Young gay couple (Shutterstock)
A Christian college in Texas has threatened to punish LGBT students who engage in same-sex dating or students who publicly express support for marriage equality.
Outsports reported that LeTourneau University in Longview had recently targeted gay students by adding new language to its student-athlete handbook, which bears the NCAA logo.
"Consistent with our desire to celebrate and model a Scriptural approach to sexuality;, the University prohibits same-sex dating behaviors and public advocacy for the position that sex outside of a biblically-defined marriage is morally acceptable," the handbook now reads.
The New Civil Rights Movement pointed out that student-athletes who ran afoul of the policy risked being kicked off the team, potentially putting their scholarships in jeopardy.
And Outsports argued that the provision forbidding "public advocacy" of same-sex marriage may also violate students' free speech rights.
"The school's policy gagging student-athletes on a key public-policy issue of the day runs against the spirit of the First Amendment, something so many Texans and Christians claim to hold so dearly," Outsports' Cyd Zeigler wrote.
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