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[ SAY WHAT? ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/say-what)
# How You Like That
May 02 2022
Written by ABBY ZIMET.
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SAY WHAT? = In a small act of courage at a hostile time and place for it, Jillion Orr [**chose ](https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2022/04/28/byu-students-rainbow/)to "show my true colors" - rainbow-hued, it turns out - at her graduation from Utah's Brigham Young University, the Mormon, notoriously homophobic school whose draconian rules demand students live a "chaste and virtuous life" and church leaders have proclaimed same-sex romance Satanic. Based in Provo and affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, BYU explicitly bans queer dating or displays of affection under an unholy [**Honor Code**](https://www.newsweek.com/brigham-young-university-honor-code-office-reform-protest-1387193) that also forbids alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee, presumably thong underwear and "sexual relations outside a (duh, male/female) marriage." Recent pronouncements from the largely old white men who lead the Church include a call to [**take up ](https://www.advocate.com/news/2021/8/24/mormon-apostle-take-muskets-against-lgbtq-equality)"intellectual muskets” to defend the doctrine that marriage = a man and a woman, and the [**charge ](https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/10/06/mormon-leader-dallin-h/)that LGBTQ+ activism, which "comes from Satan," seeks "to confuse gender, which is eternal." BYU has [**reiterated ](https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2022/03/04/year-after-rainbow-y/)those ungodly beliefs, with the feds recently[ ruling ](https://www.advocate.com/religion/2022/2/11/education-dept-says-byu-can-discriminate-against-queer-students)they can practise bigotry while taking federal money thanks to, praise the Lord, a religious exemption. To date, BYU's most visible, dazzling dissent came in 2019 from valedictorian Matt Easton, who [**declared ](https://www.advocate.com/religion/2019/4/28/brigham-young-valedictorian-comes-out-gay-graduation-speech)at graduation, "I stand before (you) to say that I am proud to be a gay son of God. I am not broken."
Neither, it seems, is Jillion Orr, a 28-year-old psychology major and practising Mormon who halfway through her otherwise contented time at BYU fell in love with a woman, realized she was bisexual, and began to confront "the pre-conditioned shame and guilt (when) my actions and beliefs were not lining up." She stayed - the program was good, the tuition affordable - but [**endured**](https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Living/college-grad-opens-displaying-gay-pride-flag-byu/story?id=84325283)grievous assignments like writing a paper on why marriage between man and woman is "God's plan" (she refused to agree). Nearing graduation and weary of "feeling I had to hide myself," she "knew I wanted to protest in a civil manner that showed we will be seen (and) recognized, that this is who I was, and it was beautiful." Fearful of getting rushed off the stage and deciding she had to be "a bit sneaky," she got her two sisters to help stitch a rainbow flag inside her graduation gown; a massive video screen caught her smilingly crossing the stage and throwing it open to the glory of God. The image [**went viral**](https://www.tiktok.com/@jillianoreo/video/7089901779235654955?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc) on social media; she also [**posted ](https://www.tiktok.com/foryou?feed_mode=v1&is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7089901779235654955#/@jillianoreo/video/7089901779235654955)a Tik Tok of her [**making and modeling**](https://www.tiktok.com/@jillianoreo/video/7089901779235654955) it, to the Blackpink song "How You Like That," that's [**gotten ](https://www.instagram.com/p/CctSlp2l5X1/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=2afe5fd1-fab4-41ab-a9f7-831588b6f426)over three million views. Newly [**celebrated**](https://twitter.com/mattxiv/status/1519026781877059585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1519026781877059585%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2022%2F4%2F28%2F2094593%2F-Bisexual-Brigham-Young-University-student-protests-school-s-anti-queer-policies-on-graduation-stage) as a "badass" and "bisexual seamstress queen," she still faces uncertainty - BYU could revoke her degree - and the hard task of navigating a "rocky road" ahead. But having conquered her fear she is far [**happier**](https://www.facebook.com/jillianroseorr/posts/10158280915251956): "I can finally live authentically," with both her sexuality and faith intact. "It's just sad to see that other people in the church have a limit to their love," she says, "when the church says their love is endless.” Can we get an Amen.
*(*[***Abby Zimet***](https://www.commondreams.org/author/abby-zimet) *has written CD's* [***Further***](https://www.commondreams.org/further) *column since 2008. A longtime, award-winning journalist, involved in women's, labor, anti-war, social justice and refugee rights issues. Email:* [*azimet18@gmail.com*](mailto:azimet18@gmail.com)*)*
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