A private Christian university in Tennessee is planning to release a statement that outlines its policies for banning students and faculty from identifying as trans and suppressing students’ speech related to LGBTQ+ issues, per a leaked document.
Local ABC and Fox affiliate WTVC NewsChannel 9 obtained the Lee University policy, called “Statement of Beliefs Concerning Human Sexuality and Gender,” which includes an explicit rule against publicly identifying or behaving as a “gender that does not correspond to” biological sex. That includes using or asking others to use a different name or nickname, using or requesting different pronouns, “dressing or outwardly presenting” as gender-nonconforming, requesting a gender change on university records, and last but certainly not least, undergoing medical transition.
The eight-page statement espouses a belief that LGBTQ+ identities are the result of the fall of man into sin, whereby “God’s perfect order and creation are distorted by human choices.” Its proposed policies, the document says, reflect these beliefs.
“Rather than embrace and celebrate God-designed differences between the two sexes, male and female, the Fall has caused humans to reject these differences, and even seek to identify as a gender other than the one rooted in biology at conception,” the statement reads, adding that “the act of sex itself can also be used to include forbidden same sex sexual relations.”
Other policies outlined in the document include those that are fairly typical of Christian universities, including strictly single-gendered housing, locker rooms, and sports teams. Like many of the anti-trans sports bills circulating throughout state legislatures right now, Lee University’s policy on sports teams singles out trans women by specifying that “males are not eligible” for “female” sports teams. “Female” students are also banned from “male” sports teams, but have an exception that allows them to try out for the men’s teams for non-contact sports if there is no female or co-ed team.
Despite Lee University’s supposed commitment to “treating each person with respect and dignity regardless of any differences of belief” on LGBTQ+ issues, the statement lastly includes a policy that bans members of the university community from promoting or advocating “for sexual acts, behaviors, or lifestyles” that are contrary to the Statement of Belief, whether in person, in writing or online.
A spokesperson for the university told WTVC that these policies have been in place at Lee University, and that this document is merely a clarifying statement on the beliefs underpinning those policies. The university originally planned to release the statement on August 1; it’s unclear whether that’s still the case, or whether the statement will be updated before then.
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