Four Brigham
Young University students who participated in Soulforce
Equality Ride demonstrations on campus in April have been
disciplined. The Mormon school, located in Provo,
Utah, put three of the students on probation, and the
fourth was given "suspension withheld," a step before
actual suspension, the Associated Press reports.
The students were all punished for violating
BYU's honor code by joining with Equality Riders to
protest their school's discriminatory policy against
gays. BYU bans same-sex sexual contact because the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints considers homosexuality a sin.
The Equality Ride was a seven-week tour that was
conducted this spring by young LGBT activists and
allies of religious universities and military
academies that discriminate against gay people. Twenty-nine
Equality Riders and their supporters were arrested at
BYU for violating the university's ban on protests.
On Wednesday, 21 of them pleaded guilty or no
contest in fourth district court, according to the AP.
They were fined $200 each. (The Advocate)