LGBTQ group confident it’s making inroads for gay agenda on Notre Dame campus

The University of Notre Dame’s mistakes may be coming back to haunt it. While faithful Catholics connected to the University implore the administration to stop providing employee marriage benefits to same-sex couples, the founder of a dissident LGBTQ advocacy organization at Notre Dame says the benefits policy “absolutely opens the door” to pressing for more of the group’s objectives.

And although the group is not sponsored by the University, it freely opposes Catholic teaching on campus without apparent restriction or response from Notre Dame, thereby diminishing the University’s Catholic identity.

The Cardinal Newman Society interviewed Jake Bebar, a Notre Dame alumnus and founder of “Out at ND,” the new LGBTQ advocacy organization at Notre Dame, to discuss recent developments and the organization’s goals. Out at ND, launched earlier this year, states that its values include “marriage rights and spousal privileges, relationship equality, sexual orientation and gender identity inclusive non-discrimination clauses and health insurance coverage of transition-related expenses, such as mental health care, hormones and gender affirming surgeries, for students, faculty and staff.”

The unofficial group hopes to increase visibility on campus, LGBTQ advocacy and activist practices within the Notre Dame community. Bebar said that the University’s extension of same-sex employee benefits now puts LGBTQ issues such as housing, non-discrimination clauses, equal access policies and other benefits very much on the table.

And, while still fairly new, Out at ND has already tapped into several veins of support among the Notre Dame community.

“It’s important that students, faculty, staff, alumni and the community get involved with the movement and continually advocate for the LGBTQ community,” said Bebar. “As for the faculty and staff, we have seen an immense support spanning all colleges within the University.”

With infamous Notre Dame professors, such as Gary Gutting and Candida Moss, who persistently undermine Church teaching without repercussion or admonishment from the University, it seems plausible that faculty at the University could support a group with goals in conflict with Church teaching.

On the other hand, several professors within the University continue to urge Notre Dame President Father John Jenkins, C.S.C., to increase the faithful Catholic faculty and protect the University’s Catholic identity.

Law professors Gerard Bradley, John Finnis and Daniel Philpott recently argued that same-sex benefits are “morally indefensible” at Notre Dame—a point also emphasized by Fort Wayne-South Bend Bishop Kevin Rhoades, as he called on the University to defend the Church’s view of traditional marriage.

However, the division has grown beyond the faculty to both students and alumni. Bebar recounted various interactions he has had with students on campus, from those fully in support of Out at ND’s mission to those who “love the sinner and hate the sin.”

Out at ND was founded, he said, with the belief that to be an “ally” or support LGBTQ students means to support and advocate for issues like same-sex relationships or same-sex marriage. “Then there are other [students] who would support same-sex relationships, but who would oppose marriage equality,” Bebar told the Newman Society.

Out at ND has support from GALA, the Gay and Lesbian Alumni of Notre Dame and St. Mary’s College, but other alumni have expressed their grave concern about the potential threat the group could pose to the University’s Catholic identity.

That’s a point that Bebar attempted to address:

We understand that the University is in a unique position because of its Catholic identity. Because of this, OUT at ND is not seeking any response from the University. We are not sending around pledges attempting to change the Church teaching or to get the University to make a statement. We’re simply providing a resource and telling the stories of LGBTQ students and their allies on campus. From our perspective, attempting to become an official group would result in limiting the group’s freedom.

We are 100% completely independent of the University, and we have no intentions of forming a University-affiliated club or organization.

Michael Bradley, another alumnus and the former editor of the Irish Rover, insisted that it would be disastrous for Notre Dame’s Catholic identity if it endorsed the group. “Insofar as OUT at ND explicitly acknowledges that it advocates for causes that clash with Notre Dame's institutional commitments,” Bradley said, “it's clear even to members of the group that OUT at ND and Notre Dame's mission are at odds with respect to the issues that motivate OUT at ND.”

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Bill Dempsey, chairman of the alumni group Sycamore Trust, told the Newman Society about his first encounter with Out at ND. While attending the Evangelium Vitae Mass at the Basilica on campus—a Mass which incidentally was celebrated by Bishop Rhoades—he and his wife noticed advertisements for “OUTatND.org” chalked in front of the basilica and throughout the campus.

Dempsey quickly did his research, only to discover that the new group openly opposed Church teaching and the Catholic mission of the University.

The Sycamore Trust has since written to the administration expressing its concerns, but according to Dempsey, the University continues to tolerate the unofficial group on campus. The University has yet to respond to his written concerns.

The letter reads:

These students seek to enlist fellow students to oppose in voice and action the Church and its teachings on grave issues of morality to which the university says it subscribes. It is interesting, and perhaps useful, to see that the university tolerates this sort of advertising on campus even for a student organization overtly hostile to fundamental Church teachings. But my question is whether the university will respond to this at all.

In the meantime, Out at ND plans to move forward with their stated goals to mobilize students and faculty alike at Notre Dame.

“I have no doubt that over the coming years, Out at ND will be able to make an even bigger impact on campus,” said Bebar. “Our goals for next year are still very much being determined, and organizational structure and leadership is still being solidified. While there are many routes that we can take, OUT at ND will always do its best to tell the stories of LGBTQ individuals and openly support them.”

Reprinted with permission from The Cardinal Newman Society.