Provo, Utah - A senior at BYU who is studying to be a doctor finds himself in the middle of the heated debate over same sex marriage and California's proposition 8. It is all because of a letter he wrote to the editor of the campus newspaper -- The Daily Universe.
The way Cary Crall tells the story, his letter was first rejected, then turned into a full blown "guest" editorial, published, and then quickly removed from the newspaper's website and labeled, "offensive."
Crall wrote that Mormons ought to be honest about the real reasons they put so much time, money and effort into passage of prop 8. After reading the decision of the federal judge in the prop 8 case, he concluded there is little rational basis for many of the arguments for prop 8. So if such arguments were not the real reasons for their support, then what? "The real reason," he wrote, "is that a man who most of us believe is a prophet of God told us to support the amendment."
"If the real reason for supporting the amendment is a privately held religious opinion and belief in a prophet -- that a prophet is telling us to do it -- then we need to be honest about that and take the consequences," Crall told me. "I think the Mormon community owes that kind of introspection to the rest of the world for our actions in proposition 8."
Crall now finds himself defending not only his opinion, but also his faith. "I won't admit that my stand is against the LDS Church," he said. "My stance is that if you're choosing to follow the prophet... be honest about that."
On the decision to yank Crall's article from the online edition of The Daily Universe, Faculty Advisor Edward Carter wrote, "The Daily Universe made an independent decision to remove the student viewpoint titled "Defending Proposition 8" after being alerted by various readers that the content of the editorial was offensive."
Crall shot back, "I find that ridiculous." Crall contends that just because people choose to be "offended" by an opinion is not a valid reason to quash that opinion.
Several students on campus told me they had not read Crall's editorial. One even said he was aware only of the controversy, but not the content.
Since the article was pulled, Crall said he's been flooded with emails and requests for interviews.
