Texas Baptists might end 140-year relationship with Baylor over one LGBTQ+ event

The Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT), a denomination boasting over 5,000 churches in the Lone Star State, has said that it will launch a formal review of its 140-year relationship with Baylor University.

The review comes after news that students at the private Baptist school in Waco organized a talk featuring several LGBTQ+ advocates, including the president of the Human Rights Campaign, as counterprogramming to a Turning Point USA event scheduled for Wednesday, per the Baptist Press.

“While we value the deep, historic bond Baylor University and Texas Baptists have shared for 140 years, and the present ministry taking place on campus through avenues like our own Baptist Student Ministry (BSM), we also remain unwavering in our commitment to teaching and emphasizing a biblical view of sexuality,” BGCT executive director Julio Guarneri wrote in an email on Friday, per the Baptist Press.

Related: LGBTQ+ Christians invited to speak at Baylor University to counter Turning Point USA event

He continued, “It is likely that the viewpoints to be shared at this event and others may not represent either BGCT’s or Baylor’s official positions, and convention messengers have made it clear that the traditional view of biblical sexuality is a matter of fellowship and harmonious cooperation.”

Guarneri also said that he would ask BGCT governance to “initiate a study of our relationship with Baylor” at a forthcoming meeting.

According to the official page for the counterprogramming event, a coalition of five student groups, including the Baylor Democrats, Hearts for the Homeless and Students Demand Action, put it together as an “alternative to Turning Point’s and the Trump administration’s message of exclusion and Christian nationalism.” Titled “All Are Neighbors,” it is set to feature speakers such as Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson; Paul Raushenbush, an out gay American Baptist minister who is president of the Interfaith Alliance; and Greg Garrett, a Baylor professor who is vocal in his support of LGBTQ+ inclusion in churches.

Related: Baylor University returns $643,000 LGBTQ+ grant, calling it 'inconsistent' with values

The event would mark the first time in Baylor’s history that an out gay Christian speaker would be allowed to speak on campus, per the Christian Post. Baylor University approved the event after the Turning Point USA event, which is set to include speakers such as Donald Trump, Jr., garnered significant backlash, per the Post.

This is not the first time that the BGCT has clashed with Baylor over LGBTQ+ issues. At the 2025 BGCT annual meeting, at least two pastors — Mike Miller and Kody Alvarez — asked for the organizing body to remove funding from Baylor because it allowed PRISM, an LGBTQ+ student group, to form in April 2022, per the Baptist Press. In a statement during the meeting, Miller read PRISM’s constitution, which said it would create a “respectful space that embraces diverse sexual identities.” Miller said that by approving the group, “Baylor has chosen to contradict its own Statement on Human Sexuality.”

Related: Brittney Griner honored by Baylor, a school that didn’t always embrace her

The statement “affirms the biblical understanding of sexuality” and calls out “homosexual behavior” as a “temptations to deviate” from marriage between a man and a woman. “Baylor students will not participate in advocacy groups which promote understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching,” it concludes.

Them has reached out to Baylor’s College Democrats, one of the groups organizing the event, and will update if we hear back.

This story was originally published on them.us.