A group of 25 LGBT groups have sent a letter to the Big 12 urging the conference not to admit BYU as a new member.
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Fox Sports’s Stewart Mandel first reported the details of the letter.
“BYU. actively and openly discriminates against its LGBT students and staff”, the letter says in part. Also, the letter states that what it calls BYU’s anti-LGBT policies would be bad for the conference’s community, student-athletes in particular, and those policies “violate both Big 12 guidelines and NCAA guidelines”.
A Big 12 spokesperson said Monday the policy applies to LGBT members.
The letter is co-signed by 23 other national and regional advocacy groups, including GLAAD and National Organization for Women (NOW).
“Homosexual behavior is inappropriate and violates the honor code”, the school’s code of conduct reads. As Mandel notes in his article, BYU has an honor code and in that code, being in a homosexual relationship is a violation.
The Big 12 sates: “It is the obligation of each Member Institution to refrain from discrimination prohibited by federal and state law, and to demonstrate a commitment to fair and equitable treatment of all student-athletes and athletics department personnel”.
With the Big 12 exploring the possibility of expansion, it has opened the doors for schools from non-power conferences to join the Big 12 and get the exposure that comes with playing football in a major conference. Athlete Ally claims that adding BYU would be inconsistent with the values that the Big 12 espouses.
In a section on “Homosexual Behavior”, the code stresses that it “will respond to homosexual behavior rather than feelings or attraction and welcomes as full members of the university community all whose behavior meets university standards”. “One’s stated sexual orientation is not an issue”.
“Their member schools are very progressive”.
Last year, Baylor removed “homosexual acts” from a list of conduct violations that could result in disciplinary action, revising the policy to only prohibit “physical sexual intimacy” outside the context of “marital fidelity”.
Utah has non-discrimination laws, but BYU as a private school is exempt.
In its bid to go from football-independent to Big 12 member in, possibly, all sports, BYU already has the “no games on Sunday” hurdle to clear.
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BYU, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Connecticut, Houston, Memphis, UCF and USF are all being considered for admittance.
