Jeffrey R. Holland’s Message: Shut Up And We Will Love You
August 25, 2021
In a speech on Monday to staff at Brigham Young University, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the LDS Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, spoke for several minutes about what he termed "the whole same-sex topic on campus." He said many things worthy of alarm, but I have time to discuss only a few.
His discursion began with a reference to the builders of the LDS Nauvoo Temple who, due to hostility toward the Mormon Church in the 1840s, worked with a "trowel in one hand and a musket in the other." He then used the metaphor of "musket fire" to symbolize defending the Church, and stated, "I would like to hear a little more musket fire [from BYU staff]." In context, he was saying he wants to hear more statements from those loyal to Church leadership defending the Church's position on "the whole same-sex topic."
His use of the "musket fire" metaphor was highly unfortunate—frankly, it was nakedly irresponsible. Elder Holland is speaking at a time when individuals in the U.S. are purchasing guns at the highest rate on record. He is speaking in a nation that only months ago saw an armed invasion of its capitol, spurred by the inflammatory rhetoric of another leader. He is speaking in a State (Utah) that in 2020 had the highest rate of gun sales in the U.S., a State where only one week ago a newlywed lesbian couple was murdered—by gunfire—at a campsite in Moab.
One is forced to wonder: is Elder Holland so culturally tone deaf that he doesn't understand the risks of his imagery? Or does he actually intend to endanger LGBTQ people and their allies?
Then, only moments after his metaphorical call for gunfire, Elder Holland decried divisiveness and conflict. The gross contradiction and hypocrisy here are stupefying. But there was still more.
Next, he blamed the LGBTQ community for all the contention, pointing the finger at "language, symbols, and situations that are more divisive than unifying." He seems to be referring here to language like that of Matt Easton, BYU's 2019 valedictorian, who announced his sexual orientation during his graduation speech; to symbols like the Pride flag and the recent lighting in Pride colors of BYU's emblematic Y on the mountain; and to situations like the recent unofficial Pride week at BYU.
Self-awareness might have caused Elder Holland to consider the divisiveness—and the very real pain and hardship—that would be caused by his own language in this very speech, the threat implicit in his own symbol of musket fire, and the truly innumerable situations in the lives of LDS LGBTQ people where we feel separate and unequal to cisgender straights. Self-awareness might, in other words, have caused him to see that, in the divisive tango between the Church and LGBTQ people, the Church is a very aggressive dance partner. If he has any such awareness he did not reveal it.
In context, his sentence about divisive language, symbols and situations is cruelly ironic and, I think, summarizes his comments. It reads, "[the Brethren] are trying to avoid — and hope ALL will try to avoid — language, symbols, and situations that are more divisive than unifying at the very time we want to show love for ALL of God’s children." He seems to be saying, in other words: "Hey, gays and lesbians, if you will just shut we will love you. Or at least we won't have to shoot you." Is this inspired leadership?