Missouri private college Lindenwood University approved the formation of a gay-straight alliance on campus, provided that the group also embrace “other students in need of understanding and support.” The group will euphemistically be known as the Spectrum Alliance.
Although presumably a gay-straight alliance could potentially involve every single person at Lindenwood, campus administration objected to the original group, characterizing its gayness as “parochial and self-serving.”
According to an article by Doug Moore in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
“Its mission [now] includes issues pertaining to various groups including LGBT, the disabled and other groups/students in need of understanding and support,” according to a mission statement approved by University President James D. Evans after Richard Boyle, vice president of human resources, met with [the leader of the gay-straight alliance].
Lindenwood initially rejected the group’s application, saying that “its principal purpose appears to be the support and promotion of a particular lifestyle.” That particular lifestyle “does not coincide with the traditional values of Lindenwood University.”
While the school describes itself as “firmly rooted in Judeo-Christian values,” Lindenwood is not exactly a stranger to the particular lifestyle; in 2008 Lindwood opened its new J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts with a solo concert by gay icon Liza Minnelli.
