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Dec 1, 2022Liked by John Hawthorne

Thanks for writing on this. I teach at one of the other institutions on the front line of this issue, which you've blogged about by name recently. I hope you are right that some institutions will bravely step out to bury this hatchet, and become more welcoming to queer students. Indeed, I wish mine would do so (but it won't, given our Board).

Yet I worry that this is excessively optimistic: "... a window has opened. Now that the government is not going to force these changes upon Christian Universities, they can opt to voluntarily take a more open stance toward LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff." The old guard administrators and Trustees will not view these legal developments as security so that they can now rest easy and turn toward loving and accepting these students (nor, especially, any queer faculty or staff they may have!). Such Board members or Presidents will instead view this, given their classic culture-war mentality, as securing a win, and will advance to score further wins: they will double-down on marginalizing their queer students, rooting out the 'liberal' professors, and perhaps passing requirements of affirmations from their faculty or upper admin that they must *agree* with their anti-gay sexuality or behavioral policies. That they shouldn't speak out against them or teach their students affirming perspectives. Etc. BYU and others have already been cutting faculty who have voiced such opposition. My own institution may also engage in this over the next few months (though under the euphemism of 'program prioritization').

Such Board and administrative 'leaders' are uninterested in being more open and welcoming to LGBTQ individuals, whether on their faculty, staff, or students. They do not see queer folks as among their constituents or 'stakeholders', even if they feign support for them and respect for even their own faculty who think differently (as do a majority of our own faculty). These Board and denominational leaders are operating as if they want to return to an earlier 1990s era where it felt largely settled that gay sex was beyond the pale for Christians; they're seeking to correct course, given what they've seen happen the last 2 decades... and they're seeking to strengthen their advantage (having won the day within their denominations or at some key colleges where this has recently emerged as possibly changing their college toward becoming more affirming). What is so awful about all this, apart from how unloving and un-Christlike these attitudes and policies are toward LGBTQ folks, is that this is bringing financial ruin to many of these universities. If such Boards finally see the light that their institution is collapsing owing to lawsuits, annual falling enrollments, tarnished reputations, and fewer donors, it will be far too late to rescue these colleges. It is a live possibility that in 20 years there will be almost no CCCU colleges left.

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Here's a good article from Giovanna Del'Otto and Yonat Shimron in which I was interviewed shortly before writing this post: https://apnews.com/article/religion-education-minnesota-gender-identity-gay-rights-009a5be975ab3cb5f0e24d3fe9b0479d

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