Texas Tech University bans teaching, researching LGBTQ+ topicshttps://www.advocate.com/news/texas-tech-lgbtq-topics-ban 🔗Jack Walker (27 Apr 2026)
Texas Tech University has implemented a sweeping new policy that blocks discussions of LGBTQ+ issues in classrooms and student assignments.
The new policy was adopted April 9 and outlined in a university memo, the Texas Tribune previously reported. The mandate outlines school plans to phase out all academic programming related to sexual orientation and gender identity by June 15.
The new policy includes an Alternate Materials Rule, requiring professors to substitute course materials that focus on gender and sexuality with those that do not. This includes a "strict prohibition" for core undergraduate courses, and few academic exemptions for upper-level and graduate coursework.
Students will also not be able to receive degrees or certificates that center around gender and sexuality as a field of study, and cannot complete research as part of their academic studies that focus on LGTBQ+ topics.
The new policy also takes particular aim at discussions around transgender identity. "Instruction must not endorse fluid gender identity as an empirical biological reality that supersedes the two-sex requirement," the memo reads. "Nor may programs compel students to personally affirm gender ideology."
