At 11 a.m., on Oct. 11, Pepperdine students walked out of their classrooms, made their way to the Amphitheatre and took part in the national Strike Out Queerphobia Protest.
The walkout protested universities with a religious Title IX exemption, allowing them to legally discriminate against LGBTQ+ students while receiving federal funding and took place at over 50 campuses, said Danica Christy, Crossroads co-president and senior. Title IX prevents discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, according to the Department of Education.
Today, Pepperdine does not have a Title IX exemption, but had one from 1976 to 2016, according to past Graphic reporting. Christy said former President Andrew K. Benton revoked the exemption in 2016.
“We’re not going to be the first ones,” student John Doe said. “We’re not going to be the last. And so it’s like, as much as we thank the people that paved the way for us, we have to be the ones to further that so that we can make things more accessible and better for people in the future.”