‘I could not take it back’: Mormon professor fired by BYU after refusing to recant pro-LGBT Facebook post

A lifelong Mormon was fired from her job as an adjunct professor by Brigham Young University-Idaho after she refused to recant her support for LGBT rights.

Ruthie Robertson was allowed to finish out her summer course teaching political science, but the university canceled her contracted classes for the fall and winter semesters, reported KUTV-TV.

She wrote a Facebook post June 5 calling out the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for opposing LGBT rights, and she professed her support for her gay friends and loved ones.

“Most Christian faiths label homosexuality as a sin based on archaic writings," Robertson wrote. "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.”

The post went viral, and someone reported Robertson within hours to her employer -- who she said implied her job was safe if she recanted her statement, but she refused.

"I could not take it back," Robertson said.

She believed the post was private, and she said no students follow her on social media and she does not share her personal beliefs in the classroom.

Robertson suspects a former roommate who disagrees with her views on feminism reported her statement to her church-affiliated employer.

She has since accepted friend requests from students who reached out in support, and Robertson said she has no plans to leave the church she grew up in.

BYU-Idaho told the station that university policy prohibits public comment on personnel issues, but the school's website still shows Robertson teaching international politics through 2018.