The Provo Freedom Festival, one of the largest Independence Day parades and celebrations in the United States, has just this evening told the LGBT recourse center Encircle, only just opened this year, that they cannot participate on the grounds that they are a “political advocacy” group. Encircle is demonstrably a 501c3, a nonprofit organization, that must prove it is not political. On the contrary, Encircle is a much-needed counseling center for a specific group of people who feel marginalized in the Mormon-dominated community of Provo.
What the Freedom Festival seems to mean is that Encircle promotes acceptance and love toward the LGBT community, something that the Mormon church, which in the past two weeks has proven itself to be yet more anti-LGBT than ever with the refusal to allow 12 year old Savannah to continue to speak her testimony after she admitted she believed that God had made her gay and that He loved her even so (), does not wish to allow in a city that is 98% Mormon and possibly growing more Mormon every year due to the influence of church-owned Brigham Young University.
Encircle seeks to reduce the risk of youth suicide, which has risen in the last ten years to the point that Utah has the highest rate in the nation of youth suicide. Encircle offers counseling for parents and children and a “safe and welcoming home” for all gender identities and sexual orientations and all religious paths.
Stephenie Larsen, director of Encircle, had envisioned the community center for years before she was able to find a place for it, just south of the new Provo City Center temple. On the board is Tom Christofferson, gay brother of the Mormon apostle, D. Todd Christofferson. Former BYU and NFL quarterback Steve Young and his wife have worked tirelessly to help Encircle become a reality and tried to offer reconciliation efforts with Provo City, to no avail. It is a travesty that this group is to be excluded from the Freedom Festival. It will only lead to more sense of exclusion for this community within Mormonism, which is exactly what Encircle was designed to prevent.