On Thursday, March 30, a BYU professor revealed to her SFL200 “The Eternal Family” class that her eight-year-old son was “diagnosed with gender dysphoria” after taking him to a professional as he would frequently play with Barbies and dress in girls’ clothes.
According to our sources, throughout the class, Professor Sarah Coyne presented photos of her son doing such things as evidence of his gender dysphoria. Julie Jarvis, a junior at BYU, described herself as “shocked and saddened” by the class. Julie added, “As someone studying families and hoping to work with children both professionally and personally for the rest of my life, my heart went out to this little boy and all those like him whose parents are confusing them in the most destructive way.”
Coyne concluded the class by inviting everyone to sing the children’s hymn “I’ll Walk With You” while continuing to present the slides of her young, cross-dressing son. Notably, the hymn describes a child walking with someone who feels left out as a demonstration of their Christ-like love towards others. Julie told of her confusion about the singing, and stated:
“There were students crying and hugging while I sat in shock, still trying to wrap my mind around what was so casually presented to us. Another student noticed I wasn’t singing and asked what was wrong… When I pointed out that she had, in essence, told us that her son was transgender, he was surprised. He, like so many others in the class, had been distracted by the professor’s virtue signaling and didn’t even realize what had been shown and taught to us not five minutes prior.”
In subsequent classes, the she continued to describe herself as the parent of a “transgender child,” also referring to her son as “they.”
In July 2021, BYU News reported on this professor’s groundbreaking research, which found that “children who engaged with princess culture were more likely to later hold progressive views about women and subscribe less to attitudes of hegemonic masculinity.” Coyne and her study have been covered by Cwic Media. Additionally, a Reddit post on r/BYU from June 2021 described her as having a “queer child.” It is unclear as to whether the student was referencing the young boy from last month’s class or another child.
SLF200 fulfills “The Eternal Family” religious course required by BYU and is also offered as a religious elective class. The class intends to teach “The Family Proclamation,” “teachings of latter-day prophets,” and “relationship science shown to contribute to the formation of healthy marriages and families.”
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states in its General Handbook that the “intended meaning of gender in the family proclamation is biological sex at birth” and, therefore, is an eternal characteristic. Members are counseled against social transitioning, or “presenting oneself as other than his or her biological sex at birth.”
Editor’s Note: The mission of The Cougar Chronicle is to articulate and spread the conservative perspective to the BYU community through the lens of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe this includes calling attention to problems we see at BYU violating our conscience. We make this report and others with the intent to heal the wounds of the psyche with the truth, not to “damage another’s reputation with pathetic and pithy barbs” as President Nelson said. We desire, and call on those reading this, to save others who may become permanently damaged by gender theory, not to damage them more.
Senior Contributor and Managing Editor at The Cougar Chronicle
Jacob Christensen
The Cougar Chronicle is an independent student-run newspaper and is not affiliated with Brigham Young University or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
