Being LGBTQ+ at a Christian College

According to the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, there are over 150 Christian colleges in the United States. Christian colleges provide higher education degrees — both undergraduate and graduate options — “founded on Christian theology, thought, and tradition.” In comparison to Bible colleges, Christian colleges provide students a broader education, with course options in the humanities, arts, and sciences.

Some LGBTQ+-friendly Christian colleges do exist. For LGBTQ+ students interested in attending a Christian school, finding an institution supportive of non-heteronormative sexualities and nonbinary gender identities will be important. This article provides resources for LGBTQ+ college students attending or thinking about attending a Christian college.

According to a 2022 Gallup survey, 7.1% of U.S. adults identify as members of the LGBT community — up from 5.6% the year before. Among those polled who are Gen Z, more than 20% identified as LGBT.

Historically, Christianity has viewed the tenets of the religion as incompatible with homosexuality or forms of relationships not defined through heterosexuality. This has often forced followers of the Christian faith to hide their gender identities and sexual orientations from their families and social networks. Many people have lived in fear of retaliation from the Church.

Additionally, many LGBTQ+ people who felt safe to come out within their church communities, or those who had their gender identities exposed against their will, have been forced to engage in various practices thought to undo or “convert” their sexuality. Among them, conversion therapy — also referred to as “reparative” therapy — is known to cause severely detrimental mental health effects on minors, including anxiety, depression, drug addiction and misuse, and suicidal ideation.

Conversion therapy for minors has been outlawed in 20 states in the U.S. And certain municipalities have enacted city-wide protections in areas that have not banned the practice statewide. Still, conversion therapy for minors remains legal in many cities and states, and 32% of the LGBTQ+ population in the U.S. lives in states without policies banning conversion therapy for minors.

Title IX federally protects civil rights relating to sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive funding from the federal government. While originally envisioned to ensure colleges create environments devoid of sexual harassment and sexual assault, the U.S. Department of Education has also interpreted and enforced Title IX to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and sexual identity. Doing so has given important attention to the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ students on college campuses.

However, LGBTQ+ students attending Christian colleges may not benefit from the same protections. Colleges and universities can request that they be exempt from Title IX based on various categories, including religion. According to the Department of Education, an exemption based on religion is applicable in the case that “Title IX would be inconsistent with the religious tenets of the organization.”

These exemptions can affect LGBTQ+ students in a variety of ways. Namely, discrimination complaints brought against exempted Christian colleges and filed with the Department of Education are unlikely to be investigated. Students may experience overt discrimination, such as having admissions offers revoked, losing student housing, or being expelled if the university learns of their sexual orientation. They may also encounter subtler forms of discrimination, such as through the negative framing of certain sexual orientations or gender identities in course content.