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Texas Tech Just Banned The Teaching Of All LGBTQ+ Topics In Classrooms—And Critics Are Sounding Off
The memorandum has implications for students, faculty, and LGBTQ+ studies as a whole.
The TTUS memo boldly stated:
"The Texas Tech University System is not waiting to be told what compliance looks like—we are defining it for the rest of the state and the nation."
The memo was condemned by multiple organizations in academia including the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) and the academic freedom advocacy group PEN America.
@_K_Stiles/X
Chancellor Brandon Creighton sent new rules on April 9 to the Texas Tech system's five presidents, based largely on Texas state Senate Bill 37 (2025), titled Reforming Faculty Senates, that Creighton himself drafted while serving as a Republican state senator.
Creighton's bill, signed into law by Republican Governor Greg Abbott on June 23, 2025, dissolved faculty senates and transferred their curriculum-making powers to a newly created board of regents.
The TTUS memo said the new guidance will "establish the system-wide standard for all course content and academic offerings across the TTU System." Texas Tech is one of seven public education networks available in the state of Texas and served ~64,000 students as of the 2024-25 academic year.
Critics say higher education at TTUS, and in the state of Texas as a whole, will suffer under the Reforming Faculty Senates Act as studies show quality educators leave states that restrict academic freedom.
@_K_Stiles/X
In a further act of hubris, Creighton created his own acronym to replace LGBTQ+—which stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Plus other marginalized gender identities and sexualities.
Instead of the widely recognized acronym, Creighton wants SOGI—which stands for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity—to be used by everyone now under his control.
The memo announced the "phase-out and closure" of all courses "centered on" SOGI in undergraduate majors, minors, certificates and graduate degrees.
Such action will make TTUS graduates unqualified for further education or licensure in some fields. For example, psychology and medical degrees require study of these now banned topics in order to qualify for a graduate program outside TTUS and to qualify for professional licenses in most countries.
Ignoring how their bans will impact the success of students proved the goal wasn't the betterment of education, but rather furthering their Christian nationalist, homophobic, transphobic agenda.
The Creighton-led TTUS Board of Regents added a "strict prohibition on SOGI content in all core and lower-level undergraduate courses."
The memo said that "instructors may not teach that gender identity is a fluid spectrum, endorse the existence of more than two genders, or decouple gender from biological sex as a factual or scientific baseline" because Republican backed "[Texas] state and federal law [there is no federal law, only an executive order from MAGA Republican President Donald Trump] and TTU System guidance dictate that only two human sexes, male and female, are recognized."
The TTUS memo also placed a first-in-the-nation ban on "unacceptable" masters theses and PhD dissertations.
In a separate letter sent to the five TTUS presidents on the same day as the 9 April memo, Creighton wrote:
"Graduate theses and dissertations may only center on SOGI topics as a strictly temporary teach-out exception, explicitly limited to currently enrolled students completing their degrees within formally identified teach-out programs."
In other words, a graduate student in the midst of completing their degree won't be required to begin again if their thesis or dissertation would otherwise be deemed "unacceptable."
Creighton continued:
“Upon the conclusive termination of all designated teach-out programs, no degree-culminating student research within the TTU System will be permitted to center on SOGI topics."
All future masters and PhD candidates' fields of study will be restricted by Creighton and the Board of Regents' bigotry.
People were appalled that the GOP's Christian nationalist agenda was put ahead of education in Texas.
r/Texas/Reddit
r/Texas/Reddit
@gm24062/Bluesky
r/Texas/Reddit
@gritodelares/Bluesky
In December, the TTUS Board of Regents instituted a White nationalist course review process to eliminate any course content that they felt implied an “individual, by virtue of race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, consciously or unconsciously."
Such reviews have previously led to courses teaching that slavery was a mutually beneficial arrangement, the genocide of Indigenous Americans never occurred, and the erasure of the historical accomplishments of women and BIPOC.
The White House Just Tried To Rebrand ICE Agents As 'NICE Agents' With Hilariously Propagandistic Graphic
The White House has leaned into that suggestion, sharing an image of a "NICE" agent standing next to a child with the caption "NICE AGENTS: Defending Our Country," and adding:
"ICE [arrow symbol] NICE AGENTS. 'National Immigration and Customs Enforcement.' DO IT!"
You can see the post and the graphic below.
@WhiteHouse/X
This didn't go over well, considering the chief role ICE agents have played in tearing apart families and trampling on human rights, arresting and detaining citizens and non-citizens alike, throughout the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
The agency's actions in Minneapolis are particularly shameful; the image of a "NICE" agent next to a child lies in stark contrast to how ICE agents treated 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos. Ramos and his father were abducted by ICE agents on their way home from preschool in the Minneapolis area in January.
The family’s lawyer said Ramos and his family are originally from Ecuador and presented themselves to border officers in Texas in December 2024 to apply for asylum. He stressed they "are not illegal aliens" and that "they came legally, and are pursuing a legal pathway.”
Ramos' case horrified the country when a school district superintendent said "another adult living in the home was outside and begged the agents to let them take care of the small child, but was refused." Instead, an agent “led him to the door and directed him to knock on the door, asking to be let in, in order to see if anyone else was home—essentially using a 5-year-old as bait."
Then there's the matter of the two Americans who were killed in Minneapolis by ICE agents.
Just weeks prior, ICE agent Jonathan Ross killed Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good in her car. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed Good “weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them.”
However, witnesses described seeing Good in the vehicle trying to flee officers when she was shot.
The agency found itself at the center of another scandal that kicked off nationwide protests after analysis of multiple videos showed ICE officers removing a handgun from Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti—a weapon that authorities said Pretti was permitted to carry but was not handling at the time—before fatally shooting him.
Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other officials claimed Pretti had brandished a weapon and that agents fired “defensive shots,” assertions that have been contradicted by video evidence showing Pretti holding a phone and not brandishing a gun.
The Trump administration has tried to convince the public not to believe what they see with their own eyes, prompting critics to call out the hypocrisy of officials who've previously praised armed right-wing protesters but continue to criticize Pretti, a legal gun owner with a valid Minnesota concealed-carry permit at the time of his killing.
Many have condemned the Trump administration's propaganda.
As of this writing, a panel of judges on the New York-based United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has rejected a Trump administration policy that sought to place many immigrants—including some who have lived in the U.S. for years—into mandatory ICE detention without bond.
In striking it down, the court described the policy as “the broadest mass-detention-without-bond mandate” in U.S. history for millions of noncitizens, warning that its implementation would overwhelm detention facilities, separate families, and cause widespread disruption across immigrant communities.