Wednesday, December 24, 2008

'Mormons Gone Wild'

"After one man undresses missionaries for his calendar, LDS Church–owned Brigham Young University strips him of his degree." Advocate story (and more photos) here.

When they weren’t busy promoting the passage of California’s Proposition 8 in recent months, Mormon leaders tried their best to make Chad Hardy’s life hell. Riled by his “Men on a Mission” calendar of shirtless returned missionaries, elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints excommunicated Hardy -- a lifelong Mormon -- in July. Then in September, officials from the Provo, Utah–based Brigham Young University informed the 32-year-old entrepreneur, who had participated in the school’s graduation ceremony a month earlier, that his diploma would be denied. BYU says Hardy’s expulsion from the church placed him outside of the “good honor-code standing” necessary to award him his degree, which has been placed on nonacademic hold; Hardy contends that since he completed his coursework prior to excommunication, the rule should not apply. Meanwhile the 2008 skin-baring calendar has sold more than 10,000 copies, and Hardy -- who eschews sexual labels himself -- says the just-released (and “a little bit sexier”) 2009 incarnation is already “flying off the shelves.” . . .

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