Baylor University should grant LGBTQ students the same fairness and openness it has readily shown in allowing Turning Point USA to host an event on campus in April, the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists said.
“AWAB affirms the importance of free expression and recognizes Baylor University’s right to host a wide range of speakers and events. However, this decision comes in the context of prior actions that have limited pro-LGBTQ voices on campus, including restrictions on grants and administrative decisions affecting student groups and perspectives,” the organization said in a statement posted on social media and sent to President Linda Livingstone.
For years, the Waco, Texas, school denied permission for gay and lesbian students to form campus groups. Not until 2022 did it allow the formation of PRISM, an LGBTQ group required to affirm expressions of sexuality in alignment with conservative Christian interpretations of human sexuality.
Erika Kirk and U.S. Vice President JD Vance embrace at the Pavilion at Ole Miss on the campus of the University of Mississippi on October 29 in Oxford, Mississippi. Thousands attended the Turning Point USA event to honor Kirk’s husband, the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk. (Photo by Brad Vest/Getty Images)
Then in 2025, the university rescinded a $643,000 grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation for the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work to study the exclusion of women and LGBTQ Christians in churches.
Now, the Baptist-affiliated school has agreed to host TPUSA’s “This is the Turning Point” tour on Campus in Waco Hall April 22. Speakers include Donald Trump Jr., immigration czar Tom Homan, conservative commentator Benny Johnson and Erika Kirk, the widow of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk who was assassinated last year.
Those who have reached out with concerns about the tour coming to Baylor have received emails in response assuring them “This is the Turning Point” is being organized by the university’s TPUSA chapter, not the school itself.
“President Livingstone shares your commitment to exposing students to a wide variety of viewpoints during their time at Baylor. As an academic institution, Baylor University is committed to ensuring open dialogue and the robust exchange of ideas and perspectives,” letter writers have been told.
The university leadership’s response says: “The university has historically opened its doors to a wide range of student-invited speakers with differing viewpoints on theology, politics, research and many other subjects as we prepare our students for a challenging, diverse world post-graduation.”
“Meaningful dialogue requires that multiple viewpoints be given equitable opportunities to be heard.”
If that’s really the case, Baylor should be open to allowing AWAB to work with the school, PRISM and LGBTQ student groups and their supporters, the association said in its letter.
“Meaningful dialogue requires that multiple viewpoints be given equitable opportunities to be heard. Taking such steps would demonstrate a commitment to fairness, consistency and moral leadership and would affirm that every student — regardless of identity or theological perspective — is respected, valued and welcomed.”
AWAB also expressed concern about Baylor hosting a TPUSA event on campus, adding that could undermine trust between the institution and LGBTQ students: “Allowing a platform for an organization with a documented history of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, while previously constraining affirming voices, raises concerns about consistency and fairness.”
Granting LGBTQ students greater freedoms would be in keeping with historic Baptist principles, including freedom of conscience and the dignity of all people, the letter adds.;
“As a Tier One research institution and a Christian university, Baylor is called to model intellectual rigor, moral courage and openness to diverse perspectives. Meaningful dialogue requires that multiple viewpoints be given equitable opportunities to be heard.”
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