Graduating students at Seattle Pacific University give pride flags to interim president in protest of anti-LGBTQ+ policy

Dozens of graduating seniors at Seattle Pacific University (SPU) handed small rainbow pride flags to Interim President Pete Menjares in protest of the school’s anti-LGBTQ+ employment policy.

Several seniors walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, handing pride flags, notes and other pride items in protest of SPU’s “Employee Lifestyle Expectations” policy, which requires full-time staff to “reflect a traditional view on Biblical marriage and sexuality,” including barring them from participating in “same-sex sexual activity.”

The move was organized by the Associated Students of Seattle Pacific (ASSP).

“So much of our college experience has has been engulfed by this issue,” graduating senior Laur Lugos, former SPU student government president, told The Seattle Times. “It just felt like this was the appropriate way to go out.”

Lugos, who helped organize the protest, also reportedly gave Menjares a handwritten note, telling him to resign. She added that she learned at the university to care for the people Christians “lock out.”

Video of the graduation, posted by ASSP, went viral on social media, which included a montage of the students handing the flags to Menjares.

However, the flags were only the latest part of the growing movement in the university.

In late May, ASSP organized a sit-in at the campus administration building, Demaray Hall, outside of Menjares’ office, after the university voted to reaffirm the “Employee Lifestyle Expectations” policy. The protest is still ongoing, according to Fox 13 in Seattle.

“It was a wonderful day to celebrate with our graduates,” Menjares said in a statement to The Hill. “Those who took the time to give me a flag showed me how they felt and I respect their view.”

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