LGBTQ students, faculty and allies will fight Texas SB 17 and other efforts to silence them Filed and approved last spring, Texas Senate Bill 17 on Jan.
1 this year. The law requires universities to close diversity, equity and inclusion offices and bans mandatory diversity training, diverse hiring initiatives, and more.
As a result, LGBTQ-focused offices that provided health care for students, community-focused programming, counseling and additional resources, along with other essential programs, shuttered their official university operations by the end of last year.
The impact is harmful to all students. Instead of supporting the universities’ main mission — to be a universe of growth, learning and expansion — SB17 excludes, narrows and drags Texans backward.