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Groups Call For End To U Texas Gay Student Center Funding


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Groups Call For End To U Texas Gay Student Center Funding

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: December 29, 2005 - 9:00 pm ET

(Austin, Texas) Conservative groups have begun a push to force the University of Texas at Austin to end funding for its campus LGBT center.

The state funded university gives the Gender and Sexuality Center $80,000 a year. The center offers counseling and other services to LGBT students. It also includes a campus's women's resource center, dealing with issues such as rape, harassment and domestic violence.

Christian political action groups that spearheaded the move to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage are pressuring the university to stop allowing student fees to go to the center, the Dallas Morning news reports.

The fees are collected by the student government which then allocates the funds. The UT Board of Regents has the power to overrule the use of the money.

The conservative groups say that students opposed to homosexuality should not be forced to fund the center.

Some state representatives also are planning to oppose funding for the facility. Legislation is expected to be introduced in the next session that would forbid the university from permitting fees from being used, but would allow private donations to fund the center.

Women and gay students say they will fight any move that would endanger the center. They say the facility enriches the lives of all students by combating homophobia and providing a safe-haven for harassed women.

OutLaw, an organization of LGBT law students at UT tells the paper that it's prepared to mount a petition drive to save the center. A number of legislators say they also will oppose legislation to chop funding.

But the UT chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas says the center should not be funded by student fees. It argues that the facility promotes homosexuality and excludes the so-called ex-gay movement.

More than 100 universities and colleges across the country have LGBT centers.

©365Gay.com 2005

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