Matt Easton, who came out gay during a
valedictorian speech at LDS-owned Brigham Young University, said
Monday that a classmate's suicide moved him to publicly announce his
sexuality.
Brigham Young University's Honor Code
declares “homosexual behavior” as “inappropriate” and
prohibited. This includes “all forms of physical intimacy that give
expression to homosexual feelings.” The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which owns the university, has been a
vocal opponent of same-sex marriage.
In his April 29 speech, Easton said
that he was “proud to be a gay son of God.”
Appearing Monday on Ellen DeGeneres'
daytime talk show, Easton said that being a gay student at BYU was
“really scary.”
He also shared an emotional story about
another gay BYU student.
“It was his last semester and he was
in sort of the same situation that I was, and he decided to come out
on Facebook, and because of the rhetoric and the response that he got
from our community he actually ended up committing suicide,” Easton
told DeGeneres. “He sat right in front of me, and I saw him do
that, and I thought, ‘Is that my future? Is that what I’m headed
toward?’ So I thought, maybe if I came out at graduation, maybe a
student like me, a freshman, could say, ‘No, my future’s
something brighter, something better. We can succeed. We can do what
we want and accomplish our dreams.’ So that’s why I chose to come
out there.”
“It's all about visibility,”
DeGeneres told Easton. “What you did was pretty amazing, and
especially to be here. You are going to be seen by a lot of people.”