WACO, Texas — While school is out for the summer, Hayden Evans and Paige Hardy said they are not giving up their fight for their LGBTQ group, Gamma Alpha Upsilon, to be a recognized organization on Baylor University's campus.
Because the group is not chartered by the university, members aren't allowed to hand out flyers or attend Late Night, where many organizations recruit new members.
The group put a charter request in with the university. There is hope that the Board of Regents will adopt policies that will welcome them on campus in July.
If the board continues to ignore them, they said they plan to continue their push with more rallies and meetings about LGBTQ issues.
"They systematically prevent an LGBTQ organization from being a chartered organization at Baylor," Evans said.
Baylor's sexuality policy states that Baylor students will not participate in advocacy groups that promote understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching.
Hardy said it's time for Baylor to update that policy.
"We are citing these Bible versus to justify our homophobia and racism and that is not okay," Hardy said. "That is not Christian and that is not the university I want to call my home."
Hardy said the Board of Regents has refused to speak to them because are an "outside organization" and defers them to student activities.
"So you really see a situation where no one wants to answer the tough questions, and no one wants to have difficult discussions," Hardy said. "This is similar to what happened with sexual violence. No one wants to be held accountable and no one wants to do whats right."
Baylor released a statement today reading addressing the issue:
"There is robust discussion around this topic, which is what universities are about, and we acknowledge and appreciate the feedback. We are focused on how we love and care for all our students so they have a healthy, safe and nurturing learning environment in which to be successful at Baylor. We believe this can be done both inside and outside of officially recognized student organizations. We will continue to work with students as we make decisions consistent with our mission and existing policies.”
The university also said they will continue to work with students to make decisions consistent with their mission and existing policies.
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