According to the Southern Accent (the Southern Adventist University student newspaper) transgender student Austin Bates had a meeting with the school sexual integrity official. In that meeting he was told that the school is still developing a Sexual Integrity Policy and parts of it will require that students dress according to their birth gender and use bathrooms that correspond with their birth gender. That’s basic biblical Christianity.
He said in the interview,
“If the policy were to go into effect as it has been communicated, in order to protect myself and any trans student that comes out after me, I would be forced to proceed with legal action.”
Commentary
Southern is trying to uphold biblical distinctions between male and female, and they are to be commended for that.
Southern is a little late to the game in developing a biblical sexuality policy, but they are working on it through the slow grind of multiple committees. Part of the reason is the Seventh-day Adventist church has not been at the forefront of cultural sexual issues, naively assuming over the decades that biblical sexual norms would remain the dominant worldview. We were wrong, and now we must catch up during a time of fierce attack.
The fellow is clearly threatening Southern Adventist University, while simultaneously demanding to remain a student there. This kind of reprehensible blackmail should be met with automatic dismissal from the University. You can be excused, Sir.
He should also be dismissed for claiming to be LGBTQ. This is a Christian institution, Sir.
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