Federal Government
Department of Education investigating BYU LGBTQ+ discipline policy
“They’ve wronged marginalized communities at BYU and they need to be held accountable for it” ~ former gay student at BYU
PROVO, Ut. – The U.S. Department of Education has opened an investigation into policies at Brigham Young University (BYU) that discipline LGBTQ students, aiming to determine whether or not the private religious school, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), is violating their civil rights.
The Education Department is investigating a complaint that came after BYU removed rules banning “homosexual activity” from its honor code in 2020, only to clarify weeks later that same-sex partnerships were still prohibited.
The probe, which opened in October of last year, will focus on Title IX, a law prohibiting universities from discriminating against students and others based on gender.
Last year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order mandating every federal agency, including the Education Department, clarify that civil rights laws protect LGBTQ people from discrimination. However, religious schools have Title IX exemptions, making federal scrutiny rare.
“It’s really significant that investigators are stepping in now,” Michael Austin, a BYU alumnus and vice president at the University of Evansville, told the Salt Lake Tribune. “It means there’s some reason to think the university has gone beyond the religious exemptions it has and is discriminating even beyond those.”
The investigation, headed by the Office of Civil Rights within the department, seems to be about whether faith-based exemptions apply even if the behavior is not directly related to education or expressly written in the honor code. BYU also bans alcohol, beards and piercings, among other things.
BYU did not respond to the Blade’s request for comment. But a spokesperson told the Associated Press that the school does not anticipate any further action because “BYU is exempt from application of Title IX rules that conflict with the religious tenets” of the LDS.
Though the LDS has softened some of its rules around LGBTQ issues, the church remains opposed to same-sex marriage and sex outside of marriage.
In a November 2021 letter to the Education Department, Kevin Worthen, president of BYU, argued that religious exemptions do apply to the school. The letter adds that all BYU students, faculty, administrators and staff “‘voluntarily commit to conduct their lives in accordance with the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.’”
The Department of Education responded to the letter, affirming that the university has some religious exemptions, but the department had to investigate if the complaint falls under those exemptions.
An Education Department spokesperson confirmed the investigation to the Blade but declined further comment.
Queer students at BYU celebrated the school’s removal of the anti-LGBTQ language in the honor code. Yet, the university announced weeks later that there was “some miscommunication” as to what the changes meant, clarifying that “the principles of the Honor Code remain the same.”
Bradley Talbot, a former gay student at BYU, was on campus during the apparent reversal, saying it “instilled a lot of fear and a lot of students.”
“There are still a lot of feelings of betrayal and apprehension around it,” he told the Blade.
At BYU, students who hold hands or kiss someone of the same sex can face punishment, including expulsion. LGBTQ+ students face harsher discipline than heterosexual couples at the school.
Talbot said he knew of “quite a few people” who lost their degrees and were kicked out during his time at BYU because of the gay dating ban. “People were turned in by roommates. Some people were turned in by their own parents,” he added.
The university’s clarification frustrated LGBTQ students, according to Talbot. In response, he organized a demonstration in March of 2021, lighting the “Y” that sits above BYU’s campus – one of the school’s oldest traditions – in rainbow Pride colors on the one year anniversary of the university’s letter sent to students that clarified the LGBTQ dating policy.
“We did it to reclaim that traumatic day and spin in a positive light of support, love and unity to create more visibility and awareness,” said Talbot. “And also to take a stand that we weren’t going to put up with just being tossed around by BYU. We deserve to be a part of the BYU community and a part of the LGBTQ community.”
The school has since updated its policies, banning protests and other demonstrations on Y Mountain, where Talbot staged his demonstration, in December of last year.
“Demonstrations should be consistent with BYU’s faith-based mission, intellectual environment and requirements described in the policy,” a statement added.
Still, Talbot, who is now graduated, has hope that the Education Department’s investigation will “finally change” things at BYU. “This has been something that’s been going on for decades,” he said. “They’ve wronged marginalized communities at BYU and they need to be held accountable for it.”
Federal Government
So far, virtually no acknowledgement of Pride month by federal gov’t
Trump-Vance administration proclaimed ‘no more drag shows’ at Kennedy Center
Just a few days from the start of June, there has been virtually no acknowledgment of Pride month by federal government agencies this year, a striking departure from recent policy and practice under the Biden-Harris administration and even under President Donald Trump’s first term.
Some limited and more localized observances have been preserved or renewed in 2025, for example by the U.S. courts’ webpage celebrating history-making LGBTQ jurists like Judges Deborah A. Batts and J. Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which notes on its website plans to actively participate in WorldPride 2025.
The paltriness of Pride this year comes pursuant to several policy changes under Trump 2.0 such as executive orders narrowing the definition of gender to exclude trans and nonbinary people and banning activities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which have led to agency-wide changes including the removal of LGBTQ focused website content and dissolution of “affinity groups.”
Many of these actions came to light in the first few months of Trump’s second term. For example, in January the Associated Press reported a memo from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency indicating that observances related to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pride Month, Holocaust Days of Remembrance, and other cultural or historical annual events would be paused.
While it remains to be seen whether and to what extent the White House, federal government, and Congress will acknowledge Pride month in 2025, in 2024:
- • At the end of May, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation declaring June LGBTQ Pride Month, as he had done for the previous three years of his administration
- • The U.S. Senate, then under Democratic control, introduced a resolution recognizing June 2024 as LGBTQ Pride Month
- • Federal agencies across the whole of government participated in Pride activities, and at a high level — for instance, then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted a Pride month convening focused on U.S. foreign policy, national security, inclusive development, and human rights
- • Actions in June, which in many cases were coordinated via LGBTQ employee resource groups or affinity groups, included celebrations of LGBTQ individuals — for example, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration toasted those who made significant contributions to economic growth, while the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office hosted a “Proud Innovation 2024” event, highlighting the accomplishments of LGBTQ innovators, entrepreneurs, and small business owners who utilize intellectual property to grow their businesses and mentor others in their communities.
- Agencies also provided support indirectly — for example, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sponsored attorneys who wished to represent the FTC at LGBTQ Pride events organized by various bar associations
The Washington Post pointed to some of the challenges facing organizers of WorldPride as they plan festivities in D.C. throughout early June: “This year, the LGBTQ+ celebration is being held in the backyard of a government that has targeted transgender rights and made major cuts to HIV prevention programs. At the Kennedy Center, President Donald Trump has promised “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA.”
On June 14, Trump is set to preside over a military parade in Washington commemorating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, his 79th birthday, and Flag Day, in a celebration that will feature 6,600 soldiers from at least 11 corps and divisions nationwide and 150 military vehicles, including 28 M1 Abrams tanks.
Federal Government
HRC memo details threats to LGBTQ community in Trump budget
‘It’s a direct attack on LGBTQ+ lives’
A memo issued Monday by the Human Rights Campaign details threats to LGBTQ people from the “skinny” budget proposal issued by President Donald Trump on May 2.
HRC estimates the total cost of “funding cuts, program eliminations, and policy changes” impacting the community will exceed approximately $2.6 billion.
Matthew Rose, the organization’s senior public policy advocate, said in a statement that “This budget is more than cuts on a page—it’s a direct attack on LGBTQ+ lives.”
“Trump is taking away life-saving healthcare, support for LGBTQ-owned businesses, protections against hate crimes, and even housing help for people living with HIV,” he said. “Stripping away more than $2 billion in support sends one clear message: we don’t matter. But we’ve fought back before, and we’ll do it again—we’re not going anywhere.”
Proposed rollbacks or changes at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will target the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, other programs related to STI prevention, viral hepatitis, and HIV, initiatives housed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and research by the National Institutes of Health and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Other agencies whose work on behalf of LGBTQ populations would be jeopardized or eliminated under Trump’s budget include the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Federal Government
Trump admin cancels more than $800 million in LGBTQ health grants
As of early May, half of scrapped NIH grants were LGBTQ focused
The Trump-Vance administration has cancelled more than $800 million in research into the health of sexual and gender minority groups, according to a report Sunday in The New York Times.
The paper found more than half of the grants through the National Institutes of Health that were scrapped through early May involved the study of cancers and viruses that tend to affect LGBTQ people.
The move goes further than efforts to claw back diversity related programs and gender affirming care for transgender and gender diverse youth, implicating swaths of research by institutions like Johns Hopkins and Columbia along with public universities.
The Times notes that a $41 million cut impacting Florida State University will stall “a major effort to prevent HIV in adolescents and young adults, who experience a fifth of new infections in the United States each year.”
A surge of federal funding for LGBTQ health research began under the Obama-Biden administration and continued since. Under his first term, Trump dedicated substantial resources toward his Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States initiative.
Cuts administered under the health secretary appointed in his second term, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have put the future of that program in question.
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