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Letter: Oaks gaslights LGBTQ people who suffered while he was BYU president

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency delivers the 2021 Joseph Smith Lecture in the Dome Room of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia on Friday, Nov. 12, 2021.

Recently, Dallin H. Oaks spoke at the University of Virginia about the intersection of LGBTQ rights and religious freedom. At one point, he was asked about electroshock and aversion therapy on LGBTQ students during his tenure as president of Brigham Young University (1971-1980). Under Oaks, several dissertations and papers were written by BYU faculty about these “treatments” for homosexuality. Researcher Connell O’Donnovan reported that five men who were coerced into aversion therapy while Oaks was BYU president died by suicide, with many others experiencing severe trauma.

Fast forward to 2021: Oaks found himself in an interesting dilemma. In the not-so-distant past, he has been clear that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not in the business of apologies. He couldn’t apologize for the trauma previously caused by these studies because of this stance. He also could not endorse these treatments in polite company, so he took the easy route. Without missing a beat, Oaks lied to the audience by stating that these practices had been discontinued before his tenure as BYU president. Imagine the audacity that Oaks has to lie to people who can easily fact-check this claim! Perhaps Oaks should read the 13th Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “We believe in being honest, true, chaste benevolent, and in doing good to all men.” Where was his honesty, benevolence, and desire to do good to all? He put defending the church above the stories of the precious LGBTQ children of God that endured abuse at BYU.

Oaks may not be in the business of giving apologies, but he is certainly in the business of gaslighting LGBTQ people who suffered while he was president of BYU. Oaks loves to harp on the intersection of LGBTQ rights and religious freedom, claiming that our rights as LGBTQ people could infringe on religious liberty. But his lies in this instance reveal that his morality and desire for “fairness for all” is only because he and the rest of the leadership of the church have lost the culture war. He cannot admit the wrong that has been done in the past because he has no courage. Yet, he lies about the trauma that happened on his watch in the 1970s and expects us LGBTQ people to endure this gaslighting?

We cannot simply stand by in silence as he lies about such basic fights; we will fight to ensure that the tragic stories of survivors of BYU aversion therapy are never forgotten. May God have mercy on Oaks for both his role in the loss of those precious souls who were forever hurt by his policies and his desperate lies to defend the indefensible.

Jacob Newman, Millcreek

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