Browsing: Baylor Sexual Misconduct Code

I am writing to congratulate and encourage Wesley Hodges and the Student Senate’s action to support Baylor’s conservative and Christian standards.

Baylor stands as a traditional icon — a beacon in an often otherwise dark realm. Those sending personal attacks to this young man for his stance against changing the policy and traditions of a private institution should re-evaluate their own position for they are perpetuating the very aspect of which they accuse him.

I am disappointed that the recent proposal to change the language of Baylor’s Sexual Conduct Code was vetoed. While the gesture did little to address the issues present with the current policy, it reflected the desire of members of the student body to express a more compassionate tone towards the LGBTQ community at Baylor.

A major problem with the current policy is that it sets the ambiguous phrase “homosexual acts” in conjunction with a list of violent and traumatic sexual crimes. Furthermore, it emphasizes homosexuality by giving it special mention apart from other the others. What does Baylor mean by “homosexual acts”? Does that include hand holding, going out on a date, a kiss? Or does it specifically refer to sexual activity? Consider in its place the phrase “heterosexual acts.” Does that make it any clearer?

The phrase “homosexual acts” will remain in the Sexual Misconduct Code after a Student Senate vote in executive session Thursday night.

Student Body President Wesley Hodges vetoed the Sexual Misconduct Code Non-Discrimination Act on Wednesday.

I truly pity the knots that Baylor coaches have to tie themselves in to recruit elite athletes who are gay or lesbian. As a career sports writer (now retired) I know the school has had several gay or lesbians athletes and the coaches have to worry constantly that someone will out them or that they will out themselves and their scholarships will be immediately in jeopardy because of these contrived morals standards held by both the university and the student government. I’ll leave aside the fact that I know (and so do the women athletes) that female athletes, especially, are slurred by fans as “lesbian” with great regularity and without regard to their actual sexual orientation.

Shelby Leonard’s recent coverage of student senator Trenton Garza’s proposed amendment to the Sexual Misconduct Code exposed a long-ignored issue at Baylor: how the university’s official policies address sexuality. As a former two-term student senator, it is clear to me that Baylor has some well-written codes that affirm its many countercultural views, but no policy so blatantly fails to address reality as does the Sexual Misconduct Code.

Student Senate passed the Sexual Misconduct Code Non-Discrimination Act, a proposal to reword Baylor’s Sexual Misconduct Code, in the Student Senate meeting Thursday.

The act proposed to remove the phrase “homosexual acts” from the code and replace it with the phrase “non-marital consensual deviate sexual intercourse.”