Seattle Pacific Grads Use Pride Flags to Protest Anti-LGBTQ+ Policy
Seattle Times reports.Jeaux Rinedahl, an adjunct nursing professor, sued SPU in 2021, saying it denied him a tenured position because he’s gay.
The case has been settled out of court, but the fight over anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination predated his lawsuit and is continuing.SPU’s Faculty Senate gave the trustees a “no confidence” vote last year, and this year a working group recommended that the trustees rescind the policy.
But Free Methodist officials warned that SPU would lose its affiliation with the denomination if it dropped the policy, even though the church doesn’t have ownership or direct control over the school and its property, the Times notes.
The trustees released a statement saying, “SPU’s employee conduct expectations continue to reflect a traditional view on Biblical marriage and sexuality.”Laur Lugos, student government president at the university, has been helping to organize the sit-in. “Students have organized it and have been the ones putting it together, but the entire community is backing this and supporting this,” Lugos told the Times.
