By Bill Brown, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-831644.mp3
Arlington, TX – On the TCU campus, some professors have scrapped their planned lessons to ask a loaded question should the school set aside campus housing where gay students can live together?
Already, those majoring in music, fine arts languages and marine biology have separate housing called Living Leraning Communities. Gay students asked if they could start their own, and TCU leaders said yes. Sophomore Shelly Newkirk leads the Gay-Straight Alliance:
This Living Learning Community acts as a comfort zone or a safe haven for those students really looking for that or may be needing that.
Newkirk says most students on the conservative campus are friendly to gay people.
There haven't been religious ties to all the ignorance I've heard. It's just slander and bullying really.
Most students we met said, live and let live, gay students should have their own space.
TCU is conservative, it's not liberal, but things are changing.
But, the story lit up the blogs of North Texas media.
One parent said...my child will not go there and they have Christian in their name? Another wrote...Does this glorify God? Don't encourage sin!
Some people vowed to never give another penny to TCU.
One student found that offensive...I think that's hypocritical. We're all sinners.
TCU officials declined to be interviewed. They issued a statement saying...These Living Learning Communities prepare student to better understand the diverse topics they will encounter once they leave TCU.
The first TCU gay students will move into their new on-campus apartments this fall. Bill Brown KERA News.