Tristan Campbell, was formerly a student at Oklahoma Baptist University. Campbell, who identifies as bisexual, was assaulted by a male student he was dating.
“When a man I was dating last fall physically assaulted me, I felt the full impact of how vulnerable my school’s Title IX waiver made me. The circumstances surrounding what happened aren’t as important as the situation it put me in.
“Because it was an assault by an intimate partner on campus, accurately and truthfully reporting what happened would have meant outing both of us. This meant we could lose our jobs, be kicked out of university housing and potentially be expelled.”
This is not some abstract danger. “My school’s administrators coined the term ‘right to discriminate’ in reference to the firing of a bisexual student worker. This is an immediate threat that is costing students their jobs, housing and education. The campus community of OBU no longer feels safe because that community is segregated between those who are protected under the law, and those who are not.”
Campbell was in a class with the attacker. In a school that is covered by Title IX protections, the attacker would, at least, be reassigned to a different class than the victim. Campbell feared, reporting the attack might subject him, and the attacker, to expulsion.
Tristan Campbell urges DoED to protect LGBTQ students at religious colleges listen here!