If you read only the narrative spun this week by the College Democrats and an AL(dot)com opinion piece, you might believe that the University of Alabama ceded LGBTQ+ protections to a group of hateful students last week.
That's not the case. Contrary to their messages, the University of Alabama took a small step towards righting a wrong in its policies, according to one of the parties involved. These policies would deny constitutional protections to students who do not buy into radical gender ideology.
Dana Sweeney, a 2017 graduate of the school, wrote in an AL(dot)com column, "The University of Alabama tacitly endorsed discrimination against its own LGBTQ students by a conservative campus organization."
Braden Vick, president of UA College Democrats, told the Crimson White, "I can't say I'm too surprised that they would pull a bigoted move," he said. "I am surprised a little bit that the University would acquiesce to such a move, considering I'm pretty sure this violates the Capstone Creed."
A post by Trenton Buffenbarger, the University of Alabama's Young America's Foundation (YAF) organization's president, details the truth in a column posted on the YAF national website. It explains how his group challenged the university's efforts to compel student groups to agree to buy into radical gender ideology, appealing to the University President to correct the university's policy that demanded their compliance or threatened the end of their group's recognition on campus.
Buffenbarger's post explained, "A team of University of Alabama lawyers reworked the school's non-discrimination clause, and my campus finally let leftist ideology stand in the way of conservatism on campus—and my YAF chapter was a clear target of this cult."
School administrators informed us the following clause is required for any club's constitution on campus:
"Membership in registered student organizations shall be open to all students of The University of Alabama, without regard to race, religion, sex, ability status, national origin, color, age, gender identity, gender expression, sexual identity, or veteran status except in cases designated fraternal organizations exempted by federal law from Title IX regulations concerning discrimination on the basis of sex."
According to leftist administrators, all student organizations on campus are required to use the "EXACT language" presented to form, renew, or operate their clubs on campus. This extends to Greek life, which has already had issues with biological men identifying as women trying to join sororities in the past."
As The Crimson White reported, this year, when YAF applied to renew its organization with the university, an annual requirement for student organizations, the Student Life, Student Involvement division, The Source rejected the application. A University employee stated in an email reply to UA YAF that it was required to include a non-discrimination clause in its constitution with the "EXACT" wording, noting that UA YAF would remain in "frozen status" until it complied.
The group decided to fight. In his post, Buffenbarger wrote:
Our YAF chapter refuses to validate gender ideology. Gender identity, gender expression, sexual identity, etc., are simply nice terms to hide behind when a man decides to wear a skirt into the ladies’ room and lie about what he is or to push people with psychological issues into harmful behaviors.
YAF stands for the truth, even when it is uncomfortable. So, we informed the school we would not add a gender ideology clause to our chapter constitution. As such, the school promptly denied our renewal application. Furthermore, not only did they tell us we would not be renewed for next school year, but that we would not be permitted to host events or meetings on campus after February 21st unless we included the updated clause and resubmitted our constitution.
We were not about to be bullied by this new gender ideology cult infecting the University of Alabama administration.
The state of Alabama also has a particularly conservative government, so I reached out to some contacts who put me in touch with the state attorney general. National YAF helped our chapter draft a formal complaint to the president of the university, and the state attorney general requested he be added to the email chain for extra pressure.
The day after the complaint was sent, the department overseeing student organizations sent us an email stating that the president had shared our email with them, and that they would be providing an exemption to the clause for YAF. They now only require it to say: “Membership in registered student organizations shall be open to all students of The University of Alabama, without regard to race, religion, sex, ability status, national origin, color, age, or veteran status except in cases designated fraternal organizations exempted by federal law from Title IX regulations concerning discrimination on the basis of sex. We will continue to fight to prevent the school from forcing gender ideology on any club.
Re Request for YAF Club Recognition by Caleb Taylor on Scribd
Apryl Marie Fogel is a Birmingham resident who frequently appears on and guest hosts radio programs around the state. She can be reached at [email protected] or on X and Facebook at @aprylmarie.
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