Big 12 Rejects BYU Because of Its Mormon Beliefs

After months of talks about expanding the conference, the Big 12 decided on Monday not to include more members. According to reports, one of the major reasons the conference shut down the expansion effort was its rejection of Brigham Young University, one of the leading candidates for inclusion, due to the university’s affiliation with the Mormon Church and its religious positions on gender and sexuality.

After a three-month expansion debate in which 20 schools made appeals to be added to the conference, 11 of them ultimately landing interviews, the Big 12 reversed course Monday and shut the door, for now, on expansion. Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel highlights one of the two events that “shifted the tenor of expansion exploration”: the rejection of BYU.

“The first came in early August when FoxSports.com wrote an article indicating the potential backlash from the LGBT community against BYU if the Cougars were admitted,” writes Thamel. “BYU was the prohibitive favorite to join the league, and when it became politically untenable to take the school, which is owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the entire tenor of expansion changed.”

As the August FoxSports report details, when it became clear that BYU was a candidate for inclusion in the Big 12, non-profit LGBT awareness group Athlete Ally sent a letter to Big 12 administrators signed by 23 national and regional LGBT advocacy groups, including NOW and GLAAD, condemning BYU and warning of potential NCAA and Title IX implications. Excerpts from the letter below:

We are writing to express our concerns about Brigham Young University’s (BYU) candidacy for Big 12 Conference membership. As organizations committed to ending homophobia, biphobia and transphobia both on and off the field of play, we are deeply troubled by this possibility. We feel it would be extremely problematic to include BYU in your conference expansion for the following reasons: …

BYU … actively and openly discriminates against its LGBT students and staff. It provides no protections for LGBT students. In fact, through its policies, BYU is very clear about its intent to discriminate against openly LGBT students, with sanctions that can include suspension or dismissal for being openly LGBT or in a same-sex relationship. The LGBT climate is so bad at BYU that it is ranked the 6th worst school in the country for LGBT students. Given BYU’s homophobic, biphobic and transphobic policies and practices, BYU should not be rewarded with Big 12 membership. …

BYU’s anti-LGBT policies violate both Big 12 guidelines and NCAA guidelines.

All Big 12 member schools have to comply with NCAA guidelines. The NCAA requires schools to comply with Title IX. As an institution that openly discriminates against transgender students, BYU is not in compliance with Title IX. As such, it not only violates NCAA’s membership guidelines, but it also violates the Big 12’s commitment to gender equity.

The complaints against BYU are largely in reference to its Honor Code, which prohibits same-sex relationships in alignment with the religious beliefs of the Mormon Church, stating, “Homosexual behavior is inappropriate and violates the Honor Code. Homosexual behavior includes not only sexual relations between members of the same sex, but all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings.”