The U.S. Department of Education has sided with Baylor University after discrimination complaints from LGBTQ students were filed against the Waco-based Christian institution.
After several students filed Title IX discrimination complaints, Baylor wrote to the DOE’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), citing the federal government’s previous recognition of religious exemptions to some civil rights laws.
Baylor President Linda Livingstone sent a letter in May to the OCR in hopes of getting several complaints dismissed. She pointed to Baylor’s principles, which stand in contention with homosexual relationships and sexual conduct.
Baylor believes only in heterosexual marriages, Livingstone wrote, and “affirms the biblical understanding of sexuality as a gift from God.”
Because of that core religious principle, the university should not be required to follow Title IX requirements that contradict the belief system of the Baptist school, she argued.
The DOE provided in return a list of Title IX provisions that it deemed Baylor does not have to follow as “they are inconsistent with the University’s religious tenets.” Some of these provisions included ones addressing sex-based harassment.
But Lori Fogleman, assistant vice president of media and public relations at Baylor, wrote in a statement to the Tribune that it would be a misrepresentation of the school’s religious exemption to call it a “broad-based exception to sexual harassment.”
“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,” Fogleman contended.
One of the Title IX-based cases against Baylor is that of Veronica Bonifacio Penales.
Penales filed a discrimination complaint against the university in March 2021. She claimed she had been the subject of bullying due to her sexual orientation and Baylor had not handled the issue. She also argued that the university’s policies on same-sex relationships forced her to hide her sexuality.
Paul Carlos Southwick, director of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project, which filed a complaint for Penales, told the Tribune that the DOE’s letter does not close her case. Still, it is a likely outcome, he said.
