Baylor Student Body President Wesley
Hodges rejected a resolution that sought to remove the phrase
“homosexual acts” from the Christian University's sexual
misconduct policy.
The resolution, titled the Sexual
Misconduct Policy Non-Discrimination Act, sought to
replace “homosexual acts” with the broader phrase “nonmarital
consensual deviate sexual intercourse.”
Hodges vetoed the measure.
“I truly believe that Baylor treats
its students with grace, love and truth, and in doing that seeks to
accept all students, but does not affirm all student behaviors,”
Hodges told the Waco
Tribune. “Simply because the university disagrees with
your actions or lifestyle, does not imply that it is seeking to
attack you.”
A Student Senate attempt to override
Hodges' veto failed to gain sufficient support.
Trenton Garza, the resolution's
sponsor, called the current policy unfair because it does not include
a blanket ban on heterosexual sex.
“Something I feel, as a Christian, is
that all too often Christianity is being known for what it is
against, rather than what it is for,” Garza said. “In light of
that, I wanted to show that we are for loving people … as small as
a wording change really can be, the symbolism can spark something
much greater.”