Baylor University removes ‘homosexual acts’ from school’s code of misconduct

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters

The world’s largest Baptist university, Baylor, has dropped language in its sexual misconduct policy that punished those who engaged in homosexual acts, a change the socially conservative school said better reflects its values as “a caring community.”

Baylor, in the central Texas city of Waco, had been one of a handful of religious U.S. colleges and universities that allowed for the dismissal of students, and sometimes staff, for homosexuality.

Baylor has removed “homosexual acts” as a punishable offense in its sexual misconduct policy, an official said on Tuesday. The policy also mandated disciplinary action for sexual assault, incest, adultery and fornication. “These changes were made because we didn’t believe the language reflected the university’s caring community,” Baylor spokeswoman Lori Fogleman wrote in an email.

Dozens of colleges have provisions that are seen as discriminatory against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, ranging from housing bias to blocking the formation of LGBT student groups, gay rights advocates said.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/baylor-university-removes-homosexual-acts-from-schools-code-of-misconduct/

[rateyes]

1. All the more surprising since the president

of Baylor is Ken Starr. Yes, THAT Ken Starr.

[catrose]

8. Oh dear. I didn't know that.

Two reasons hell has frozen over, and in a Texas summer too.

[Arkana]

2. Gee, how open-minded of them.

[bvf]

3. Precisely.

“These changes were made because we didn’t believe the language reflected the university’s caring community,” Baylor spokeswoman Lori Fogleman wrote in an email. 

Gee, when did they stop believing that?

I imagine they'll get lotsa kudos from some quarters, when the only proper response seems to be, "IT'S ABOUT FUCKING TIME!"

[RKP5637]

4. "the university’s caring community ..." Not many religious outfits in my book are

caring. That said, I'm glad they lifted the ban, but I never thought of them as a particularly caring outfit. Ken Starr as prez. What a hoot.

[d_legendary1]

5. Welcome to the 21st century

Enjoy your stay!

[hamsterjill]

6. Thanks for posting this.

I know a couple of Baylor alum who have been posting a bunch of Mike Huckabee/Franklin Graham shit on Facebook after the SCOTUS ruling. I imagine their heads will just about explode when they read this.

Made my day in that regard (although I do realize it is certainly too little, too late).

[Liberalagogo]

7. What the hell are "homosexual acts"?

Scenes with Jim Parsons, Neil Patrick Harris, Ellen DeGeneres, Lily Tomlin, David Hyde Pierce, Zachary Quinto, David Odgen Stiers, George Takei, Wanda Sykes, Rosie O'Donnell, Jane Lynch, etc?

[Sunlei]

9. must have been more of a don't ask don't tell unspoken rule. I took classes at Baylor Houston

and some of the admin/teachers were gay. Not openly, this is Texas after all.

[Major Nikon]

10. Wow! They are finally moving into the 70's

How progressive of them.

[closeupready]

11. +1000.

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. So it took out "homosexual acts" but left in fornication

as punishable? Interesting.

Now a little anecdote. I had a cousin, Jim, who went to Baylor in the 80s. Baylor's president at the time was a guy named Fred (something). In a speech, Fred said that they were going to find all the homosexuals on campus and expel them.

At the time Frankie Goes To Hollywood was popular and you could get t-shirts with big black letters that said "FRANKIE SAYS" on the front and "RELAX" on the back.

So Jim got this bright idea. He got 50 white t-shirts printed up with big black letters that said "FRED SAYS" on the front and "NO HOMOS" on the back. He sold them all in a day, but because of the set up fees he just broke even. Before he got a chance to order some more and make some money, he received a stern message from Fred that there would no more t-shirts. On the bright side, the campus paper wrote an article about Jim's escapade titled "FRED SAYS NO T-SHIRTS".