Walkout at Seattle Pacific Over Anti-LGBTQ Hiring Policy

About 200 students walked out of classes Tuesday to protest Seattle Pacific University’s policy of discriminating against LGBTQ individuals in hiring, The Seattle Times reported. The students assembled on campus and shouted, “We want gay staff. We want gay faculty.”

The board of Seattle Pacific recently decided not to change its policy barring employee “sexual behavior that is inconsistent with the university’s understanding of Biblical standards.”

The Free Methodist Church USA, the university’s religious affiliate, released a statement saying the university would lose its status in the church if it removed the hiring policy.

Andrew Tedmon, a Seattle Pacific senior, said the board’s take on sexuality makes him ashamed to be associated with the university. “I’ve made a lot of wonderful friends and met amazing people here, but to now have my name permanently associated with a homophobic institution … it’s embarrassing.”