"This Valedictorian Came Out During His Graduation Speech -- At A Mormon University"

World War Two propaganda poster — Throughout Utah — and, no doubt, across the Western states generally — hundreds of thousands if not millions of listeners gather by their radios every Sunday night, seeking wisdom from the Interpreter Radio Show. They’re never disappointed.
(Wikimedia CC public domain)

The hosts of the 14 April 2019 broadcast of the Interpreter Radio Show were Terry Hutchinson, John Gee, and Kevin Christensen, and, among other things, they interviewed John W. Welch and Jeannie Welch:

Interpreter Radio Show — 14 April 2019

A stand-alone Interpreter Radio (audio) Roundtable for Come, Follow Me New Testament Lesson 17, “I Am the Good Shepherd,” covering John 7-10, has been extracted from the 14 April 2019 episode of the Interpreter Radio Show. The panelists for the roundtable were, again, the Interpreter radio hosts Terry Hutchinson, John Gee, and Kevin Christensen, together with John W. Welch and Jeannie Welch.

Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me New Testament Lesson 17 “I Am the Good Shepherd”

***

For the 21 April 2019 installment of the Interpreter Radio Show, Bruce Webster, Kris Frederickson, and Mike Parker discussed the fire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris and conducted a Come, Follow Me roundtable for lesson 18. Their conversation is now available, shorn of commercial interruptions, on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:

Interpreter Radio Show — 21 April 2019

If you simply want to listen to the Interpreter Radio (audio) Roundtable for Come, Follow Me New Testament Lesson 18, “Rejoice with Me; for I Have Found My Sheep Which Was Lost,” covering Luke 12–17 and John 11, it has been extracted from the 21 April 2019 broadcast of Interpreter Radio, given abo ve. The panelists for it were, of course, Bruce Webster, Kris Frederickson and Mike Parker:

Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me New Testament Lesson 18 “Rejoice with Me; for I Have Found My Sheep Which Was Lost”

***

Also on the website of the Interpreter Foundation, Hales Swift provides

A Video Supplement for Come, Follow Me Lesson 17: “I Am the Good Shepherd.”

***

This story has received a fair amount of coverage and comment both locally and nationally, and it’s easy to understand why:

“This valedictorian came out during his graduation speech — at a Mormon university”

Being gay while trying to maintain the standards and keep the covenants of a faithful Latter-day Saint is a tough row to hoe. I wouldn’t wish it upon anybody. When I was serving as a singles ward bishop, I had a few such cases — though, frankly, quite a bit fewer than I had anticipated. My heart went out to them, and I tried to be as supportive and as helpful as I could.

I wish this young man all the best and hope that he can keep the faith. If he can do so, he will have developed a reserve of spiritual strength that most of us will never need to call upon.

Postscript: The article’s notion that Church policy discriminated against children “whose parents are [merely] a part of the LGBT+ community” — whatever that vague phrase means — is a bit off target. But, I think, not maliciously so.