Hey Baylor University students! There’s no better time to fulfill your sociology credit than now because come Spring 2012 the Christian school will offer “Homosexuality as Gateway Drug,” a course that we assume will discuss how gayness leads to being awesome. Or not…
Hearing the original class title we assumed it would teach how homosexuality leads to using drugs like poppers and ABBA. Or about how tolerance towards homosexuals leads to tolerance of other minorities. Or it could just be a boring course with tons of dry reading. We called the school for a clearer course description; no response.
But apparently, the school quietly changed the course title to Family Studies after a bunch of blogs started blabbing about it.
We bet a lot more students would’ve taken the gateway drug class. This new class sounds like work (ugh).
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
christopher di spirito
Baylor U? Isn’t that in Texas? Nuff said.
Cam
Has the curriculum of the class changed or merely the title?
jason
I don’t think the homosexual orientation is a gateway but I think the male homosexual social scene definitely is. When you go to all these clubs or bars, the temptation is there to partake of drugs of dependence and recreation.
A lot of gay clubs and bars are definitely a gateway for sleazy behavior that can also be self-destructive.
Danny
^ Honestly people can’t blame anything on anybody..because everyone makes their own decisions. Just because its a “gateway” so to speak but that doesn’t mean that you have to do it too. And if someone is pushing you to do things..then you should re-think your friendship or whatever it may be. And thats not just with homosexuals..its with everyone.
Vanessa
They only changed the title of the course. The class is apparently about the different views of society on homosexuality. I have the professor who will teach this class. She insists that she is not anti-gay. She is an extremely conservative professor and she is not always politically correct, so this course title is no surprise to me.
JohnAGJ
@jason: Um…the same could be said about ANY bar or social club. Anything can be used, and frankly HAS been used, as an excuse to overindulge or take an extended trip on the “wild” side. I myself was never into the bar scene and really doubt I’d be any different if I were straight, just like a lot of my hetero friends. Others feel differently. Moderation is the key, not condemning the fact that we have bars in this country and “oh noz! thar be drugs there!”. Well duuuh! You can find drugs just about anywhere.
JohnAGJ
As for this course, I love it! Not the course itself, but that I get to tease my niece who graduated from Baylor and despite their best attempts is quite gay-friendly.
Greg T
“No lie can live forever ” This course was an independent study course with a student that probably named the course (max enroll 1) We live in a world of lazy twitter journalists who want to put in only enough effort to support their agenda, not to get to the truth.
Cam
@Greg T:
The university allowed the course.
Steve
@Greg T:
On independent study courses, the student may suggest a topic of interest, but the faculty determines the title, and the faculty supervises the content and the assignments. Placing a course in the catalog, so that it can be listed on a transcript (even one), normally requires the approval of the department and/or school administration.
Of course, Baylor is a “Christian” school in Waco, TX, so a faculty member who is willing to sponsor such a course might not be hard to find. Apparently, the department/school administration was also willing.
Bobby In Seattle
Much like the current republican candidates and their desire to out-crazy each other, I often find so-called Christians trying to out-offensive-comment each other, regarding decent LGBTQ people.
This is just one more example of such.
the crustybastard
@Vanessa:
OF COURSE the professor insists she’s not anti-gay.
Ferchrissakes, who do you know who admits to their bigotry? Likewise, NOM and the FRC insist they’re not anti-gay — they’re just “pro-family,” like the Nazi’s were just “pro-German” and the KKK is merely “pro-white.”
I realize you’re still young, but you’re in college now. Time to engage in a little critical thinking.
Maybe a better school…
Greg
@christopher di spirito: Is Texaphobe a word?
Greg
@Steve: Feel free to provide your school name so I might peruse your catalog for course names. You’ll find oddities in ANY school. Of coarse this probably doesn’t serve you’re agenda
Greg
@Cam: And Ashton Kutcher was upset (without knowing the rest of the story) Joe Pa was fired . Does this make him an evil person. A million twits thought so and proceeded to tweet 1st and ask questions later (just as he did). That’s exactly what I see here.
Vanessa
@the crustybastard: I realize that she is just trying to save face when she says she is not anti-gay. I was simply relaying information that some of you on this site may not have–unless, of course, you have her for a professor. I would hope that you wouldn’t judge my university based on this particular professor. She is certainly not an accurate representation of the people at Baylor.
Shannon1981
It’s Baylor. It’s a Christian school. Is anyone really surprised?
I know not all Christians are anti gay. But most large Christian run institutions are. Disgusting as this is, it is simply unsurprising.
Henry
All Christian schools are anti-gay because all Christians are anti-gay. What’s surprising isn’t that a Texas school allowed the course name, it’s that the course name wasn’t more inflammatory.
o
@Henry: That’s right, the few gay Christians who exist somewhere out there are playing for the wrong side. They like being abused by other Christians who will not accept them, not love them, and not understand them under any circumstances. The gay Christians who try to leave Christianity have the Christian mafia going after them — I think you have some experience with that, Henry. If the Bible wasn’t anti-gay, maybe Christianity wouldn’t be an intrinsically prejudiced religion. But it is.
Shannon1981
@Henry: ALL Christians aren’t anti- gay. However, the vast majority are. There are plenty of gay affirming denominations. But, for the most part, you’re right. I am unsure as to just why any gay person would adhere to a religion that says to kill us, but hey, whatever floats your masochistic boat.
Henry
@Shannon1981: all Christians are anti-gay, Shannon. The Bible makes them that way. It determines all of their beliefs. Leviticus says gay sex is disgusting and it says gay people deserve to be killed. Romans says gay sex is an unnatural abomination of the pagans. I speak from experience as an ex-Christian who knows very much about Christian theology, particularly Paul’s theology. And, yes, they did come after me when I tried to leave.
Henry
It would probably be hard for a non-Christian to understand how deeply prejudiced all Christians are. Only someone who used to be a Christian, who really believed it at one time, and who has met many other Christians and related to them as Christians, can understand it. Everything about them predisposes them to be anti-gay, and keeps them locked in their anti-gay mindset.
Shannon1981
@Henry: I was raised baptist/southern baptist, and my family cannot stand the fact that I am gay. Believe me, I know. I am an atheist now- aside from the bigotry, I just think it all to be harmful.
However, I do know gay affirming Christians, even though it goes against their Bible. I think we agree on more than you think. I absolutely believe homosexuality and Christianity do not mix in any way, and I also think gay Christians are total masochists and need to realize that they are on the wrong side of all this.
Henry
@Shannon1981: I think we do agree about a lot, but I doubt that you continued to believe in Christianity through your teenage years and into your early 20s, like I did. That changes a person. You probably deconverted before you had to come to terms, as a Christian, with subtle, persistent, intrinsic Christian hatred. I guarantee you that all the gay-affirming Christians are just delaying the moment of confrontation.
the crustybastard
@Vanessa: “I realize that she is just trying to save face when she says she is not anti-gay.”
A failure to admit to one’s bigotry isn’t a matter of “saving face,” particularly when the person continues to engage in bigotry; it’s simply a matter of being obfuscatory — re-framing the issue as if it’s a positive, as I already explained (e.g. being “pro-” something rather than “anti-” whatever).
“I would hope that you wouldn’t judge my university based on this particular professor. She is certainly not an accurate representation of the people at Baylor.”
Who does she represent if not your university? They’re the ones who are paying her to spread this bigoted nonsense. Well, they’re using YOUR money to pay her to spread it. And you’re also perpetuating it by signing up for this idiot’s classes.
PROTIP: If you don’t want to be subjected to guilt-by-association with bigots…stop associating with bigots.
Shannon1981
@Henry: I honestly hope they come to their sense. I won’t even date them, as much as I wish for a gf. I absolutely do not believe in any of that stuff, and I believe it to be harmful. And I was 21 when I closed the last page of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusin and truly no longer believed any of it. Took me three years to de- program myself, but I accomplished it and was free.
I tried to keep an open mind, though. I even dated a Baptist once, but when she came home from the flea market with a 3 foot plaster Jesus and declared our house a “House of the Lord,” I was totally done with religious partners. I am honestly comfortable with no form of supernatural belief whatsoever, to the point of viewing it as dangerous, and as a mental illness.
So, yes, we definitely agree. Christianity is a harmful, hateful religion and I want nothing whatsoever to do with it. Furthermore, “gay Christian” is a complete oxymoron. They need to un- brainwash themselves and wise up.
Margette
@the crustybastard: Vanessa is a bigot, and her claim to go to Baylor is false. Wise up. Christians stick together, and they will lie for Jesus whenever they can.
Shannon1981
@Margette: That is an interesting assertion. And a true one. I know very few Christians who actively stand up for gay rights, but I know plenty who spew the “we’re not all like that” line. I try to keep an open mind, but if someone is here on a GAY BLOG defending a blatantly bigoted school- yeah. A bigot. No doubt about it. So, Vanessa, be gone. You’ve no business here.
Greg (other Greg)
I thought fraternities are the gateway drug.
Phil
On the subject of gay Christians, people do not like to change their beliefs. They will rationalize as best they can to have evidence to support their beliefs. This is true of everybody.
People do not hate homosexuals because of their bible. They hate homosexuals and use and use the bible to defend their hatred. If they are not christian, then it’s the unnaturalness of it, the fact that we can’t make babies, the fact that peepees shouldn’t go in poopoos or the fact that lady-peepees can’t penetrate their lady-friend’s peepee. Hatred first, rationalization second. (I lay no claim to the validity of these arguments.)
Homosexuals who are christian believe that the bible does not denounce homosexuality. Whether or not this is true I do not know. I am neither philologist nor theologist.
Some of them belong to churches that pick and choose scripture to follow that is more convenient for them. Others simply choose to ignore the parts of scripture they find distasteful. (Don’t take offense, it’s not a new thing. Religions do this all the time. I mean, look at the Roman Catholic breakoff from Judaism, the Protestant breakoff from that, and then the Mormon breakoff from that. Actually, go ahead, take as much offense as you want. But try to refute it too.)
Ogre Magi
I am soooooooo sick of christians and all their crap
tallest
@Greg (other Greg): Fraternities are the gateway drug to uncomfortable situations and oddly timed homo-eroticism and a strange self-hatred disguised as a superiority complex.
Also, Christian school with a bigoted course? Color me surprised, but only if you haven’t got any purple left. Cuz who wouldn’t want to be colored purple, even if just for a little bit.
Joetx
@Vanessa: Your school ALSO denied official status to an LGBT group. You can try to deny the homophobia of your school all you want, but it belongs amongst the likes of Liberty U., Oral Roberts U., BYU, etc. that make a mockery of the term “institution of higher education.”
David Ehrenstein
It’s a Gateway Drug to Musical Theater. Hasn’t Glee made that screamingly obvious?
Kimba
@Henry: Depends on which Bible you read. There are hundreds, and not all include those verses. King James is not the only source of the word. I am a Christian and I am pro-gay and my belief is that all men are equal and the only sins are those that violate the Ten Commandments. Gay sex or homosexuality isn’t in there.
Johan
I’m a gay christian and I date a gay christian . I have a many gay and str8 christian friends and many atheist gay and str8 friends. Does it really matter? Religious bigotry , sexual bigotry , racial bigotry or orientation bigotry are all a symptoms of a persons struggle to understand and tolerate viewpoints different to their own. I had a long debate with a atheist friend of mine the other night about the existence of a creator in good spirits pushing the realm of reasoning far beyond richard dawkins god delusion and basically ended at two evenly probable theories. Illustrating to both of us the merits of each others viewpoints .
Lani
@Henry: Um, I’m Christian and from Texas and not anti-gay. I know a shit load of Christians who support gay rights like myself. Stop stereotyping please. Just because a lot of Christians are against people being gay, doesn’t mean all Christians do.
Baylor Alum
This is a false story and I really wish people would check the details and do a little more homework before spreading such a sick rumor about my ala mater. THIS IS NOT AND NEVER WAS A COURSE TAUGHT AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY. NEVER WAS A COURSE OFFERED BY BAYLOR UNIVERSITY. Look at the course number. @ Baylor when there is a V in the course number, that means it is NOT A CLASS. It is an independent study. Someone was doing this as their thesis study and like all universities you registered for hours when doing your thesis. A student made this class, and titled it. Notice the ONE student enrolled and that the class is closed. This is a completely absurd study to do and is an embarrassment to other alum but it is in NO WAY representative of Baylor as a university or the other students. That being said, I still have friends at Baylor and they say that this course number and class never existed. Believe me, this news broke on campus far before it reached the internet and students went looking.
Truth
@Steve: In this case the student did select the title. Baylor issued a statement saying as much. I feel people should know the course was actually fairly pro-gay. It was comparing the panic people felt concerning legalized pot to how many conservatives feel that gay rights will lead to the destruction of the American “family.” It is called irony people. As a result, the class that would have been refreshing for a traditionally close-minded school is now no longer being offered. Score one for social media and ignorant masses.
Vanessa
@the crustybastard: Just because a professor has certain beliefs, doesn’t mean everyone in the university shares the same. I’m sure you wouldn’t attack Penn State students for being pedophiles just because a coach there is a pederast.
Melissa B.
90 miles South of Baylor is UT, where the gay Sociology professors classes fill up first and everyone wants to take them. And we have our own LGBTQ studies program.
Texas ain’t that bad, ya’ll.
Read: Austin isn’t that bad but everywhere else sucks.