Church updates honor code for BYU, other schools

BYU, BYU-Idaho and other Latter-day Saint universities are operating under a freshly updated Honor Code that aligns them with the new General Handbook released earlier in the day by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. | Deseret News Archives

Update deletes section on homosexual behavior ‘to be in line with the doctrines and policies of the church’

PROVO — BYU announced Wednesday that it and other Latter-day Saint universities are operating under a freshly updated honor code that aligns them with the new General Handbook released earlier in the day by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

One notable difference is that the updated honor code no longer includes a section on same-sex behavior. That section had proscribed “all forms of physical intimacy.”

Under the code, each member of the BYU community continues to commit personally to “abstaining from any sexual relations outside a marriage between a man and a woman.”

The code continues to say specifically that all sexual misconduct is not permitted. The new church handbook states that “the Lord’s law of chastity is abstinence from sexual relations outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.”

BYU’s website says the code was updated on Feb. 12.

The Church Educational System honor code applies to all of the church’s institutions of higher education — BYU, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii, BYU-Pathway Worldwide and LDS Business College.

Both the previous versions of the honor code and General Handbook were principles-based. The updates of each are intended to make them even more so, according to news releases both by the university and the church.

The updated honor code still “allows each campus to support and guide its students on an individual basis according to the principles outlined in the honor code,” BYU’s release said.

Each campus, for example, will continue to maintain its own dress and grooming standards.

Previously, BYU’s honor code included a section on “homosexual behavior” that stated, “One’s stated same-gender attraction is not an honor code issue. However, the honor code requires all members of the university community to manifest a strict commitment to the law of chastity. Homosexual behavior is inappropriate and violates the honor code. Homosexual behavior includes not only sexual relations between members of the same sex, but all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings.”

The new church General Handbook states that same-sex sexual relations are a sin that may necessitate a membership council — a council to decide if a sin is serious enough to restrict or withdraw membership.

The new handbook includes new links to allow church leaders and members “to better understand and support people whose lives are affected by same-sex attraction.” Those links include a Gospel Topics page on the church’s official website titled “Same-sex Attraction and an additional webpage on the site, also titled “Same-Sex Attraction,” but formerly known as mormonandgay.lds.org.

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