WACO, Texas — A new group at Baylor University is now the first-ever chartered LGBTQ student organization on campus.
'Prism at Baylor' is the first group to receive official university recognition after other groups have attempted the same. The charter comes after the university's board of regents passed a resolution in spring 2021acknowledging the possibility of such an organization.
"As an important and faithful expression of our Christian mission, we desire to establish trust with our LGBTQ students so that, among other things, they might seek out the resources provided by Baylor," the resolution reads.
Baylor student Lor Duncan is now the president of Prism and told 25 News she received word of the approval on Tuesday.
"It was Tuesday afternoon...when I got the phone call that was like 'It's official, we're done,'" Duncan said. "I'm like crying because I'm so excited. My friends are like 'Oh my God are you okay?' and I'm like, 'I'm fine, it's real, we did it!'"
Duncan also recognizes the work of unofficial groups, like Gamma Alpha Upsilon, for paving the way for an official university organization like Prism.
"Without all of the work and the pushing from people before us, we wouldn't be here," Duncan said.
In its 2021 'Resolution on a Caring Community', the university board of regents established several parameters for an LGBTQ student group, including reaffirming its statement on human sexuality, which establishes, "Christian churches across the ages and around the world have affirmed purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman as the biblical norm."
The group is still in its early stages and Duncan said it will take off as a full organization in the fall. Prism hopes to provide a voice for LGBTQ students to communicate with university administration.
"Really, we're just hoping that PRISM is the beginning of a deep, growing relationship between the LGBTQ+ community and the university as a whole," Duncan said.
