When LGBTQ+ students organized a support group called Baylor Freedom in 2002, Baylor University responded by reaffirming its student sexual conduct policy.
Later the same year, the university released its first official public statement on human sexuality – a statement that continues to affect the culture and administration today.
“The question is what’s right, not what’s new,” former University President Dr. Robert Sloan told The Lariat in 2002 in response to Baylor Freedom’s presence on campus. “It’s a cultural given for many people that homosexual behavior is good and healthy. That’s not, it seems to me, a faithful interpretation of Christian Scriptures.”
In 2002, Baylor’s student sexual conduct policy, laid out in the student handbook, described homosexuality as a “misuse of God’s gift” and placed it alongside sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault, incest, adultery, and fornication.
The handbook also stated that, while the University was committed to handling student misconduct in a “redemptive manner,” it retained the right to discipline students who acted contrary to its student sexual conduct policy — disciplinary measures that “range from censure to expulsion.”
But amid campus controversy over the presence of Baylor Freedom, Baylor decided to release an official, publicly defined statement on human sexuality on November 18, 2002, in addition to the student sexual conduct policy.
The public statement remains in effect and has been updated three times since its release — once in 2004 and twice in 2009.
Baylor is one of many large Christian universities to have a publicly defined statement on sexuality. Universities such as Pepperdine, Azusa Pacific, Biola, and Wheaton, among many others, define, like Baylor, a traditional orthodox understanding of sex and sexuality.
Some of these universities, such as Baylor, Azusa Pacific, and Pepperdine, have webpages dedicated to detailing their position on human sexuality and providing further context.
While Baylor’s statement is not unique and employs similar rhetoric to other major Christian universities across America, it has produced significant controversy among students, alumni, and faculty over the years.
As these controversies have unfolded, the statement has adapted.
Baylor first made edits to its statement in 2004, when over 200 people gathered on Heritage Square at the United4Change rally in Waco, Texas, drawing people from across the Baylor community seeking protection for LGBTQ+ students.
The rally was prompted by a growing controversy involving Truett Seminary student Matt Bass. After former Truett Dean Paul Powell became aware that Bass was a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Bass’ scholarship was revoked.
In response to the controversy and the rally, Baylor released an updated version of its statement, although it continued to affirm a traditional biblical understanding of same-sex relationships.
The next time the statement was edited was in 2009 – once in January and once in October. It has not been edited since.
However, Baylor’s student sexual conduct policy has undergone more recent modifications. In 2015, Baylor changed the wording of the policy, which previously banned “homosexual acts.” The new wording says that students should be guided by the “biblical understanding that human sexuality is a gift from God,” and that sex should be limited to marriage.
In 2019, Baylor reaffirmed its public statement on human sexuality and launched a webpage that included its stance, along with answers to frequently asked questions such as “What if I disagree with Baylor’s statement on human sexuality and related politics and procedures?” and “Can students face disciplinary action or lose their University financial aid for identifying as LGBTQ?”
The Frequently Asked Questions section also addresses why Baylor has a statement on human sexuality in the first place.
Baylor’s response reads as follows: “Baylor provides this statement so that those who join our campus community are aware of the University’s values and expectations. We believe that Scripture is the ultimate authority on how to conduct our lives and that it serves as a light to guide our way in a manner that honors God and others.”
But beyond being open about their position, the statement also provides the university with Title IX protection as a religious institution.
In 2023, the U.S Department of Education exempted Baylor from sexual harassment claims regulated under Title XI. The claims came from several LGBTQ+ students who filed against the university for failing to address homophobic harassment
Baylor argued that, because it’s a religious university whose position is influenced by the Christian tradition, it is exempt from certain aspects of civil rights laws.
Following the exemption, university spokeswoman Lori Fogleman released a statement, according to reporting from The Texas Tribune, which said “Baylor is responding to current considerations by the U.S. Department of Education to move to an expanded definition of sexual harassment, which could infringe on Baylor’s rights under the U.S. Constitution, as well as Title IX, to conduct its affairs in a manner consistent with its religious beliefs.”
Baylor’s statement on human sexuality also shapes the University’s research. In 2025, Baylor accepted a grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation to fund research on LGBTQ+ inclusion in churches. Shortly thereafter, the university rescinded the grant after deciding the project was not in line with its statement on human sexuality.
