Texas Tech policy curbs LGBTQ+ study and classroom discussion

Texas Tech University has adopted a new policy that sharply limits teaching and research related to sexual orientation and gender identity, prompting concern from students, faculty, and LGBTQ+ advocates about academic freedom and campus safety for queer and trans communities.

The directive, issued in a university memo, requires all academic programming focused on sexuality and gender identity to be phased out by June 15. According to prior reporting, the policy bars students from earning degrees or certificates that center these subjects and prohibits them from conducting academic research on LGBTQ+ topics.

Texas Tech currently offers a minor and an undergraduate certificate in women’s and gender studies, both of which are expected to be restricted under the new rules, Advocate reports.

While the memo carves out limited exceptions—such as using gender or sexuality in external datasets, or when those topics are “inextricably linked” to history or public policy in advanced courses—any such discussion must be minimal and cannot “be endorsed as biological fact.”

The policy singles out transgender issues for special limitations. “Instruction must not endorse fluid gender identity as an empirical biological reality that supersedes the two-sex requirement,” the memo states. It further prohibits programs from requiring students to personally affirm what it calls “gender ideology.”

The memo was signed by Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton, a former Republican state senator who previously championed the statewide prohibition on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in public higher education, as first noted by LGBTQ+ journalist Erin Reed.

Texas Tech reported an enrollment of more than 42,000 students as of September 2025. University representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Students and faculty interviewed by the Texas Tribune described the decision as an attack on open inquiry and on LGBTQ+ people on campus.

Cailyn Green, a junior majoring in human development, said the policy denies students “an honest education,” arguing that excluding LGBTQ+ topics distorts reality for all students, regardless of identity. Jen Shelton, an associate professor of English, condemned the memo as a “betrayal,” saying it breaks trust with faculty and students who rely on the university to support rigorous, inclusive scholarship.

LGBTQ+ advocates and academic freedom proponents warn that policies like Texas Tech’s marginalize queer and trans people, erase critical areas of research, and signal to students that their identities and experiences are unworthy of serious academic study.