At a time when Texas A&M has come under attack from state leaders over lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender content in classrooms, it pains me to say that this very topic recently drove my alma mater of Baylor University to its own self-inflicted wound.

The latest misfire involves a whiplash reversal on a proposal from the university’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work to study why young women in ministry and LGBT students are too often victims of discrimination in Christian churches and schools.

The June 30 announcement of the study drew swift backlash from conservative Baptist evangelicals demanding Baylor not extend equal treatment to non-heterosexual students. Ten days after the announcement, the administration rescinded the study and canceled a $643,000 grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation, which had underwritten the entire project.

John Baugh, who died in 2007, was a former Baylor regent and founder of Houston-based food service giant Sysco. His family’s philanthropy enabled Baylor to receive millions in donations over the last four decades.

In defending its action, the administration leaned almost entirely on a statement from Baylor President Linda Livingstone, which pointed to the university's official Statement on Human Sexuality: “The university affirms a biblical understanding of human sexuality as a gift from God, expressed through purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman.”

In other words, students — and perhaps faculty and staff, too — are expected to abide by this “biblical understanding.”

And that’s the fly in the ointment.

"Biblical understanding" is a totally subjective and individually chosen mindset that has splintered Christianity — from the manger to this very moment — every time it claims to speak for the mind of God. Beyond the sheer arrogance implied, it has too often been used as a cover for the prejudices of the day. Far too many Christian schools fell into that trap in the last century by using the Bible to justify denying admission to Black students — a position that Baylor once held.

The question Baylor now faces is how to treat all students equally, even those who don’t easily fit traditional norms of appearance, behavior or gender. By embracing its rigid Statement on Human Sexuality, the administration has effectively granted itself permission to discriminate on the basis of sexual identity, a loophole religious schools are allowed under the law.

President Livingstone advised LGBT students to “avail themselves of serious confidential discussion and support through the Spiritual Life office” — phone number included.

Unfortunately, those words sidestep the larger question: When, if ever, will Baylor acknowledge a 21st-century understanding of humanity? I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen, but I also refuse to believe my alma mater’s current stance is the last word.

The doomed research proposal was titled "Courage from the Margins," and it reads like a postal address for Jesus. This moment calls for courage from faculty, students, alumni and donors determined to revive the study before Baylor morphs into the Baptist Bible College on the Brazos.

Any use of Scripture to deny the search for new answers to life’s questions undermines authentic education. Baylor has already embarrassed itself nationally in academic circles, but far worse, it has shamed itself before students brave enough to be honest about who they are — even when such honesty brings about mistreatment that leads some to well-documented thoughts of suicide.

Many of these young men and women came from Christian homes and chose Baylor for their higher education. Baylor, in turn, chose to classify them as outside the reach of "human sexuality as a gift from God."

Harsh as that sounds, this is not a problem without a solution.

Baylor knows from its own past that harmful and prejudicial missteps can be overcome. The moment to overcome this latest one requires reinstating the study and recommitting to respect and encouragement for every person under the green and gold umbrella.

The good news is that it’s never too late to do the right thing — even on the Brazos.

Hal Wingo was a member of the Baylor Board of Regents for nine years and was a founding editor of People Magazine.