SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) She is a life-long member of the LDS church with the needed ecclesiastical endorsement to hold a current temple recommend -- her faith's standard of being a believer in good standing. 
 
 Now she has taught her final class at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho, after she declined to retract a Facebook statement (which can be read in its entirety at the bottom of this story) supporting the LGBT community. She was told by the school to retract her statement and when she refused, she lost her job. 
 
 Ruthie Robertson, an adjunct professor of political science -- one of the school's youngest -- taught that final class last week. She told 2News, she was allowed to finish out her summer course, but her contracted classes for fall and winter semesters have been cancelled. 
 
 She made the now viral Facebook post on June 5. She said within hours she was reported to BYU-Idaho administration and was called in to discuss the post. She called the post “private” and said she did not think it would hurt her career. 
 
 “I’m currently a member of the LDS Church. This organization has openly and forcefully opposed same-sex relationships and legalized same-sex marriage,” the post said in the post's opening. 
 
 She wrote about the LDS church fighting for California's Proposition 8, an amendment to the state's constitution, fighting to stop same sex marriage in the state and allowing religious universities, doctors and adoption services, among other services, being denied to same-sex couples. 
 
 Robertson, a member of the LDS church, said she has many gay friends and wrote the post to let them know she supported and loved them. She said she could not remove or rescind the post. 
 
 “I could not take it back,” she said. 
 
 Robertson said she felt secure in making her post on Facebook because it is private; no students followed her online and her beliefs have never been taught in a classroom. 
 
 Elder D. Todd Christofferson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, one of the church's highest offices, told KUTV in 2015 that Mormons would not have their membership endangered by posting support of same-sex marriage on social media. 
 
 "There hasn't been any litmus test or standard imposed that you couldn't support that if you want to support it, if that's your belief and you think it's right," Christofferson said after a Jan. 27 news conference, reported by KUTV media partner The Salt Lake Tribune. 
 
 
 
 Christofferson was not asked and did not address what was appropriate for church employees. 
 
 She believes a former roommate who’d called her out for previous posts on feminism was likely the one who brought the LGBT post to BYUI’s attention. 
 
 
 
 “This is my official announcement and declaration that I believe heterosexuality and homosexuality are both natural and neither is sinful. I will never support the phrase 'love the sinner, hate the sin' because that “sin” is part of who that person is,” she wrote. 
 
 The June 5, Facebook post delves into LDS Church’s 2015 stance stating that children of gay couples could not be baptized until the age of 18. Robertson takes issue with this new guideline calling it “anti-family.” 
 
 “Most Christian faiths label homosexuality as a sin based on archaic writings A few hateful verses in the Old Testament have led to hundreds of years of prejudice, hatred, violence, and pain. If we’re going to follow the Old Testament, and use it to justify a hateful stance, there are several other things we need to start condemning and punishing.” 
 
 Robertson wrote in her post that such archaic teachings should be left in the past like others that include wearing clothing made of more than one fiber. Those Biblical laws that now seem outdated in her mind include -keeping menstruating women at home because they are unclean. 
 
 Robertson ended her LGBT Pride month post by saying “I will always and forever stand up for the equality of the LGBT community. Sexuality and gender are not binary, they are on a spectrum and that’s how we were made. Stand up for humanity, love people because of who they are... not despite who they are.” 
 
 She said she was never promised that she could keep her job if she retracted her post but says it was implied. She made an immediate attempt by writing the following: 
 
 In honor of LGBT Pride Month, I thought I would reveal some things in the name of authenticity. I'd like to preface this by saying that, as an employee of BYUI, my views do not reflect the school or LDS Church. These are my personal beliefs, and they have no place in my classroom nor will they ever. Students often approach me and ask my opinion on certain matters of the Church, and I always diplomatically discourage the discussion and tell them to seek their own truths rather than a professor. My students know that I expect respect and love for all, no matter their gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc. and that's the most I've said on the following subject. 
 
 Robertson wants to make it clear she is still a member of the LDS church and has no plans of leaving. She has since accepted students on her Facebook page who’ve reached out in support of her, but did not accept such requests until she was fired. 
 
 BYU-Idaho sent the following statement: 
 
 Brigham Young University-Idaho has a long-standing policy of not commenting on personnel matters. 
 
 While the University would not discuss the situation, there is evidence that Robertson was indeed contracted to teach into next year. As of Monday, BYU-Idaho still had Robertson slated in the online catalog of classes teaching POLSC170 International politics through 2018. 
 
 Robertson is a former student of BYU-Idaho and does not yet know where she will go next to teach. 
 
 Robertson said she was born and raised in Virginia as a member of the LDS church - officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her mother was a convert. 
 
 She said she was home schooled until high school, and received her undergraduate degree from BYU-Idaho. She said it was during her time as a student there she started to realize she was “quite liberal.” While attending BYU, Robertson said she was a teaching aid for two years and started teaching POLSC170 for her internship. She was hired in December, 2016 to teach online at BYU-Idaho and started on campus in April, 2017. 
 
 Robertson has been an active member of the LDS church her entire life and is an “endowed” member who has been through the LDS temple. She has “always had an issue with religions policies on LGBT, but felt comfortable” with her own personal stance until the Nov. 15 policy on the baptisms for children with gay parents was leaked. Robertson said she has “been struggling ever since -- but still remains a member of the church, and holds a temple recommend.” 
 
 Robertson's Facebook post: 
 
 June 5th 
 
 In honor of LGBT Pride Month, I thought I would reveal some things in the name of authenticity. I’m currently a member of the LDS Church. This organization has openly and forcefully opposed same-sex relationships and legalized same-sex marriage. They pushed members in California to fight against Prop 8, and had a policy claiming that same-sex relationships were a sin and discouraged individuals from participating in them. In the past, the Church was a facilitator for adoptions. They ended this part of the organization to avoid having to deal with adoption requests from same-sex couples. In November 2015, they took their stance further by labeling same-sex couples in the Church as apostates, meaning those found in these relationships would have a disciplinary hearing to determine their membership status; they can either end their engagements in this sinful life, or be excommunicated. The policy also prevents their children from joining the Church until they are 18, with the condition that they disavow their parent’s life style. For an organization that places so much importance on the family unit, this policy sure seems to be attacking a form of that unit. Most Christian faiths label homosexuality as a sin based on archaic writings. A few hateful verses in the Old Testament have led to hundreds of years of prejudice, hatred, violence, and pain. If we’re going to follow the Old Testament, and use it to justify a hateful stance, there are several other things we need to start condemning and punishing. Leviticus 19:19 tells us we can’t wear clothing of two kinds of material… so, basically every clothing item ever has to be burned. The next time you see someone wearing clothes (which is always… so, you’re welcome for the opportunity to show your spiritual superiority), check the tag to see the materials it’s made from. If it’s more than one, tell them they should desire to walk around naked rather than wear clothing made of more than one material! Women, in Leviticus 15, we learn that God purposely made us unclean. When we menstruate, we are unclean for those 7 days. Oh, and anyone or anything that touches us during that time is unclean as well. You aren’t allowed to go to church at that time because you’ll corrupt everything there with your blood flow. Oh, and you know how God also gave us the ability to grow a human inside of us? Well, after a woman has a child, she has a period of impurity and cannot be touched. If it’s a boy, she’s unclean for 40 days. If it’s a girl, she’s unclean for 80 days. As a female, you also are not allowed to read from the scriptures (wait… how am I supposed to know about my impurity rituals then?! I need to know how to make myself pure after my period!..too bad). You also cannot preach in a church (can I use this excuse next time I’m asked to speak in church?) None of this is archaic, sexist, or totally illogical at all though, right? God commanded these things, so we need to make sure we make these into policies as well! What I’m trying convey is that we like to pick and choose from the scriptures, and if we choose to use the Old Testament as a defense for condemning homosexuality… there’s a whole lot more we need to be condemning as well. The Book of Mormon is supposed to be the keystone of the Church, right? It never once mentions homosexuality. What is does mention is that God disposed the practice of polygamy, and the Nephites are brought to repentance for practicing it…. yet, Joseph Smith said God commanded him to practice it. We can’t keep picking and choosing what kind of God we worship, and we can’t keep picking and choosing which commandments of his are to be enforced or not. This is my official announcement and declaration that I believe heterosexuality and homosexuality are both natural and neither is sinful. I will never support the phrase “love the sinner, hate the sin” because that “sin” is part of who that person is. Homosexuality and transgenderism are not sins; if God made us, and those are part of who we are then God created that as well. I realize that my views counter the current day policies of the LDS Church, but I hope that over time the Church will come to see the harm these policies have. Church History shows that the Church has rescinded policies before that weren't doctrinal, and that weren't inspired by the Lord. I hope that this will someday apply to the stance on the LGBT community. I will always and forever stand up for the equality of the LGBT community. Sexuality and gender are not binary, they are on a spectrum and that’s how we were made. Stand up for humanity, love people because of who they are... not despite who they are. Trump can break the tradition of June being LGBT pride month, but I'm still going to celebrate it.. this month and every month to follow. #LGBTPrideMonth ||||| No staff from the Honor Code Office, which investigates student conduct, will be located in the same office as Title IX workers, who provide services to victims of sexual violence. Creating a new physical space to separate the offices is one of five recommendations being adopted immediately. 
 
 Title IX staff will be charged with ensuring that information they receive from alleged victims will not be shared with the Honor Code Office without their consent. And students who report sexual assaults will no longer face having their conduct at the time questioned for possible Honor Code violations. 
 
 Scrutiny of BYU's policies began in April, when then-student Madi Barney spoke out at a campus rape awareness conference about how Title IX personnel treated students who reported sexual assaults. She later launched an online petition for the university to adopt an amnesty policy and allow victims of sexual assault to report crimes without fear of school discipline. 
 
 "I am very happy with the results of the study, and I'm even happier that BYU has agreed to implement all 23 of the study's recommendations," Barney said Wednesday. "I am encouraged that BYU has said that these policies are living, growing and ongoing. I want BYU, and the community, to continue to look for ways we can help and support survivors." 
 
 Kelsey Bourgeois, who organized an April demonstration to deliver Barney's petition to campus administrators and has said she was raped while attending BYU, said she was "thrilled" by the changes. 
 
 "I even cried a little bit," she said. "I was so happy." 
 
 More than 50 people have told The Salt Lake Tribune they were sexually assaulted while attending BYU. A majority said they did not report the assaults, most of them citing fears that they would be disciplined for Honor Code violations. In several cases, students said their assailants explicitly raised the threat of school discipline to prevent reports. 
 
 A dozen current and former students interviewed by The Tribune said they were investigated for Honor Code violations in connection with sexual abuses against them. Students said school officials probed their conduct, reviewing curfew violations, what they were wearing, and even their communications with others about the Honor Code process — although the students had said they had not consented to sex. 
 
 The Honor Code at BYU, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, forbids alcohol and coffee, restricts contact between male and female students, imposes a strict dress code, and bans expressions of romantic affection between people of the same gender. 
 
 BYU said in a statement that a new amnesty clause will not become policy until it is reviewed by the Student, Faculty and Administrative Advisory Councils, but the university will start giving that protection to victims now. 
 
 President Kevin Worthen announced the changes in an email sent to students, staff and faculty Wednesday morning, saying victims of sexual assault "have been through a devastating experience, and they are looking for our help and support. We have an obligation not only to provide that support, both emotionally and spiritually, but also to create an environment where sexual assault is eliminated. 
 
 "We do not have all the answers to this problem, which is a nationwide issue affecting all colleges and universities," Worthen wrote. "But this report provides an excellent framework on which to build." 
 
 — 
 
 'Lack of sensitivity' 
 
 The advisory council, formed by BYU in May, outlined a number of problems it uncovered during its months of research, many stemming from overlap in the Honor Code and Title IX offices. 
 
 There is confusion about how to report a sexual assault, whom to report to and what resources are offered on campus, students told the council. 
 
 Until 2013, Title IX personnel were housed within the Honor Code Office. Today, the Title IX coordinator's office is next to the associate dean who oversees Honor Code investigations, with a Title IX investigator housed in the same suite. 
 
 The two offices also use the same tracking system for casework, and though a "firewall" was created to separate the investigations, "some Honor Code cases were mislabeled as Title IX cases," the group found. 
 
 In recent years, as the role of Title IX has grown at BYU, employees from departments such as athletics and the university police were working in the Title IX Office, as well as in their original positions. And Honor Code Office staff had been asked to investigate Title IX reports as well as Honor Code cases. 
 
 The report acknowledges that some employees may have brought "biases, attitudes ... and assumptions" to Title IX duties that may have resulted in a "lack of sensitivity" when looking into sexual assault reports. 
 
 At the April forum on rape awareness where Barney spoke out, then-Title IX coordinator Sarah Westerberg said her office would "not apologize" for addressing Honor Code violations, even though she acknowledged a "chilling" effect on sex crime reporting, according to several students who attended the event. 
 
 Student Life Vice President Janet Scharman, a member of the study group, said Westerberg will no longer be the Title IX coordinator. Instead, she will continue to serve as associate dean of students, while a new full-time coordinator will oversee the Title IX Office. 
 
 Two current full-time Title IX investigators will continue in their roles, Scharman said. 
 
 The advisory council recommends that the school "make it as clear as we possibly can that if there has been a sexual assault, that the place to go is to report it to the Title IX Office." 
 
 Council member Julie Valentine, a BYU nursing professor whose research focuses on sexual assault, said the group found that while some victims reported that their ecclesiastical leaders — upon whom Mormon students rely for an endorsement to remain enrolled — had been among the most helpful, "we also heard the opposite." Victims reported the same inconsistencies from law enforcement, prosecutors and other segments of society, she noted. 
 
 "We need to have these discussions at all levels of society and all levels of our church," she said. 
 
 Church spokesman Eric Hawkins wrote in an email: "We haven't yet received those findings, but look forward to doing so. Information of this nature has been helpful in the past to inform training for local leaders." 
 
 — 
 
 Dueling priorities 
 
 Splitting up the Honor Code and Title IX Offices, adopting an amnesty policy and adding an on-campus victim advocate — another recommendation being implemented immediately — will be huge benefits to students, said Kortney Hughes, victims' services program coordinator for the Provo Police Department. 
 
 "We knew they would do the right thing, that there would be positive changes," Hughes said. "But this is outstanding … I really think this is a step in the right direction, and it will start earning that trust back from students and the victims." 
 
 Madeline MacDonald, a former student who said she was investigated by the Honor Code Office after she reported sexual violence, said she was "really encouraged" by the recommendations, including the amnesty clause. But the admission that information was shared between the Title IX and Honor Code offices was alarming, she said. 
 
 MacDonald also said she was concerned that the report did not suggest new training or guidelines for bishops who may work with BYU students. The report recommends only that the council's findings "regarding ecclesiastical leaders' varied responses to sexual-assault reports" be shared with the LDS Church. 
 
 "The fact that bishops have complete [control over an endorsement], it should be under university control in some way," she said. "Either stop bishops from doing this or give them all intense training." 
 
 Barney also said there's still work to be done. 
 
 "I want there to be a system in place to make sure that the policies are properly implemented," she said. "And that there is a way for students who are going through the Title IX process to complain, if they feel they need to." 
 
 The council's recommendations reflect current best practices in the higher education community, according to S. Daniel Carter, a board member for SurvJustice, which provides legal assistance to victims of sexual violence. 
 
 "These are the types of things that institutions across the country, over the last four or five years, have been implementing," Carter said. 
 
 But BYU also has a history of investigating and punishing students who report sexual violence, Carter said. The amnesty policy, he said, "goes a very long way to mitigating the chilling effect that fear of reprisal has on survivors." 
 
 Scharman said the discussion about adopting an amnesty provision brought "the questions that I think anyone would raise here at BYU: Are we not caring about the Honor Code?" 
 
 Ultimately, she said, two factors led to what she described as unanimous support for amnesty: that many sexual assaults go unreported, and a 2002 study that found 60 percent of perpetrators are repeat offenders. 
 
 In a draft statement of an amnesty clause, the group wrote that students would not be disciplined for Honor Code violations that occurred "at or near the time of the reported sexual misconduct." 
 
 For "other Honor Code violations that are not directly related to the incident but which may be discovered as a result of the investigatory process," BYU will offer "leniency." 
 
 Bourgeois said the "leniency" language gave her some unease. BYU student JC Hamilton was likewise unsure what "leniency" means. 
 
 "It appears that there could be discipline, but they could be lighter about it," he said. "I think that could possibly be a loophole." 
 
 Still, Hamilton said, "I do feel like BYU in good faith is making it very clear that they care more about preventing sexual assault than they do about punishing prior violations." 
 
 Amnesty also would be extended to gay and lesbian students reporting sexual assaults, Scharman said. 
 
 Andy, a former student who asked to be identified by only his first name, said he felt the changes could have come sooner, but still applauded the school. He was put on "withheld suspension" for a year when he was a 17-year-old freshman, after he said his bishop instructed him to tell Honor Code enforcers about his relationship with a 25-year-old man who, Andy said, raped him while they were dating. 
 
 "I feel good that LGBT students who are victims won't be punished for having been in the LGBT situation when the assault happened," he said. "I still don't trust BYU completely. They say they're going to do this. We'll see if they actually do." 
 
 — 
 
 Pending investigations 
 
 The university's study is one of several investigations stemming from allegations by BYU students, particularly Barney, about how the school handled their sexual assault complaints. 
 
 Barney was a sophomore when she reported to Provo police that she had been raped. A Utah County sheriff's deputy gave her police file to school officials and told them she'd broken the Honor Code. 
 
 Prosecutors advised Barney not to cooperate with the school's investigation of her conduct while the criminal rape case was pending, and the school banned her from enrolling in future classes. 
 
 Barney also filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, which in August notified BYU it was investigating how the school handled Barney's case. The Provo school is the third in Utah to be added to a list of about 200 colleges facing review under Title IX, the law that forbids sex-based discrimination at all schools that receive federal funding. The University of Utah and Westminster College, a private Salt Lake City liberal arts school, also are under investigation. 
 
 Barney's case also has spurred a state investigation into how BYU police access and share law enforcement records. Documents obtained by The Tribune appear to contradict statements by campus police that their department is separate from the Honor Code Office and does not report conduct violations to the school. 
 
 BYU's study group met during the summer with outside experts on campus rape and studied sexual assault reporting procedures at more than 80 universities. It also reviewed statements on Barney's petition and 3,200 responses on a feedback website created by the school. The group also included Ben Ogles, the dean of BYU's College of Family, Home and Social Sciences; and Sandra Rogers, the international vice president at BYU and a former dean of BYU's College of Nursing. 
 
 Tribune staffers Benjamin Wood and Rachel Piper contributed to this story.
– When Ruthie Robertson declared on Facebook that "homosexuality and transgenderism are not sins," the 22-year-old political science instructor at Brigham Young University-Idaho expected the feedback would be harsh. "But it never crossed my mind that I would lose my job," she tells the Idaho State Journal. Now, that's exactly what happened. Though her lengthy statement was in response to the bullying of gay students at BYU, which is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Robertson says school administrators weren't pleased. Indeed, after she refused their demands to remove the post—which also called out the church's treatment of LGBT people—Robertson says she was told her summer classes would be her last. "I kind of felt like the rug was pulled out from under me," says Robertson, a lifelong member of the LDS church who'd previously been scheduled to teach a course in the fall term, per KUTV and the Washington Post. She maintains there was nothing in her contract banning her from expressing her opinions online, but she admits her views were in opposition to church policies. A BYU rep refused to comment. However, the same BYU honor code noting "homosexual behavior is inappropriate" also states adherence to "the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ … is a specific condition of employment and admission." Despite losing her job, Robertson says she has no regrets about what she wrote. "It was something that needed to be said," she tells the Post.