Students at Christian college Seattle Pacific University took a stand against anti-gay policies being upheld at their school by handing the president Pride flags before they accepted their diplomas. I first saw the story via Dianna E. Anderson, the author of the upcoming book In Transit, Being Non-Binary in a World of Dichotomies, who shared the now-viral clip. “Love this direct action that students at Seattle Pacific took at graduation to protest the president being homophobic,” Anderson says in their tweet.
The students in question are part of the group SPU is Gay and this form of protest is just part of what they’ve been doing to fight against the school’s policies. According to The Guardian, students have been fighting for weeks against a discriminatory policy that “prohibits employee same-sex sexual activity.” What the specific activity is, the statement doesn’t say, because statements like this never give specifics because, you know, being gay is who you are and it’s not something you can boil down to a singular activity. I’m pretty damn bisexual as I write this. These words you’re reading? Pretty gay. One of many activities I’ll be doing today.
The statement continues with the following. “The decision means SPU’s employee conduct expectations continue to reflect a traditional view on Biblical marriage and sexuality, as an expression of long-held church teaching and biblical interpretation.” It also ends on this. “The board acknowledges that there is disagreement among faithful Christians on the topic of sexuality and identity.” Cool cool cool cool cool.
Students and alumni have been taking part in a sit-in outside of the president’s office, the rainbow flag graduation gifts for president Pete Menjares was just the next step in their ongoing protest. “It started just as a conversation among students that we didn’t really want to shake the president’s hand at graduation,” Seattle Pacific University student and organizer Chloe Guillot tells CNN. “So, we thought what can we do instead of that? And the idea came up: why don’t we hand out a pride flag?” Guillot also told CNN what she told Menjares when receiving her diploma and handing him a flag. “We’re not going to stop until the policy changes.” Guillot is returning to the university as a graduate student, so Menjares better get ready for more flags unless the university changes things.
CNN gives a more detailed description of the policy, which was passed just weeks before graduation. Perhaps the school thought if they did it late in the school year none of the students would raise a fuss since they’d be leaving soon? Damn those pesky kids… and their gay flags, too. “The protest comes less than a month after SPU’s Board of Trustees decided to uphold a rule that prevents the school from employing staff members engaged in same-sex sexual activity and extramarital sex.” So they’re lumping the LGBTQ+ community with folks who have affairs??? Yeah, those are totally the same thing, I say through exhausted gritted teeth.
“While this decision brings complex and heart-felt reactions, the Board made a decision that it believed was most in line with the university’s mission and Statement of Faith and chose to have SPU remain in communion with its founding denomination, the Free Methodist Church USA, as a core part of its historical identity as a Christian university,” Board Chair Cedric Davis said in a statement released by the school May 23.
According to CNN affiliate KING, Menjares responded to the flags with the following. “It was a wonderful day to celebrate with our graduates. Those who took the time to give me a flag showed me how they felt and I respect their view.” Sure, Pete. Sure.
You can help out SPU is Gay by following this link here.
(Featured image: Vladimir Vladimirov for Getty Images)
Here’s everything else we saw today.
- One of the world’s largest producers in the Asian hot sauce market is predicting a major Sriracha shortage. (Via CNN Business)
- Kingdom Hearts 4’s graphics are so powerful that it “kind of limits” the number of Disney worlds that can be included. (Via IGN)
- Yellowstone Park was damaged by devastating flood waters from torrential rains and melting mountain snow. (Via Mountain Journal)
- Maya Rudolph almost starred in Killing Eve. (Via AV Club)
Anything else we missed today? Let us know what you saw in the comments!
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