{"id":268577,"date":"2026-04-27T19:05:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T19:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/268577\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T19:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T19:05:17","slug":"texas-tech-university-bans-teaching-researching-lgbtq-topics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/268577\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech University bans teaching, researching LGBTQ+ topics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas<\/a> Tech University has implemented a sweeping new policy that blocks discussions of LGBTQ+ issues in classrooms and student assignments.<\/p>\n

The new policy was adopted April 9 and outlined in a university memo<\/a>, the Texas Tribune previously reported<\/a>. The mandate outlines school plans to phase out all academic programming related to sexual orientation and gender identity by June 15.<\/p>\n

The new policy includes an Alternate Materials Rule, requiring professors to substitute course materials that focus on gender and sexuality with those that do not. This includes a \u201cstrict prohibition\u201d for core undergraduate courses, and few academic exemptions for upper-level and graduate coursework.<\/p>\n

Students will also not be able to receive degrees or certificates that center around gender and sexuality as a field of study, and cannot complete research as part of their academic studies that focus on LGTBQ+ topics.<\/p>\n

Texas Tech currently offers a minor and certificate in women\u2019s and gender studies, which are poised to be affected by the new memo, the Texas Tribune reported.<\/p>\n

The university memo sets some exceptions for the policy, like when gender and sexuality are collected as part of external datasets, or when gender and sexuality are \u201cinextricably linked\u201d to history or public policy for upper-level coursework. But the memo only allows these topics to be discussed sparingly, and not \u201cendorsed as biological fact.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new policy also takes particular aim at discussions around transgender<\/a> identity. \u201cInstruction must not endorse fluid gender identity as an empirical biological reality that supersedes the two-sex requirement,\u201d the memo reads. \u201cNor may programs compel students to personally affirm gender ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 42,000 students were enrolled at Texas Tech as of September 2025, according to a university news release<\/a> last fall. Representatives for the university did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The memo was issued by Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton, who previously led the state\u2019s ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education as a Republican state senator, LGBTQ+ news blogger Erin Reed reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Several Texas Tech students and faculty members who spoke with the Texas Tribune said the university\u2019s decision disrupts both academic and daily life on campus.<\/p>\n

Cailyn Green, a junior studying human development, told the Texas Tribune<\/a> that the university\u2019s decision prohibits students from accessing \u201can honest education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jen Shelton, an associate professor of English at Texas Tech, called the memo a \u201cbetrayal.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was written as part of the Future of Queer Media fellowship program at The Advocate, which is underwritten by a generous gift from Morrison Media Group<\/a>. The program helps support the next generation of LGBTQ+ journalists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Tech University has implemented a sweeping new policy that blocks discussions of LGBTQ+ issues in classrooms and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[100047,163,289,168,170,169,858,27,3837],"class_list":{"0":"post-268577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lubbock","8":"tag-campus-policy","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-higher-education","11":"tag-lubbock","12":"tag-lubbock-headlines","13":"tag-lubbock-news","14":"tag-research","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-universities"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}