Fresno Pacific University rejects LGBTQ+ club on campus — but a club might happen anyway

Fresno Pacific University has denied a request from students to start an LGBTQ+ Pride club at the private, faith-based university, citing “inconsistency” with its policies and alignment with the Mennonite faith.

Instead, the university named a “safe space person” to whom students can speak confidentially, according to a statement from university President Joseph Jones, “to seek support and understanding regarding various matters pertaining to sexuality.”

“While the university remains clear in its view of biblical standards for sexuality and marriage,” Jones said, “also clear is the tension between this deep conviction and the desire to show compassion and care toward students that identify as LGBTQ+ or experience same-sex attraction.”

Although discrimination against sexual orientation is prohibited under Title IX laws at most universities, private universities controlled by religious organizations can get exemptions if the laws are “inconsistent with the religious tenets of the organization,” according to the U.S. Department of Education.

“The mission, vision, and policies of the university are all framed through the lens of the university’s Confession of Faith,” Jones said.

The Confession of Faith is a theological position consistent with the U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, or USMB, which governs the university through the FPU board of trustees.

The Confession states, in part: “God instituted marriage as a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman for the purpose of companionship, encouragement, sexual intimacy and procreation.”

Effort to launch LGBTQ club sparked by class project

The club’s rejection comes months after student Justin St. George submitted a request to create the safe space for students. St. George, a disabled Navy veteran who describes himself as an openly gay man, started the movement after he and several other students worked on a group project for their Christian Leadership course.

“We were tasked with finding an area of need within the community and coming up with possible solutions,” he said. “So we realized that there was no pride club on campus.”

After some research and noting what he calls the university’s “anti-LGBTQ policies,” the group decided to take action “because we felt that a lot of students felt unsafe given the university’s actions.”

But on Saturday, during a board of trustees meeting, the trustees recommended Jones deny the request. Leaders did reach out to St. George with an explanation of why the club was rejected, he said. He called the encounter “upsetting.”

“I think the school does a very good job preaching about diversity and accepting all students,” he told The Bee. “But when it comes to supporting all students, they’re selective in who they want to choose to love.”

St. George, a business management major, served six years in the Navy.

“I loved every day of it,” he said. “I showed up, I did my job, and everyone respected me and listened to what I had to say.”

He now feels FPU is not respecting his sexuality or his military service, he said.

“I never faced discrimination and oppression until I came to Fresno Pacific University,” he said. “My partner actually was the one who told me before I went to campus ... that they were a Christian university and to be careful and I kind of laughed at it. Now here I am in my senior year, just finding out now that the school has a dark history and decades of discriminating and oppressing against LGBTQ+ individuals.”

Tim Neufeld, a former professor in the biblical studies division for 20 years, said while at FPU, he worked “underground” with the LGBTQ+ community on and off for a decade.

“Students have always been concerned that there has been no safe place to gather, nor has there been an authorized faculty or staff person to meet their needs,” he said. “Many of these students have been traumatized by experiences in their home churches, then find a voice in college to express and process their trauma, only to learn out that there is no place to do this on the FPU campus.”

Neufeld said he was disappointed with the president’s decision.

“It is possible, even if one doesn’t agree with some of the LGBTQ+ agenda, to still provide this community with the same benefits and rights as other student clubs,” he told The Bee. “If FPU administration doesn’t have a problem with a very right-leaning political club such as TurningPoint USA, it hardly seems they should be concerned about the politics of a Pride Club.”

Neufeld, now an associate marriage and family therapist, was one of more than 1,000 who signed a change.org petition advocating for the club to be recognized at the campus. Many students, alumni, and faculty also voiced their support on the petition.

Neufeld is also part of a coalition of Christian leaders in the central San Joaquin Valley who sent a letter to the board before Saturday’s decision, urging it to approve the club. Many local church leaders signed the letter.

“Some of our congregations maintain the traditional Christian view of marriage, yet intentionally offer spaces of belonging for LGBTQ+ individuals,” the letter read.

The movement also has support from the Religious Exemption Accountability Project, or REAP, which advocates for LGBTQ+ students who attend religious colleges in the U.S.

“Fresno Pacific University is one of 200+ religious colleges that claim a religious exemption to Title IX in order to discriminate against their LGBTQ students,” the organization alleged in a message on its website. “FPU is using that religious exemption to block the formation of an LGBTQ+ Pride Club on campus – and even prohibiting the student newspaper from reporting on the university’s anti-LGBTQ actions.”

The university’s student newspaper in October published that the school did not properly disclose its Title IX exemptions to students, and it was difficult to obtain that information at the campus.

Title IX is a civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded education programs.

Fresno Pacific previously criticized over LGBTQ views

In 2016, FPU made the “shame list,” put together by Campus Pride, a national LGBTQ college support organization, that identified more than 100 colleges they say received or requested Title IX exemptions or demonstrated a history of anti-LGBT practices.

In 2015, FPU was granted exemptions from more than 15 Title IX provisions, including preferences in admission, housing, athletics, and employment “to the extent that they are interpreted to address gender identity discrimination” and conflict with the university’s values, according to The Bee archives.

Former Fresno Pacific President Richard Kriegbaum said in a letter that “Fresno Pacific University has admitted openly gay students who are willing to choose to live in accordance with the Confession of Faith and the Fresno Pacific Idea.

“However, in keeping with our biblical beliefs regarding the morality of actions, we cannot in good conscience support or encourage an individual to live in conflict with biblical principles in any area, including gender and gender identity.”

What’s next?

St. George said he’s forging on with plans to create an off-campus meeting place for students with help from some of the churches who were part of the coalition of support.

“The churches involved have graciously offered some of their spaces for us to utilize, (and) some of them even have voiced interest in becoming financial sponsors to our organization, even though we won’t be officially affiliated or recognized by the school.

“So the club is going to happen one way or another, especially because students’ safety is on the line,” he said. “And God loves everyone, including gay Christians.”

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Read more from The Bee’s Education Lab at our website.

This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.