed to capacity), I started seeing the circulation of many "It Gets Better" videos. Here is the main video. I think it's fantastic...and again, I'm proud of each individual. 

I loved watching the extended videos of many of the individuals featured in the video above. One of my favorites was that of Jenna. One quotation from her video really stuck out to me.

"I still wonder how I can so fully believe the Church is true and that God loves me no matter what and still fully believe that I'm a lesbian. I don't know how the two go together, but I know God loves me either way and that there is a plan for me. And He wants me to be happy. ...If I stay with Him, my answer will come."

For me, there's a lot I don't understand about the topic. I know that and also know I can't ever fully relate to the experiences these individuals have had. But like Jenna said, God loves each of His children and there is plan for us. I'm thankful for the increase of love and understanding and peace in the world.