Baylor University students have organised a talk with LGBTQ+ advocates (Image: Getty Images)

The Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) says it is launching a formal review of its relationship with Baylor University, which has lasted 140 years, after students organised an LGBTQ+ advocate talk as counterprogramming to a Turning Point USA event.

The student event, titled All Are Neighbors, is billed as an “alternative to Turning Point’s and the Trump administration’s message of exclusion and Christian nationalism”.

The BGCT, a denomination with over 5,000 churches in Texas, announced the review after news spread of the student-organised talk at the private Baptist university in Waco, scheduled for Wednesday. The coalition behind All Are Neighbors was formed by five student groups.

BGCT executive director Julio Guarneri wrote (via The Advocate): “While we value the deep, historic bond Baylor University and Texas Baptists have shared for 140 years, and the present ministry taking place on campus through avenues like our own Baptist Student Ministry (BSM), we also remain unwavering in our commitment to teaching and emphasising a biblical view of sexuality.”

Guarneri added: “It is likely that the viewpoints to be shared at this event and others may not represent either BGCT’s or Baylor’s official positions, and convention messengers have made it clear that the traditional view of biblical sexuality is a matter of fellowship and harmonious cooperation.” He also said he would ask BGCT governance to “initiate a study of our relationship with Baylor”.

All Are Neighbors and the speakers

All Are Neighbors is set to feature Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson, Paul Raushenbush, and Baylor professor Greg Garrett, according to details published about the planned speakers.

The BGCT has clashed with Baylor over LGBTQ+ issues before.

At a BGCT annual meeting last year, at least two pastors asked for funding to be removed from the university as it allowed LGBTQ+ student group PRISM to form in April 2022.

Baylor policy and student response

Baylor’s Statement on Human Sexuality “affirms the biblical understanding of sexuality” and concludes: “Baylor students will not participate in advocacy groups which promote understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching.”

Baylor is one of the largest Baptist universities in the US and has long navigated tensions between religious doctrine and student demands, including debates over a $643,000 grant to study and foster LGBTQ+ inclusion.

The student coalition said the BGCT’s statement “misrepresents our event and its purpose”. It added: “Our goal is to uplift and celebrate the numerous marginalised communities at our university. This includes immigrant students, students of colour, students of non-Baptist and non-Christian religious backgrounds as well as LGBTQ individuals,” and: “We are disappointed in TXBC for attempting to use this event as a way to push an agenda, as it simultaneously singles out Baylor’s queer community while erasing the other marginalised groups we are advocating for.”

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