A Christian college in South Carolina issued a strong statement against homosexuality last week after two of their students came out as gay in the past year.
Erskine College called same-sex attraction "sinful" in a new policy enacted by the board of trustees.
"This has been a topic of conversation at some level for several years, and it's not uncommon for religious communities and the schools associated with them to speak to larger cultural conversations," College spokesman Cliff Smith said.
The school's stance is tied to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, although the church's executive director, Paul Bell, said he was unaware of the school's policy.
Last year, Erskine volleyball players Drew Davis and Juan Varona announced that they were gay. Davis said his roommate moved out after the revelation, while Varona said he had not experienced any negative consequences.
"No one has ever treated me wrong," he told the Daily News. "It took me by surprise when I read it two days ago," he said of the policy.
The college said that students and faculty should uphold biblical standards and "practice humility and prayerfulness" when discussing homosexuality, and the policy was not meant to attack its gay students.
"I would hope the conversation would be they feel loved, respected and cared for, and that their faculty and staff are interested in them as individuals," Smith said. "We're not trying to be hateful, we're trying to do right by our students."
Varona - a 21-year-old business and Spanish major - said he is unsure whether he will stay at the school.
"I don't want to be in a place where I basically have to be hiding who I am," he admitted. "It basically came out of nowhere," he said of the college's announcement.
