Whitworth University: A History of Homophobia..And Still a Homophobic University.

Full disclosure: I went to Whitworth College in Spokane, WA as a student from 1973 to 1975, leaving to attend the University of Kansas to pursue a bachelor degree in music education/music therapy, and piano performance minor. I knew I was gay, but in the closet. I began to explore who I was, kissing my share of other young men but shut down because being gay was not welcome at Whitworth. I applied to be a Resident Hall Assistant, but when I told them that a man could love a man the same way a man could love a woman, my future as an RA came to an abrupt halt. I wonder why? (Not) I developed a crush on another young man for almost two years, which ended right before I moved to Kansas. To say the least, Whitworth was not a supportive environment for a gay relationship, though there were many of us who were in same-sex relationships. We just never could show it on campus.

Fact: Whitworth was not a safe place for me to “come out” as a gay young man. I can only imagine the kind of conversion therapy that would’ve been practiced then. It wasn’t safe for anyone who was part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community in the 70s. The Bible studies in dorms, the worship services on Sunday nights... all of it was conservative and evangelical. I learned what it meant to live a “holier than thou” conservative Christian life. It was a little bit more liberal at the time, with President Ed Lindeman, connected with the then-United Presbyterian Church USA, though it still seemed to be a conservative place that “bred” Young Life leaders, with many graduates going to Fuller Theological Seminary, a more conservative seminary than most. If there were an LGBTQIA2S+ center at the time, then I probably would’ve begun attending its functions because I knew that I was gay, but closeted. Instead, I continued to build the gay closet I started when in junior high and high school in Beaverton, OR.  

Once I was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), with degrees from Princeton Seminary and Harvard University, I graduated with a PhD from the University of N. Carolina-Chapel Hill, I was then hired to be on the faculty at Whitworth College from 1989 to 1991. My then-family (wife and daughter). I wanted to be back in the Pacific Northwest, as did my young family. What I forgot was how conservative the eastern part of Washington and Oregon are, especially Whitworth and Spokane, compared to the northwest parts of both states. Conservative theologian Darrell Guder was Academic Dean. I was deeper in the closet now. As an ordained Presbyterian clergy person, I knew it wasn’t safe for me to come “out” of my closet. There was no official LGBTQIA2S+ group for students, let alone staff and faculty. Students, staff, and faculty were all in our respective closets, including me. There was still no welcoming “vibe” to come out of the closet. 

I never experienced an opportunity to be out and gay at Whitworth, either as a student or faculty member. Sadly, it sounds like things have not changed at Whitworth in 2023.

Consider these recent events. The last two years, the local newspaper, Spokesman-Review, 2022 and 2023, Whitworth has shown an inability to either completely shun or completely embrace LGBTQIA2S+ students, staff, or faculty. A member of the conservative Coalition of Christian Colleges/Universities, it continues to neither shut out or support any formal LGBTQIA2S+ center or individual students, staff, or faculty. 

In the summer of 2022, the title of the article about Whitworth said it well: “Disappointed but not surprised”: Whitworth declines to define position on LGBQ employees after first openly gay professors shares concerns.” Dr. Kathy Lee, who taught American history, “came out” in a New Yorker Magazine story--a story which came out a few days after she retired, because she feared repercussions were she to be “out” and fully employed--was the catalyst for the media to focus on the neither-embrace-nor-shun attitude and policy of the University. Again, having been there as a student and faculty, neither times did I find it welcoming, or a place in which I would’ve felt comfortable “coming out” as a gay young man as a student, let alone as a faculty member. Those who were LGBTQIA2S+ both times were in their respective closets, though there were LGBTQIA2S+ faculty, staff, and students who were “out” when off-campus. Some of the gay students who attended Whitworth did die of HIV/AIDS, but we never talked about it when I was on the faculty. And gay and lesbian faculty and staff lived together but never told anyone their address, or talked about their love life among other faculty, while non-LGBTQIA2S+ happily shared their stories of family life and love. 

Here’s the link for the 2022 article: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/jul/15/disappointed-but-not-surprised-whitworth-declines-/

But there’s more! LGBTQIA2S+ students are trying to created “Queer Church.” In 2023, the Presbyterian Church (USA) now embraces LGBTQIA2S+ people officially, though Whitworth University’s ties with the denomination seem tenuous at best because it is still conservative compared to the rest of the denomination. While Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, WA is having lawsuit problems over discrimination of LGBTQIA2S+ faculty, Whitworth remains on the fence, still, failing to commit to either embrace or shun LGBTQIA2S+, though it’s reaction to Queer Church seems to be showing that it is a place that is intolerant of LGBTQIA2S+ students.

Here’s a link to the continued story in 2023: https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/apr/27/whitworth-continues-to-delay-decision-on-protectio/

When I was trying to figure out how and when to come out of the closet while teaching at Duke Divinity School at Duke University, knowing that it would end my goal of achieving tenure at Duke because of the conservative nature of the Div. School, my former wife and then-partner told me that it was time to “shit or get off the pot,” aka the bathroom toilet. Dear Whitworth, it is past time to shit, or get off the pot.

Do what Jesus would do: embrace all, including LGBTQIA2S+ students, faculty, and staff. It is, after all, 2023. If Whitworth wants to build and be an academically strong Christian university, then be more like Jesus.