Baylor University rejects $643,401 LGBTQ+ research grant after conservative backlash

Under pressure from right-wing critics, the Baptist school rejected funding meant to help churches be more inclusive

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Baylor University has capitulated to conservative Christian extremists, rejecting a research grant worth nearly $650,000 because it paints LGBTQ+ people as victims of religious persecution.

Baylor University (screenshot via YouTube)

The Waco, Texas-based school is the largest Baptist university in the world, and last month, they announced that they were “awarded a $643,401 grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation.” Specifically, the school’s Center for Church and Community Impact (C3I) was getting the money to study how LGBTQ+ people are disenfranchised and excluded from religious communities in order to help churches better understand how to include them in their ministries and how their actions and words can sometimes unintentionally turn away people they’re trying to bring into the fold.

Importantly, nothing about the study would have changed the underlying beliefs among conservative Christians that same-sex relationships are sinful, that marriage equality must be opposed at all costs, that homosexuality itself is a sin, that trans people are just lying to themselves, etc. (Everyone could save a lot of money by just urging those churches to not be so damn bigoted.)

Keep in mind that, while Southern Baptists are very openly anti-LGBTQ, there are plenty of more progressive Baptist denominations that don’t feel the same, and there’s also a much broader group of churches that, regardless of beliefs, still want LGBTQ people to feel welcome in their faith. This research was meant to help them do it by recruiting students for interviews, leading to new “trauma-sensitive training resources that C3I will develop for congregational use.”

Nothing about this grant should have been controversial, and you would expect that the people applying for the grant at Baylor were aware of any potential minefields. One Baylor professor (a relatively liberal one despite working at the school) celebrated the news by saying he was “Grateful for this grant that will help us love better.”

Even the donors themselves didn’t think this would be a problem. They had been funding research at Baylor for “well over 40 years” and a similar project they’ve funded through Baylor’s School of Social Work for the past three years “has yielded significant insights.”

But then conservative Christians began weighing in.

One right-wing author slammed the school saying “it’s worth looking at why Baylor would take this step sure to anger MANY Christian families who send their kids to school there.”

A professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary claimed he wasn’t surprised because “Baylor has been moving away from Christian faithfulness for decades now. But it's still sad to watch another nail in the coffin of a once great Christian university.”

One conservative Christian pastor pretended this was blasphemy of the highest order: “It’s much better to send your child to a secular university, hostile to the faith, than to a ‘Christian’ university like Baylor. Better the wolf with bared fangs than the wolf disguised as a shepherd.”

Right-wing commentator Allie Beth Stuckey wanted Baylor to rescind “this shameful grant” and said Christians “should be disturbed by the direction a once-solid Baptist institution is taking.” She also said alumni and parents who send their kids there “have a right—and responsibility—to hold it accountable.”

Executive Director Julio Guarneri of the Baptist General Convention of Texas tried to distance himself from the school, saying the grant had “raised concerns and questions.” He added: “In contrast with the universities that are affiliated with us, our relationship with Baylor University is by special agreement,” saying they had some sway with the school but not enough to control its decision-making.

Just to state the obvious: Baylor is still an anti-LGBTQ university on paper, one that denounces “homosexual behavior,” says opposite-sex marriage is “the biblical norm,” and bans students from joining advocacy groups “which promote understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching.”

But the school has plenty of professors who work there (for whatever their reasons) who can accept that statement of faith while still finding value in studying how to make churches more welcoming to LGBTQ people. Pretty much every evangelical megachurch is openly anti-LGBTQ but even they will tell you they want to open their arms to people struggling with their sexuality. (Is it deceptive and cruel? Yes.)

The point is: There’s no hypocrisy when it comes to an anti-LGBTQ university studying the harm that churches can inflict upon LGBTQ people, as part of a larger effort to make churches more welcoming to more people.

Any decent university would have stood its ground and defended the idea of solid research being done by its stellar professors.

Instead, Baylor folded.

Last week, the school’s president, Dr. Linda A. Livingstone, announced that they would be returning the grant money and nixing the research project entirely.

Dean Jon Singletary and principal investigator Dr. Gaynor Yancey have voluntarily offered to rescind their acceptance of this grant on behalf of the School of Social Work and return all associated funds to the granting foundation. Provost Nancy Brickhouse and I support this decision and agree this is the appropriate course of action and in the best interests of Baylor University.

…

… 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. 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.

Please be assured that Baylor’s institutional beliefs and policies remain unchanged…

Did those researchers really “voluntarily” offer to give up the grant money or were they pressured into it?

In any case, hell of a thing for a university president to remind the world, “Hey! Don’t worry! We’re still bigots! We’re sorry this research implied that LGBTQ people are human beings deserving of respect! It will never happen again! PLeASe keEp giVING uS aLl your doNaTIOns.”

The only conclusion seems to be Baylor administrators thought losing a $643,401 grant was preferable to the possibility of losing a bunch of bigoted donors who want to make sure LGBTQ people remain closeted and miserable.

But it’s not like the statement satisfied the haters. Megan Basham, one of the grant’s vocal critics, said the statement wasn’t enough and that “Major Christian donors should not allow the school to move on from this without a full house cleaning.”

The Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation said it was “deeply saddened” by the move largely because it only served to further alienate LGBTQ people:

This was an opportunity to answer the Christian call to care for the marginalized by creating resources and providing important research for faith communities. Our hearts break for the professors, research fellows, and, especially, the students who will receive this message from Baylor, loud and clear.

… Not all Baptist believers or churches are aligned on every interpretation of scripture concerning women or LGBTQIA+ individuals, but churches need evidence-based research. We believe that all humans are created in God’s image and deserve a loving spiritual home. 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 bottom line is that the critics don’t want to understand LGBTQ people because they fear this study might generate empathy for people they’ve already written off. They don’t like research because it may contradict their predisposed hatred of outsiders. They revel in ignorance because people with formal educations tend to oppose so much of what they support.

If the foundation wants to fund this study, they can always find a home for it at any decent public university. It’s an important issue that’s not limited to Christians alone. And they made clear that this wasn’t just a rejection of their generosity but a rejection of the people who make their university run:

… Baylor has a duty to protect and uphold the integrity of scientific inquiry, allowing its world class faculty to investigate complex issues without fear of reprisal based on shifting political winds. Pulling the rug out from under its faculty after those researchers have already put the grueling work into securing funding, work they undertook with Baylor’s full knowledge and approval, is a chilling affront to the very concept of academic freedom. Stymying research and opportunity will inevitably lead the best and brightest students and faculty to other universities where their work and their freedom will be valued and protected.

… We regret that Baylor has chosen not to be such a partner. We hope this moment will be a catalyst for reflection and will inspire other institutions to take up the important work that Baylor has abandoned.

The foundation is run entirely by Baylor graduates, but if they truly care about their mission, they should stop funding a school whose work is dictated by conservative influencers on social media rather than the professors who study this material day in and day out. I’m sure there are other schools—including Christian ones—that would love access to the sort of money this foundation has and that won’t fall apart if someone sends out mean tweets about them.

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