Following pushback from a Texas legislator, the University of North Texas has taken down its public-facing LGBTQ Archive page from the university library’s website.
Last week, Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison highlighted that the university had an archive collection documenting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer history on its library website.
According to the now-removed site, “The Resource Center Collection was the initial acquisition to the LGBTQ Archive and is the largest collection of LGBTQ history in north Texas, with over 600 linear feet of materials.”
The collection included documents about people, organizations, and events in LGBT history, including the first Dallas Pride Parade, the Dallas Buyers Club, and the Dallas Gay Alliance.
Harrison posted about the collection last week, expressing frustration that a taxpayer-funded institution had a collection “promoting transgenderism.”
“My constituents are being taxed out of their homes … and their money is being used to promote TRANSGENDER INDOCTRINATION!!!!” Harrison wrote on X. “Public universities are for education … not leftist indoctrination!”
Hours after Harrison mentioned the site to the public, the university took down the webpage, which now displays a “Page Not Found” message.
Harrison celebrated the removal of the webpage, writing on X that UNT “must end the program, not just a website.”
However, the webpage’s removal was not celebrated by everyone.
On Thursday, Harrison shared an email that he received from a senior lecturer in the university’s Department of Anthropology who called Harrison “fragile” and said he should “be embarrassed” for getting the page taken down.
Harrison redacted the professor’s name but shared portions of her university biography, which showed that she is affiliated with UNT’s Women’s and Gender Studies program and teaches several courses on race and ethnicity, gender and culture, and LGBTQ studies.
In 2023, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 17, legislation that limits diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in taxpayer-funded colleges and universities. The law took effect in 2024 and prohibits public institutions from maintaining DEI offices, requiring certain DEI statements, or mandating certain diversity-related training. It also prohibits certain employment or institutional preferences based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.
Former Republican state Sen. Brandon Creighton, who authored the bill in 2023 and is now the chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, has taken steps to rid Texas public universities of LGBTQ+ instruction.
In April, Creighton sent a memo to the system’s five universities, ordering them to phase out academic programs, majors, minors, and graduate theses centered on sexual orientation and gender identity. The memo has prompted opposition from multiple groups, including lawsuits challenging the policies.
Harrison told the Daily Signal that he’s “fed up with hard-working Texans having their own money weaponized against them, their children, and their values.”
“I’ve single handedly done more to end taxpayer funded DEI and transgender indoctrination and conduct real legislative oversight than all the rest of the Texas government combined, and this is just the latest conservative victory I’ve forced from agencies and universities,” Harrison said. “UNT’s LGBTQ library archive is further proof Texans are still being taxed out of their homes and forced to fund leftist indoctrination.”
“The purpose of taxpayer-funded higher education in Texas is to train the workforce of tomorrow and strengthen our economy,” he added. “If someone wants to study transgender literature, fine, but do it with your own damn money.”
The University of North Texas did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment by the time of publication.
