‘Angels’ protect LGBT+ students from armed protesters at drag show event at Utah’s Brigham Young University

Winged supporters mirrored famous 1999 murder trial of gay Wyoming student

LGBT+ students were protected by real-life “angels” when armed protesters sought to disrupt a “Back to School Pride Night” drag show in Utah.

Students from Brigham Young University (BYU) were confronted by hundreds of protesters on Saturday at the LGBT+ event in an off-campus location in Kiwanis Park in Provo, Utah.

The tide turned when protectors appeared, wearing angel wings made using white sheets and plastic tubing, and formed a protective barrier to block the anti-LGBT+ protest from sight.

Still, as the Salt Lake Tribune reported, homophobic slurs could be heard by those in attendance at the annual gathering organised by an LGBT+ nonprofit for BYU students, the RaYnbow Collective.

Maddison Tenney, the organisation’s founder, said Provo police had warned her that there would be a large crowd protesting against the drag show in light of recent anti-LGBT+ protests at events up and down the US, including a drag brunch in Texas last month. 

“Religion has been weaponised against the queer community for a long time,” she said of the religious and conservative protesters in an interview with the Tribune. “But that needs to end. I believe there’s nothing more divine than who I am as a queer child of God.”

While some protesters on Saturday were seen with pistols on their hips, one of the signs read: “God hates f*****s”, according to the Tribune.

“I attended the pride event and drag show tonight and participated as an angel,” wrote one Twitter user, “The vile things yelled at us by people claiming to follow Christ was terrible actually”.

BYU, which was founded by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, bans LGBT+ students from meeting on campus in organised groups.

It caused controversy in 2020 for removing a ban on same sex dating but suggested it would continue to enforce the rule, which as the Associated Press reported in January led to Education Department investigation being opened into potential civil rights violations under Title IX, a federal law protecting against discrimination on the basis of sex in schools.

In February, BYU said the department found the school was exempt from the anti-discrimination law because of its religious status in a decision that upset many students.

A similar sight to Saturday’s “angel” anti-protest was seen in 1999 when friends of an openly gay University of Wyoming student, Matthew Shepard, wore “angel wings” outside the trial of his two accused killers, who were said to have targeted him because of his sexuality.

The case was symbolic and widely seen as a turning point in attitudes towards LGBT+ people.

The Independent has approached the university for comment.