Shocking! According to the New York Times, there are gay and lesbian students at evangelical colleges, and they actually want to be recognized by their schools for the people they are, not as some sort of sexual rehabilitation project. Perhaps this is not exactly shocking; rather, it is another story among several over the last few years documenting the changing relationship between evangelicals and homosexuality (for example, see here, here and here). The New York Times article, like another recent story by Cathleen Falsani, focuses on the rise in the number of gay and lesbian student groups organizing on Christian college campuses.
At Biola University, where I taught for several years, homosexuality among students, faculty and staff members was an open secret, as it is within most evangelical organizations. But according to the university’s bylaws and public relations officials, there are no gay or lesbian students, and certainly not any staff or faculty who identify as homosexual.
Read the whole post at Trans/missions, the USC Knight Chair in Media and Religion blog.
Photograph by Benson Kua.
Richard Flory is the executive director of the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture.
