BYU requires freshmen to read controversial 'musket fire' speech by Mormon leader
LGBTQ students and advocates at BYU in Utah slammed the school for requiring all freshmen read a controversial 2021 speech that they say incited violence and hatred against the queer community.
LGBTQ students and advocates at Brigham Young University slammed the school for requiring all freshmen read a controversial 2021 speech that they say incited violence and hatred against the queer community.
A new required course at the Provo, Utah, university titled "UNIV 101: BYU Foundations for Student Success, a New Chapter for BYU" features the controversial "musket fire" speech by Latter-day Saint religious leader and former BYU President Jeffrey R. Holland as a core reading. Starting in the winter 2024 semester, all incoming students, except transfer students, will have to take the course in their first semester.
In the speech titled "The Second Half of the Second Century of Brigham Young University," Holland condemned criticisms of the Mormon faith, calling on members of the church to defend its teachings with "musket fire." One such teaching, Holland said, includes "the doctrine of the family and defending marriage as the union of a man and a woman."
He also spoke about the issue of homosexuality as it relates to the Mormon church — "We have to be careful that love and empathy do not get interpreted as condoning and advocacy," he said — and addressed the potential "friendly fire" that could occur as a result of defending the faith.
"Sometimes it isn’t friendly, wounding students and the parents of students — so many who are confused about what so much recent flag-waving and parade-holding on this issue means," Holland said.
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