| It is critical that universities and colleges provide a religiously and spiritually welcoming environment for our LGBTQ students and allies on campus. Institutional religion has often been seen as bigoted and damaging for the LGBTQ community, rather than open and affirming. Drawing upon personal experiences over the last 25 years as a university chaplain at Tufts and Stanford, we will reflect upon the sea of change in religious and spiritual attitudes and actions regarding LGBTQ students. We will trace some of that history, address institutional realities, examine the current legal environment, relate some ‘best practices,’ and provide a vision for the future.
Scotty McLennan is the Dean for Religious Life at Stanford. He is a Unitarian Universalist minister and an attorney. McLennan teaches classes on campus through the Ethics in Society Program, Urban Studies, and the Graduate School of Business. His most recent book is Jesus Was a Liberal: Reclaiming Christianity for All (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) |