Same-sex relationships are now, again, permitted on campus
A Christian university has once again lifted a ban on same-sex relationships on its campus, several months after re-instating the ban after it had initially been lifted in the late summer of last year.
Azusa Pacific University “specifically removed language that barred LGBTQ relationships as part of a standing ban on pre-marital sex” from its student handbook, The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports.
The school had previously removed the ban at the beginning of last semester. But the Board of Trustees declared that it had “never approved this removal,” and the ban was subsequently re-instated. Campus officials at the time couldn’t explain how the ban had been lifted without the approval of the Board of Trustees.
Now, The Tribune reports, the trustees have officially revoked the policy, citing the fact that the school is open to non-Christian as well as Christian students.
“APU is an open-enrollment institution, which does not require students to be Christian to attend, and the handbook conveys our commitment to treating everyone with Christ-like care and civility. Our values are unchanged and the APU community remains unequivocally biblical in our Christian evangelical identity,” the provost of the university said, according to The Tribune.
One activist group heralded the decision, claiming the school’s student handbook now features “no stigmatizing of queer people specifically.”
(h/t Inside Higher Ed)
MORE: Same-sex marriage threatens to tear apart Christian college association
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