The Biden administration is conducting an investigation into a private religious university in Utah over how it disciplines gay and transgender students.
The Education Department told the Washington Examiner that its Office of Civil Rights began the inquiry into Brigham Young University on Oct. 21, 2021, and it relates to Title IX, which forbids schools from discriminating “on the basis of sex.” Carri Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the school, told the Salt Lake Tribune that she believes federal investigators will find BYU, a school operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, within its rights to enforce the church’s policies against same-sex relationships.
Prohibited activities included holding hands or kissing, and administrators said defiance would result in discipline, according to the report. In February 2020, BYU removed a section in its Honor Code on “homosexual behavior” but clarified the following month that the ban was still in effect.
“Same-sex romantic behavior cannot lead to eternal marriage and is therefore not compatible with the principles included in the Honor Code,” reads a letter from Elder Paul Johnson, commissioner of the Church Educational System.
Today this letter from Elder Paul V. Johnson, Commissioner of the Church Educational System, regarding the updated Honor Code was sent to students and employees at all CES schools. pic.twitter.com/sADljd8lQT
— BYU (@BYU) March 4, 2020
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Jenkins insisted that BYU is “exempt from application of Title IX rules that conflict with the religious tenets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” She also said BYU “does not anticipate any further action by OCR on this complaint.”
Still, one BYU alumnus and current vice president of a private Methodist school in Indiana, Michael Austin, told the news outlet it is “really significant” that investigators are conducting an investigation. He said the timing of the investigation means “there’s reason to think the university has gone beyond the religious exemptions it has and is discriminating even beyond those.”
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BYU has not yet responded to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
