Texas Tech Issues Ban On Students Writing On LGBTQ+ Topics

Source: Erin in the Morning

Texas Tech Issues Ban On Students Writing On LGBTQ+ Topics

The ban applies to theses and dissertations, and is expected to begin going into effect on a rolling basis.

Erin Reed
Apr 23, 2026


Texas Tech University

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A new memo (1) at Texas Tech University establishes a sweeping and draconian censorship policy toward LGBTQ+ people, creating a campus equivalent of "Don't Say Gay" in one of the most extreme anti-speech policies ever imposed at a public university. The memo bars professors from discussing LGBTQ+ topics in core and lower-level courses and eliminates entire fields of study across the five-university system. It even requires that if an industry-standard textbook includes content on sexual orientation or gender identity, instructors must skip over it and avoid discussion around it. Most troubling, however, is that the censorship regime extends beyond professors to students themselves: the memo states that "no degree-culminating student research within the TTU System will be permitted to center on SOGI topics," a total ban on LGBTQ+ mentions in dissertations or graduate thesis work.

The memorandum, which was issued by Chancellor Brandon Creighton--a former Republican state senator who authored Texas's ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at public universities and a campus protest restriction law that a federal judge blocked as unconstitutional--went out to the presidents of all five universities in the Texas Tech University System this month. The system serves approximately 64,000 students across Texas Tech University, Angelo State University, Midwestern State University, and two Health Sciences Centers. Under the new policy, all majors, minors, certificates, and graduate degrees "centered on" sexual orientation or gender identity will be eliminated. Provosts at each university must identify every affected program and submit finalized lists to the chancellor's office by June 15, 2026, at which point an immediate admissions freeze will take effect--no new students will be allowed to enroll in or declare any of the targeted programs. Currently enrolled students will be allowed to finish their degrees through a teach-out process, but once the last of them graduates, the fields will cease to exist at Texas Tech entirely.

The censorship policy directly targets all sexual orientation and gender identity content. "The Alternate Materials Rule requires that... in courses where course materials (inclusive of all assigned works, readings, case studies, peer-reviewed research, videos, etc.) are centered on or include sexual orientation or gender identity, alternate materials must be utilized," reads the memo. "If instructors choose permissible works that do not center on or include these topics, instructor-led discussions, class assignments, and instructional materials must not focus on sexual orientation or gender identity." Even passing mentions are policed: the memo instructs that "incidental references should be avoided" when selecting primary materials for core courses, and that if a history book or novel happens to include LGBTQ+ content, professors "must not highlight, assess, or allocate instructional time to it." The memo adds that "there are no exceptions to the Alternate Materials Rule for core, undergraduate courses."

The implications are profound--and at times border on absurd. In core and lower-level courses, there are no exceptions at all. A history professor course could not allocate instructional time to the Stonewall riots or the gay rights movement. If a U.S. history textbook includes a chapter on the AIDS crisis, the professor must skip it. An English professor assigning Oscar Wilde cannot lead a discussion of the trial and imprisonment that defined his later work and legacy. A professor teaching Virginia Woolf's Orlando--a novel whose entire premise is gender fluidity--would appear to be in direct violation of the policy. A core literature class reading Walt Whitman's "Calamus" poems could not explore their homoerotic themes. Sappho--the ancient Greek poet from whom the word "lesbian" derives--could not be taught with any meaningful analysis of her work's content. A professor teaching Shakespeare's Twelfth Night or As You Like It could not discuss the cross-dressing that is central to the plot, nor the long theatrical tradition of male actors performing female roles--because analyzing gender performance in Shakespeare would constitute allocating "instructional time" to gender identity themes. A political science class could not examine the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges as anything other than a passing reference. A psychology professor in a core course could not discuss why homosexuality was removed from the DSM. Even a music appreciation course discussing Tchaikovsky or Freddie Mercury would need to avoid any sustained discussion of how their identities shaped their art.

{snip}

(1) https://www.texastech.edu/downloads/26-4-9-Memorandum-Chancellor-Creighton.pdf

Read more: https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/texas-tech-issues-ban-on-students

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Anthony Michael Kreis
‪@anthonymkreis.bsky.social‬

Texas Tech and Texas A&M are no longer universities and we should not treat them or refer to them as such.

‪Riki Wilchins‬
‪@rikiwilchins.bsky.social‬
· 1h
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social [Texas cont]
In an additional attempt to suppress LGBTQ+ speech, the policy includes STUDENTS: "no degree-culminating student research within the TTU System will be permitted to center on SOGI topics," thus extending "Don't Say Gay" to dissertations and theses. 2/2

Texas Tech Issues Ban On Students Writing On LGBTQ+ Topics
The ban applies to theses and dissertations, and is expected to begin going into effect on a rolling basis.
www.erininthemorning.com
6:57 PM · Apr 23, 2026
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Texas Tech and Texas A&M are no longer universities and we should not treat them or refer to them as such.

— Anthony Michael Kreis (@anthonymkreis.bsky.social) 2026-04-23T22:57:52.986Z