Lugos added that while the school is heading into summer break, the sit-in protest will not stop, with alumni joining the effort.
"Students are also calling for a disaffiliation with the Free Methodist Church because if our affiliation is causing them to discriminate, then why are we affiliated," Lugos said. ASSP President Laur Lugos told KING-TV students also urge SPU break ties with the church. Protesters are calling not just for a change in the policy, but for the board to reveal how each member voted on the policy, for the members who voted in favor to resign and those that remain to officially condemn those who voted for it. Proud Boys Disrupt Drag Queen Story Hour at Public Library: Sheriff.Pastor Says 'Solution' to Gay People Is Executions: It's in the Bible.Man Supported for Coming Out To Homophobic Family During Sister's Wedding."While this decision brings complex and heart-felt reactions, the Board made a decision that it believed was most in line with the university's mission and Statement of Faith and chose to have SPU remain in communion with its founding denomination, the Free Methodist Church USA, as a core part of its historical identity as a Christian university." "We want the community of SPU to know that this was a thorough and prayerful deliberation," Board Chair Cedric Davis said in a statement released by SPU on May 23. And the Free Methodist Church USA threatened to pull its affiliation should the school drop the controversial policy. SPU is affiliated with the Free Methodist Church USA, according to the Times, and has been since it was founded in 1891, according to KIRO-TV. However, it could be tricky to remove the policy. Students graduating at Seattle Pacific University gave the president of the school pride flags as they received their diplomas in protest of a policy banning staff from being in same-sex relationships. That decision led the SPU Faculty Senate to vote they had "no confidence" in the board. Last year, the board of trustees upheld the policy in another vote, even after SPU had been sued by an adjunct professor who alleged he was denied a promotion because he was gay, the Times reports. The policy is unpopular not just with the students, but faculty. The organization is fighting against a policy-recently reaffirmed in May by the SPU board of trustees-which bans staff from having a same-sex relationship, according to The Seattle Times.
ASSP has also been leading a sit-in at the school's administration building for the last 19 days.
Handing Menjares LGBT pride flags isn't the extent of the protest. #pride #pridemonth #lgbtq #gay #graduation #fyp #seattle #changethepolicy #hiregayprofs ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey Also been sleeping outside his office for 19 days in a gay sit-in but he usually doesn’t say hi to us.