February 28, 2000, The Digital Universe [BYU], Letter to the editor: Don't condemn homosexuals, by Ryan Shattuck,

February 28, 2000, The Digital Universe [BYU], Letter to the editor: Don't condemn homosexuals, by Ryan Shattuck, 

Dear Editor:

I would like to respond to the letter last week that began "I am gay. I am also LDS." The author of that letter was my cousin. Like most Latter-day Saints, I used to think that being gay meant that you had earned yourself a one-way ticket to hell and that you obviously had to choose this for yourself.

I found out in December that my cousin was gay. Understandably, it turned my world upside down. He was very active in the church, he served a mission, he graduated from BYU and he frequently went to the temple.

The fact is, he didn't choose to be gay. Why would he choose something that would have made his life that much harder? He struggled over this part of himself. In his 32 years of living, not once did he do anything that would have cost him his membership in the church.

So why do I tell you about him? Because he felt so much self-hatred, because he realized he would never marry, because his life was more difficult than we'll ever understand, that he decided to end his life Friday morning. In his suicide note, my cousin said he ended his life because he was gay.

Please stop yourself from jumping all over the issue, thinking that you completely understand these people, when you have not even talked to them.

I have a testimony in the prophet and the brethren, and believe in everything they say. But I think as members, we are far from perfect. We are so quick to judge, we are so quick to assume that issues are black and white, and that everything else falls by the wayside.

Please reach out to those who need your help. I wish that I had done that for my cousin, but it's too late for that. The best I can do is tell others to do the same.

I don't condone homosexuality and I don't agree with it, but I do realize that this is something people struggle with. I don't know what Christ would do when it comes to these people, but he wouldn't condemn them, and he wouldn't turn his back on them.

In a school that is Christ-centered, maybe we can make a conscious effort to do the same.

Ryan Shattuck

Hollister, Calif.