The U.S. Department of Education has granted Baylor University a religious exemption from several types of complaints by LGBTQ students.
LGBTQ students filed several Title IX discrimination complaints against the university, alleging they failed to address “homophobic” harassment from other students.
In response, the university requested exemptions for their decisions to deny applications for an official charter of Gamma Alpha Upsilon — the university’s gay club, for their alleged decision to pressure student media not to report on LGBTQ events and protests in 2021, and for the university’s alleged response to notice that students were harassed based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
Inside Higer Ed reports, “Title IX bans discrimination based on sex and also requires colleges and universities to prevent and address sexual harassment. However, religious colleges and universities can seek an exemption if the requirements aren’t consistent with the religious tenets of the organization that controls the institution.”
In May, Baylor President Linda Livingstone wrote to the U.S Department of Education. She argued that the university should be exempt from Title IX requirements that contradict their belief that marriage is between a man and a woman and “affirms the biblical understanding of sexuality as a gift from God.”
“The University does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression per se, but it does regulate conduct that is inconsistent with the religious values and beliefs that are integral to its Christian faith and mission,” the letter said.
In July, the requested exemptions were granted on the grounds “that they are inconsistent with the University’s religious tenets.”
Full letter from the Department of Education responding to Baylor’s request pic.twitter.com/nnO9b4zmzt
— Religious Exemption Accountability Project (@REAP_LGBTQ) August 11, 2023
Paul Carlos Southwick, director of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project, a group that fights against religious exemptions, told the Texas Tribune that in the “history of Title IX, no other university has requested such an exemption.”