A screenshot from All Enlisted’s “Wear Pants to Church Day” event on Facebook, an event that was later removed by Facebook administrators due to threats.
A BYU philosophy student was reported to the Honor Code Office and University Police on Dec. 13 for allegedly making death threats toward All Enlisted, a group responsible for the Facebook event “Wear Pants to Church Day,” the first event created by the advocacy group to promote women’s equality in the LDS Church.
The student’s post on the event’s Facebook page states “every single person who is a minority activist, should be shot.. in the face… point blank… GET OVER YOURSELVES”. Hours after the threat was posted the event was removed from Facebook and members of All Enlisted reported the student to BYU’s Honor Code Office and police.
“We organized this event to highlight one of the gendered cultural norms in our church as a symbol of the larger gender inequities that exist,” said event coordinator Kimberly Brinkerhoff Baptista. “It looks like people get pretty angry when you challenge the status quo.”
BYU Police Public Information Officer Arnold Lemmon confirmed that they had been contacted about the incident, but that it was outside of their jurisdiction because the student is suspected to live off-campus. BYU Police referred the complaint to the BYU Honor Code Office which has opted not to comment on the status of its investigation of the threats to protect the student’s privacy.
In a later comment, the same student retracted his death threat but not his malice stating, “the motive of the comment was to rile each of you up, which I did in a most successful way. I didn’t even know that this post made such an impact till I received a phone call this morning pleading for me to delete this post. I will not be deleting this post. I will let this fire burn until anyone who chooses to be an activist has their day ruined completely.”
The student had been the most public and extreme assailant of All Enlisted but not the only one to make threats of violence. One organizer, who has since left the group All Enlisted, received a private message that threatened her life. Details on that instance have not been disclosed to protect the anonymity of the threatened organizer but the threat is under investigation by authorities.
Other severe responses to the “Wear Pants to Church Day” ranged from impartial to extreme. Another BYU student allegedly messaged a member of All Enlisted saying, “…lighten up. If God designed you to take a [word omitted], you should be able to at least take a joke.”
The negative responses did not damage the event according the event organizers. Dialogue of “Wear Pants to Church Day” put the event in the national spotlight, hitting news sites The New York Times and National Public Radio.
“In the end, the extreme nature of the criticisms leveled against our event made our point for us better than any pair of pants ever could,” Baptista said. “Not only that, but it was the single factor that landed us in the international press. So in that sense, the best way to have opposed the event would have been to not oppose it at all.”
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How did we get so off track as a faith community?
You get crazy people in every religion, but the one in the Facebook post is extra crazy. Send him to Africa we will sort him out fast. Some women do wear pants here, most of us choose not to, one reason being Africa without Air-conditioning is not a great place to wear pants Summer or Winter. I think depending where you are in the world, the human issues differ, but being patronized or ignored is not a major one i have found here, the women do not take kindly to that, and then we also have so many different cultures here that brings there own problems, pants is not an issue it is a non issue to us. We are still trying to get family’s to stop “selling” their daughters. Unless the young man pays, they can’t get married. The problem is that the decision is made by the Matriarch and Father, uncles and brothers most of whom are not LDS. We are loosing many young people because of this tradition, so you can see that wearing pants is the least of our problems. We could do with help fighting that, that’s worth fighting for.
I don’t understand the need some people have to me mean.
That is a great last line, Sister Baptista.
It is a shame that what people wear to church has to stir up such controversy. I believe Jesus would have just wanted you to wear some clothes for modesty purposes. This demonstrates the culture of Mormonism where being judgmental is cultivated.
Sounds like a dangerously slippery slope, to justify judgment that way. Careful there.
Because of his comments this event has been kept in the public eye much longer. Anytime one group takes a stand against the policies of a larger group, there will be controversy. You aren’t going to please everyone.
This news came across my facebook page, So glad to see that the Saints fully love and support each other and that they are shining examples of Christ-like love for theWorld to see and hopefully to emulate.
I have to ask, Do the minority students like the Lamanites get such treatment in their activities at BYU? After all, for whatever cause we all support no matter our race & ethnicity or gender, aren’t we all Activists?
oh….. one more thing,
Whomever used my name & info to get student loan $ back in 1999-2000 to attend this college while I was up here in Alaska, I hope you spent those funds wisely and got a good education, Remind me again about mormon honesty, please?
Samuel L Flyinghorse
God isn’t looking at your pants or dresses or your white shirts and ties… God is looking at your heart.. what’s the state of your heart?
1 Samuel 16:7 …. for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.
I completely agree with you there. We aren’t in the position to judge others.
I was amazed when my family pretty much said they liked women wearing pants to church, because now they had a way to detect a heathen or apostate in their midst. As a male, I identified strongly with the movement, because as a faithful Mormon, I was the guy wearing a sweater or khakis to church. The pressure to conform is intense. So glad to be free of it! Really, the only thing any Mormon should say to those women is, “I don’t care what you wear to church, I just hope you come.” I read through hundreds of comments, and comments like that were rare.
About a decade ago, I had a friend kicked out of BYU for simply taking part in an anti-war protest in Salt Lake City. Funny how you can call for outright murder of anyone defending a minority group on a public board and there doesn’t seem to be any punishment, but take a moral stand against war and you can pack your bags. This hypocrisy makes an embarrassment of the entire university and church values.
Is it true that there was no discipline meted out to Travis? That is so not right! A comment like that should get him kicked out of BYU. I had a friend once who was excommunicated from the church for “Un-Christian conduct.” This was definitely Un-Christian conduct. (I am the Donnell who replied on the original thread, btw.)
The honor code office usually takes 6-8 weeks to investigate an incident and contacts the people involved. I have yet to here of anyone frim All Enlisted talk to the office therefore I am assuming no action has been taken.
I hope the Honor Code Office takes this threat as seriously as they do minor sexual sins.
The HCO will do nothing — since they believe BYU is held to a higher law, they will commend Travis for upholding the doctrine of blood atonement.
Also, since campus police said it fell outside of their jurisdiction, why don’t they contact the Provo police?
Get a grip, the only blood atonement was what Jesus shed on the cross. Sadly this young man does not seem to grasp this or he would not have made a death threat. As for women in the LDS Church, it’s not pants or a skirt that makes us equal….it’s our God given right.
Travis’s attitude reminds me of the hatred the Jews had for the early Jewish Saints for being different. Saul, before he became Paul, persecuted and killed the Saints. I hope church members like Travis consider how The Lord warns us to avoid the danger of hellfire by preventing ourselves from being full of hate towards our fellow brethren and sisters.