Baylor University Wins, Then Rejects, Grant on LGBTQ Inclusion in Churches

The world’s largest Baptist university became the center of a culture-war clash this week as it celebrated, then rejected, a $643,401 grant awarded to fund research on the “exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations.”

After days of online backlash from conservative Christian leaders, the president of Baylor University, a private, Christian school in Waco, Texas, announced Wednesday (July 9) that the grant acceptance would be rescinded. 

“(O)ur concerns did not center on the research itself, but rather on the activities that followed as part of the grant,” wrote university President Linda Livingstone in a letter announcing the decision. “Specifically, the work extended into advocacy for perspectives on human sexuality that are inconsistent with Baylor’s institutional policies, including our Statement on Human Sexuality.”

The Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation, which awarded the grant and has been funding work at Baylor for over 40 years, attributed the decision to an “online campaign of fear and misinformation.”