Canceled Baylor LGBTQ+ study stirs strong reactions in Waco

As a queer kid growing up in a Southern Baptist church in rural South Carolina, AB Waters felt heartbreak after coming out. They lost their community and almost lost their faith.

So Waters, now a Waco licensed social worker, was hopeful in June, when their alma mater, the Diana Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University, announced a $643,401 research grant to help churches better minister to LGBTQ+ people and women.

“I would probably be in a better place and not have struggled so much throughout my life, if my family had the resources or recommendations provided to my church back home,” Waters said.

Then on July 9, Baylor University President Linda Livingstone announced the school of social work would return the grant to the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation, citing concerns that the research effort would conflict with the university’s statement on human sexuality.

The initial grant announcement prompted fury from some conservative religious commentators who accused Baylor of drifting from its historic Christian values. After Livingstone announced the reversal, a group of more than 60 Texas Baptist pastors and church leaders, including Lead Pastor John Durham of Waco’s Highland Baptist Church, wrote an open letter commending Livingstone for the “thoughtful, prayerful discernment reflected in (her) actions.”

Meanwhile, leaders of Waco churches that affirm LGBTQ+ identity expressed sorrow at Baylor’s retreat from research on one of the biggest church issues of the day.

Waters was disappointed but not surprised. They had come to Baylor to challenge their relationship to faith but later felt betrayed by the university’s treatment of LGBTQ+ people.

“It is disappointing to see that yet again Baylor is choosing to further rupture that relationship, or practice institutional betrayal and cause further harm to the LGBTQ community, instead of taking this opportunity to allow folks to practice research with academic freedom and integrity,” Waters said.

Principle and pressure

University officials declined an interview for this story.

In her July 9 statement, Livingstone referenced the university’s Statement on Human Sexuality. The 2009 document states that Baylor students may not participate “in advocacy groups which promote understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching,” which it says includes any sexual activity outside heterosexual marriage.

“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,” Livingstone stated. “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.”

Baylor in 2022 received criticism from conservative circles when it chartered an LGBTQ+ support group called PRISM.

It is unclear whether this month’s reversal was influenced by criticism from outside commentators or from within Baylor’s own denomination, the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

A statement from the Baugh Foundation stated the outcome was the result of an “online campaign of fear and misinformation.”

“The purpose of this research was not to dictate theology, but to better understand the disenfranchisement that LGBTQIA+ individuals and women often face in the church,” the foundation stated. The Baugh family has been a major donor to Baylor for decades and supported the creation of George W. Truett Seminary.

“This research held the potential to speak to urgent challenges facing the Church today, such as the growing loneliness epidemic among young people and the steady decline in church membership, by offering insights rooted in compassion, community, and belonging,” the foundation stated. “This decision disserves Baylor students, faculty, and the broader Christian community.”

Affirming churches respond

The BGCT provides scholarships and other funding to Baylor and has seats on Baylor’s Board of Regents. In 2017, the conference kicked out Waco’s Lake Shore Baptist Church for its acceptance of same-sex marriage.

University Baptist Church, another Waco LGBTQ+ -affirming church, left the denomination two years later.

University Baptist Lead Pastor Andie Pellicer called the grant cancellation “a missed opportunity” for conversations about a widespread concern. She said every church has people who are suppressing their sexuality.

“There’s no congregation that is absent of a person who is at least considering the potential of their own queerness, right?” she said. “And so what we’re saying is that you are so wrong and so scary that we won’t even have a conversation about your existence. Oh, how denigrating and sad.”

Since coming to Waco, Lake Shore Baptist Church pastor Nick Mumejian has presided over multiple weddings, and all but one couple were queer.

Mumejian was disappointed with Baylor’s decision.

“I disagree with it. Our church completely disagrees with it,” Mumejian said. “We are a congregation that has supported same-sex marriage, continues to support same-sex marriage. We have on ministerial staff, people who are queer, openly queer, and we fully support them.”

View from the other side

John Durham, the Highland Baptist pastor who signed the letter praising Baylor’s decision, declined an interview for this story.

The letter stated, in part: “In a polarized culture, Baylor’s decision demonstrates moral courage, affirming biblical orthodoxy while cultivating a campus environment where every student is treated with dignity, care and grace.”

Pastor Ronnie Holmes of the nondenominational Church of the Open Door, which has protested gay pride events in Waco, said Livingstone’s statement was “watered down” and did not take a firm biblical stance.

He said the grant was an attempt to get church leaders to “soften their stance” on Bible teachings.

“I stand in opposition to those things that would try to persuade the church to leave clear biblical foundations,” Holmes said. “For example, the embracing of redefining what sin is, watering down the truth that actually goes and, as Jesus said, sets people free.”

Seeing inconsistency

Baylor’s reversal left Blake Burleson, retired Baylor religion professor and deacon at the LGBTQ+ -affirming Seventh and James Baptist Church, surprised and perplexed.

He argued that Baylor bases its statement on human sexuality on declarations from the Southern Baptist Convention, which has no affiliation with Baylor.

“So on the one hand, it’s perplexing to me, because why are we using that document?” he said. “But then secondly, it’s perplexing because we’re choosing a portion of it related to the statement on marriage and not choosing the rest?”

He noted that Baylor doesn’t heed Southern Baptist prohibitions on women in pastoral roles. At Baylor, there are more women than men in religion and ministry studies, according to Burleson, who taught in the religion department for 38 years.

“Our department, to a person, affirms women in leadership, including the pastor. So what I’m saying is there’s an inconsistency in several ways,” Burleson said.

Waters, the social worker, was a research assistant at the school of social work during their time at Baylor.

Waters said the grant cancellation will hurt students who need to do research for their degree.

“That’s people’s jobs and their livelihood, and that’s students,” they said. “You’re limiting students’ ability to be able to continue the work that they’ve been doing. It will cause an extreme amount of stress on a graduate student’s ability to complete their capstone.”

Waters is concerned the decision to rescind the grant could hurt the university’s R1 status in the future.

“What does that mean for all the other graduate programs that are in the school of Baylor?” they said.

“Just because you say you’re holding academic freedom in your public statement doesn’t mean that your actions carry that.”

This article was originally published by The Texas Tribune.