By Hannah Webb | Focus Editor
Baylor University voluntarily rescinded a controversial grant that supported research focused on inclusion and belonging in the church, with a focus on LGBTQIA+ individuals, President Linda Livingstone announced in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
According to a now inaccessible press release published on June 30 from the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, the $643,401 grant was awarded to the Center for Church and Community Impact (C3I). The Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation supplied the grant to “better understand the disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations to nurture institutional courage and foster change.”
The Baugh Foundation funds “general support, interfaith projects, projects focused on separation of church and state, house of worship-based community projects and other topics critical to faith in our democracy.” According to the Christian Broadcasting Network, Baylor intended to use the grant to fund a study entitled “Courage from the Margins: Inclusion and Belonging Practices for LGBTQIA+ and Women in Congregations.” The information was to be used for developing “trauma-sensitive training resources for churches.”
The announcement of the grant was met with immediate backlash from the Baylor community and beyond.
“It’s much better to send your child to a secular university, hostile to the faith, than to a ‘Christian’ university like Baylor,” Rev. Matt Kennedy wrote on X in response to the grant acceptance.
Baylor professor Greg Garrett was among those in support of the grant.
“When the far right media comes for me, my colleagues or Baylor?” Garret posted on X. “I can only say: I serve the Jesus who said ‘If you’ve loved the least of these, you’ve loved me.’ [I’m] grateful for this grant that will help us love better.”
Nine days following the grant announcement, Livingstone said in a press release that Dean Jon Singletary and Principal Investigator Dr. Gaynor Yancey “voluntarily offered to rescind their acceptance” of the grant on behalf of the school of social work. All funds will return to the granting foundation.
Livingstone supports this decision, stating that Baylor remains committed to academic freedom and caring for LGBTQIA+ students. Concerns were not for the research, but for “activities that followed as part of the grant.” Livingstone explained that the concern overstepped Baylor’s institutional politics, particularly the Statement on Human Sexuality.
“We affirm the biblical understanding of human sexuality as a gift from God, expressed through purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman,” Livingstone wrote.
With the grant rescinded and the funds returned, the Center for Church and Community Impact will no longer proceed with the proposed study. Baylor has not announced any changes to its policies regarding external funding or research review, and no further statements have been issued by the Baugh Foundation or the researchers involved.
