FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE) – Dozens are calling on Fresno Pacific University to be investigated after the university denied an LGBTQ+ Pride club from forming.
“It is very disappointing as someone who served this country to come to somewhere like Fresno Pacific University and see my rights,’ said Justin St. George. “That I don’t really have any rights here.”
After 6.5 years in the US Navy, St. George picked Fresno Pacific University. He tried to form an LGBTQ+ Pride Club but he says the university said no.
“How they are treating students right now is not okay,” said St. George. “We should be listening to all voices. We should be supporting all people. We should be loving thy neighbor.”
Title IX does not allow sex-based discrimination but FPU is exempt because it is a faith-based University. In October 2021, the Board of Trustees determined the club wasn’t consistent with the Mennonite Church’s beliefs.
FPU President Joseph Jones would not do an on-camera interview but sent a statement that reads, in part:
“While the university remains clear in its view of biblical standards for sexuality and marriage, also clear is the tension between this deep conviction and the desire to show compassion and care toward students that identify as LGBTQ+ or experience same-sex attraction.”
When former student Gary Barber heard the decision by the university, he thought of his time at the school as a closeted gay man, and what it would have meant to have a Pride club.
“It would have meant a completely different direction in my life,” said Barber. “It would have been meant all the difference to me and it will make all the difference to these students.”
FPU said it named a safe space person for students to speak with about sexuality but St. George and dozens of others called for more during a demonstration on campus including an investigation into the school. St. George plans to give a petition with over 11,000 signatures from around the world to representatives of the Western Association of School and Colleges when they come to assess FPU this week. WASC is in charge of the accreditation of the school.
The group has created its own club called Birds For Pride, which meets off-campus since it is not allowed to be an FPU club.