College Students Plan Walkouts on National Coming Out Day to Protest Schools' Homophobic Policies

"Students at religious schools across the country will be walking out of class Tuesday to demand widespread changes be made to how LGBTQ people are treated at religious universities and high schools," reports The Hill.

Prompting the event is National Coming Out Day that is held annually on October 11, the anniversary of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1979.

The walkouts are planned at more than 100 schools and were organized by the Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP) and the Black Menaces, a group of five Black students at Brigham Young University (BYU) whose TikTok videos show their mostly white peers often struggling to answer questions about race and identity.

Yesterday the Black Menaces tweeted: "Reminder : Tomorrow, Oct 11th, National Coming Out Day, we will walkout to #strikeoutqueerphobia on 50+ college and high-school campuses. We are demanding the end of legal discrimination by religious institutions against queer individuals. GenZ is done putting up with it."

BYU, the Hill notes, is currently one of "40 religious universities with students that are suing the Department of Education (DOE) for allowing federally funded schools with religious affiliations to sidestep protections guaranteed to LGBT+ students under Title IX."

According to DOE guidelines, The federal statute prohibiting educational institutions that receive government funding from discriminating based on sex – including sexual orientation and gender identity – does not apply to colleges or universities controlled by a religious organization "to the extent that application of Title IX would be inconsistent with the religious tenets of the organization,"

The students' class action lawsuit filed last year by REAP claims that religious exemptions to Title IX have created legal avenues for schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students. Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys have said that while the law will be defended in court, it is also under review by the DOE.

The website The Worst List identifies the"absolute worst, most unsafe campuses for LGBTQ youth" in the United States. According to their website, "The colleges & universities listed have chosen to openly discriminate against LGBTQ youth and/or have requested Title IX exemptions to perpetuate the harms of religion-based bigotry.  The criterion to be the "absolute worst" campus includes either of the following: 1) Received and/or applied for a Title IX exemption to discriminate against LGBTQ youth and/or 2) Demonstrated past history and track record of anti-LGBTQ actions, programs and practices." To see the full list, click here.

An online petition organized by REAP and the Black Menaces this month alleges that more than 100,000 LGBTQ students on religious campuses each year are "denied basic civil rights protections" because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.