A Christian Challenge to Baylor's Policy on Gay Men and Lesbians

So, here we go-- it is time, after a few mis-steps, for the September project I have been hinting around about for a while now. It starts today.

Back in October, I published an article in the Huffington Post titled Repentance of an Anti-Gay Bigot, in which I admitted a history of bigotry towards gays and lesbians. In the wake of that piece, I heard from dozens of people, several of whom were former students of mine describing what it was like to be gay at Baylor, a school which bars gay men and lesbians from employment as faculty and has barred the formation of student support groups. I was chastened and saddened to hear these stories.

The reason I started this blog was to stay connected to my students. I am loyal to them, admire them, and do my best to help them. When they are hurt, particularly when I was complicit... that is a big deal to me.

My plan to confront Baylor on this policy was simple: Run an op-ed in the local paper (the Waco Tribune Herald), and then speak locally in Waco about the issue. The op-ed was set to run this past Sunday. However, when I woke up and checked, it was not there. Instead, a version of that piece is now being featured on the front page of the Huffington Post, which gets about a million visitors a day.

There were two disappointments I dealt with this week. One of those, obviously, was the Trib's choice not to run my piece on Sunday. However, this isn't "censorship," in any sense of that word. Like every other newspaper, the owners and managers of the Trib have the right to decide what goes into the paper-- none of us have the right to force a paper to print our thoughts. Are those choices political? Of course they are, and that is the nature of the business. It is one of the prerogatives of owning a newspaper, and I certainly don't begrudge them that prerogative. I'm glad that the Trib has local ownership, and I will still subscribe to the on-line edition of that paper to read the work of some of my favorite writers and keep track of one of my favorite places.

That said, though, if the intent was to forestall discussion of this topic it was a shortsighted decision. The Trib has a relatively small readership, and content is not freely available on the web because they have a paywall. As those making the decision might have known, I write fairly regularly (for someone with a day job) for the Dallas Morning News and the Huffington Post, and pushing me away from the Trib to those outlets would simply expose the discussion to many more people. Sadly, my hope that this could be a local discussion have been foiled. I still hope to discuss it on local television and radio. Still, even if that is pulled away, I can't be silent, and know that there are those outside of Waco who would be eager to discuss this. The issue is too important not to speak out. I have nothing to gain from this, I know; I will likely lose friends, influence, and some of my connections to Baylor, a place I love enough to try to make better.

The President of Baylor (Ken Starr) is, like me, an appellate attorney who is an academic as well-- he is just much more accomplished and talented than I am (he really is). Those two vocations that we share, however, both have at their core a central belief: That what is true and valuable is discerned through discussion. Such honest and open dialogue is also a Christian imperative: As President Starr put it himself, "In the spirit of the venerable biblical tradition, if we have issues to resolve, let us resolve them together."

Please help me continue this discussion, whether you agree with me or not. Make a comment on the Huffington Post article, put it on your facebook wall with a comment, or email it to someone.

And maybe I will see you later this week back down in Texas....