Baylor University drops ban on 'homosexual acts'

From the Houston Chronicle:

The world's largest Baptist university has dropped a ban on "homosexual acts" in its sexual conduct policy.

After years of appeals from students, alumni and others, Baylor University revised its policy, dropping the ban on gay sex to "state more plainly the expectations of the university," a Baylor spokeswoman said Tuesday.

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Well done, Baylor!

Of course, this is just a little baby step forward, not a dramatic leap or anything, but we are, after all, talking about the most conservative large Protestant denomination in the country, one so conservative, in fact, that it took over a century for it to apologize for splitting off from other Baptists over its support for the institution of slavery. So doing away with the written ban on gay sex is, in context, a really big deal.

And you think this might be easy now that everybody who wants can get gay married? Think again. Baylor University will definitely face something of a shit storm within the Southern Baptist Convention for doing this. Teh gay is NOT something of which Southern Baptists approve. I mean, in the end, Baylor will get away with this because the university is an independent entity, but more than a few SB families will refuse to allow their children to go there, and more than a few fiery sermons will be preached about Satan taking over Waco. It might even be a topic of wild debate and condemnation when the Convention meets again next year. Baby step or not, this is an act of bravery.

I haven't called myself a Southern Baptist for over two decades. But in many ways, I still think of them as my people, and, I think, when you strip away the awful and extreme conservatism prevailing in that culture, they're good people. And this move proves it.

I'm proud of them today.

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