The Mormons are actually beating progressives on rape advocacy

Did you ever think you would see the day when the Mormons outdid the so-called “progressives” on responding to rape?

Earlier this year, Brigham Young University found itself under fire for its policies towards sex abuse victims. The school holds students to a rigid “Honor Code” that forbids, among other things: fornication, alcohol, having members of the opposite sex in your home past curfew, tea, and beards. You know, the kind that covers a man’s face, not the kind that covers for a gay man’s sexuality — although the university probably frowns on those as well.

{mosads}Say a woman was in a man’s apartment past curfew when he decided to put sexual assault on the agenda for the evening. Such a woman might be reluctant to report the assault to school authorities for fear of being disciplined by the Honor Code office for her own curfew-breaking.

The Salt Lake Tribune investigated and found a long string of female students who say they were disciplined by the Honor Code office when they attempted to report that they were raped or otherwise sexually assaulted. Many students said that they decided not to report what had happened to them for just that reason. Others said that their assailants even mentioned that they knew their victims weren’t going to report what had happened because of the Honor Code office.

It gets worse. Utah had its beginnings as a theocracy and still has a little trouble with this whole “separation of church and state” thing. So when BYU sophomore Madi Barney reported to the police that a non-student had raped her, Utah Sheriff’s Department Deputy Edwin Randolph, who was acquainted with her assailant, didn’t believe her account, and wanted to see her punished, illegally turned her police report over to BYU. The university complied by launching an Honor Code investigation into Barney and suspending her. Randolph is still at his job, and though an internal investigation is ongoing, he isn’t likely to be fired.

Here’s where it gets better: earlier this week, BYU announced a new policy of granting “Honor Code amnesty” to victims of sexual assault, just one of a long list of changes geared towards helping sexual assault victims feel supported and “safe” about coming forward.

Other changes include hiring a new full-time Title IX Coordinator (and presumably getting rid of the victim-hating old one), housing the Title IX office in a completely separate location from the Honor Code office, and mandating that the Title IX office will not share information with the Honor Code office without the victim’s consent.

Or in other words: the Mormons took a long, hard look at their treatment of sexual assault victims and made changes that mattered instead of excuses.

Meanwhile, “progressives” continue to ignore sex abuse victims who happen to be inconvenient for them and/or make excuses for their tormentors. Donald Trump’s multiplicity of accusers have been featured in major media outlets like The Washington Post, People, and The New York Times, while a new and credible Bill Clinton accuser was relegated to conservative blogs and the misogynistic dumpster fire that is Breitbart News.

The feminist owner and editor of Wonkette told us in all seriousness earlier this year that Bill Clinton’s alleged rape of Juanita Broaddrick wouldn’t necessarily make him an evil man or a bad feminist and that his private attempt at apologizing to her via phone could be sufficient penance. Remind me again — why did Brock Turner serve three months of jail time for rape if private phone apologies are sufficient rape atonement — and why was everyone so upset about that?

And have you heard the one about how we shouldn’t care about Bill Clinton’s accusers because Bill isn’t running for president, and Hillary was just being a good wife when she smeared his alleged victims? For her own part, when asked about her husband’s accusers at the third presidential debate, Hillary pretended she hadn’t heard the question and did not address the subject.

I am no expert on advocating for victims of sexual assault, but I know that only caring about rape when the people you don’t like are guilty of it is also known as “not caring about rape.” And I know that it’s hard to take a long look at one’s church, one’s university, one’s political party, and say “this is wrong and it needs to change.” But if the Mormons can do it, so can the rest of us.

Speaking of which, Utah is currently the only state poised to give the polite Mormon equivalent of the middle finger to this entire election and send its electoral votes to someone other than Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. The Mormons are putting the rest of this nation to shame in more ways than one.

Bridget Jack Jeffries is a non-Mormon who drank tea once while she was attending BYU — and still feels really bad about it. Follow her on Twitter or GAB.

The views of Contributors are their own and are not necessarily the views of The Hill