Baylor University walked back its acceptance of a grant worth more than $600,000 intended to foster LGBT inclusion in churches.
In a letter shared on the university’s website, Baylor University President Linda Livingstone said the grant “supported the [Center for Church and Community Impact] academic research aimed at exploring inclusion and belonging in the church, with a particular focus on LGBTQIA+ individuals in congregational settings.”
Addressing that university leaders have rescinded their acceptance of the grant, Livingstone said, “We remain committed to providing a loving and caring community for all – including our LGBTQIA+ students – because it is part and parcel of our University’s mission that calls us to educate our students within a caring Christian community.”
“As we reviewed the details and process surrounding this grant, our concerns did not center on the research itself, but rather on the activities that followed as part of the grant,” the university president explained. “Specifically, the work extended into advocacy for perspectives on human sexuality that are inconsistent with Baylor’s institutional policies, including our Statement on Human Sexuality.”
“We affirm the biblical understanding of human sexuality as a gift from God, expressed through purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman,” Livingstone further clarified.
The Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation, the organization offering the grant, states on its website that it often funds “progressive Baptist organizations and institutions,” faith-based organizations sharing the foundation’s progressive values, and nonprofit groups that “guard the separation between church and state.”
In a statement sent to NBC News, the foundation said it was “deeply saddened” by Baylor’s decision and claimed it “disserves Baylor students, faculty, and the broader Christian community.”
