Baylor professor doubles down on LGBTQ+ inclusion grant

An English professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, who has drawn scrutiny for previous public comments regarding gender and sexuality, expressed support this week for the school’s recent $643,000 grant to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion in churches.

Professor Greg Garrett, who serves as the school’s Carole Ann McDaniel Hanks Chair of Literature & Culture and teaches theology classes, also claimed conservative media have been attacking him for obeying Jesus by affirming homosexuality and transgenderism.

“When the far right media comes for me, my colleagues, or [Baylor]? I can only say: I serve the Jesus who said ‘If you’ve loved the least of these, you’ve loved me.’ Grateful for this grant that will help us love better,” Garrett tweeted Monday, linking to an article from The Christian Post.

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When the far right media comes for me, my colleagues, or @Baylor? I can only say: I serve the Jesus who said “If you’ve loved the least of these, you’ve loved me.” Grateful for this grant that will help us love better. https://t.co/r925W3VUBZ#church#GodIsLove@BaylorProud

— Greg Garrett (@Greg1Garrett) July 7, 2025

Baylor University, the oldest continually operating university in Texas, received a $643,401 grant last month from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation to foster inclusion among LGBTQ-identified individuals in the church. The school remains associated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which affirms biblical teachings regarding sexuality, gender and marriage.

The grant’s goal is “to foster inclusion and belonging in the church,” with an emphasis on understanding “the disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations to nurture institutional courage and foster change,” according to a June 30 press release from the school’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work.

Garrett made headlines last year when he went viral on social media for revealing that he and his students in his 300-level course about Harry Potter were discussing how author J.K. Rowling hates transgender-identifying people.

“I understand religious disagreements on LGBTQ issues,” Garrett tweeted at the time, noting he had reached out to Rowling’s former bishop in Edinburgh, Scotland, to confirm that she attended church some years ago. “My family is Southern Baptist. But there’s expressing disagreement, and there’s this. Hate is the proper word.”

Replies on Garrett’s most recent tweet were disabled, but some quote-tweeted it to offer their remarks, such as the Rev. Matt Kennedy, who serves as senior pastor at the Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Kennedy, who also commented about the LGBTQ inclusion grant last week by describing Baylor as a wolf disguised as a shepherd that Christians should avoid, claimed Tuesday that Garrett was “devouring the least of these.”

“Hello Dr. Garrett, it appears from the article you linked that you affirm people living in homosexual sexual relationships and people identifying as something other than their biological sex. Is that true? If so, those are the people you are devouring. If not I will be more than happy to publicly apologize,” he wrote after Garrett asked him for clarification.

When reached for further comment by The Christian Post, specifically regarding whether he believes his public views violate Baylor’s Statement on Human Sexuality that affirms “purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman as the biblical norm,” Garrett said he doesn’t speak for Baylor and that “my post is my comment on this news.”

In a lengthy Instagram post Tuesday evening, noting that CP reached out, he claimed CP, prominent Christian X account Protestia, and author Megan Basham have “attacked my faith, questioned my vocation, smeared my character, and called for Baylor to fire me.” He noted that while he is not trying to stoke controversy and dislikes conflict, “neither do I back down from my deeply-held beliefs.”

Referring to CP’s inquiry, Garrett wrote, “‘My post is my comment,’ I told that reporter. ‘And I hope you and your family are well and safe.’ Love your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. This is all the law and the prophets. And maybe leave the judgment to God. I’m told that’s in the Scriptures.”

“I celebrate this amazing gift to [Baylor] from the Baugh Family Foundation to teach us to love better. And I am not bothered by Christians who seem to think Jesus calls us to hate and exclude,” he said in another post that cited CP.

Garrett linked to his St. James Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas, which has a female rector, celebrates so-called pride month and describes itself as “an inclusive, multicultural community.” He also appended a picture of a prayer candle depicting the late author James Baldwin, an openly gay novelist whose work influenced the gay liberation movement of the 20th century.

The prominent Christian X account Woke Preacher Clips posted multiple clips of Garrett in 2024, including one in which he described Baldwin as “one of the most important theologians of the 20th century.”

Baylor’s Greg Garrett calls James Baldwin “one of the most important theologians* of the 20th century.”

*Garrett goes on to mention Baldwin was a gay apostate pic.twitter.com/6RTwJKag3L

— Woke Preacher Clips (@WokePreacherTV) April 16, 2024

Another clip showed him announcing to an audience that he had rewritten the centuries-old hymn “Brethren We Have Met to Worship” because he believes the word “brethren” is sexist.

“We have a song that is 200 years old which will be our opening hymn. I am well aware that the title, ‘Brethren We Have Met To Worship’ is sexist…”

Greg Garrett, the Baylor prof who went viral dunking on J.K. Rowling in his Harry Potter class pic.twitter.com/wEaXsLlHDm

— Woke Preacher Clips (@WokePreacherTV) April 11, 2024

Garrett, whose pinned tweet on his X profile is in support of Black Lives Matter as of Wednesday, personally received a $488,000 grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation in 2021 to “illuminate the ways various forms of American culture have promoted racial myths through the centuries.”

In another Instagram post on Tuesday, Garrett announced he is “expending the last of the generous grant [Baylor] received from the Baugh Family Foundation to study and combat racism and white supremacy,” and thanked them for “for the anti-racist work their gift has made possible and for all the work that will continue.”

UPDATE: Hours after publication of this article, Baylor University announced they were returning the $643,401 LGBTQ-related grant from the Baugh Foundation.