Catholic University Removes LGBTQ Material From Website After TDOR Event.
A Catholic university in Illinois has curtailed some of its public support for transgender people after conservative pushback against a campus event recognizing Trans Day of Remembrance (TDOR) in November.
Benedictine University (BenU), Lisle, Illinois, initially supported a campus TDOR event, even after initial criticism, but it has now removed several resources for trans and LGBTQ+ students from its website, according to LGBTQNation. This change comes immediately after a Fox News article about the event.
TDOR takes place each year on Nov. 20th, and Benedictine has observed the day publicly since 2018. According to the 
(GLAAD), TDOR “honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.”
The day before the event, Libs of TikTok, a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ X account, posted about the program, criticizing it harshly.
BenU issued a statement in defense of the commemoration on TDOR:
“At Benedictine University, we believe that honoring the dignity of every person and praying for those who have died are fundamental expressions of our Catholic and Benedictine identity. The recent event was first and foremost a prayer service to honor lives lost. It was a solemn remembrance rooted in Catholic social teaching and belief in the inherent and sacred dignity possessed by every person, created in the image of God…Every life deserves profound reverence. Every life lost deserves to be remembered.”
In the days following TDOR, local news stations picked up the story. Nearly two weeks later, Fox News published its article, bringing Benedictine’s TDOR event to the attention of the nation.
Despite this initial defense of the program, BenU has now removed many of these resources for LGBTQ+ students from its website. The university has removed the page for its Office of Belonging, and the Safe Space program.
LGBTQNation draws a direct line between this removal and the Fox News article, stating:
“While it has become a growing practice for universities to tone down or remove their DEI pages and LGBTQ+ support programs under the second Trump administration, this is notable for the shift in support, especially since the shift immediately followed attention from Fox News.”
In a statement to BenU publication The Candor, Kit Avanzado, the university’s director of communications, says that the national attention drew an “unforeseen surge of external traffic” on these pages. “This situation presented a necessary opportunity to review and update these resources,” Avanzado goes on. “Our goal is to ensure these pages accurately reflect our mission and organizational structure, and serve our campus in the most current and effective way possible.”
The campus event was described as a way to “honor the dignity of each person through the love of God and deep care of community.” Graphics promoting the event featured a quote from Fr. Mychal Judge, OFM, a gay priest, FDNY chaplain, and the first recorded casualty of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center: “If no one told you today that they love you … you’re always held and loved by God.”
The university’s Safe Space program, part of the Office of Belonging, sponsors theprogram which aims to “make our campus more welcoming and inclusive to LGBTQ+ individuals and communities,” according to its web page. Safe Space also provides a list of officially trained faculty on campus who are designated “Safe Space Allies.” The list includes deans, professors, and even the director of facilities management.
“It is sad that Benedictine University took down their LGBTQ+ materials from their website,” said Francis DeBernardo, Executive Director of New Ways Ministry. “But much sadder still, is this growing trend of intimidation from anti-LGBTQ+ organizations who are making our country a much more unsafe and violent place for LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized groups.”
—Lynnzee Dick, New Ways Ministry, December 22, 2025
Sad and shameful. Thought this Catholic University was suppose to be in the business of expressing Jesus’ example and call to everyone to “Love your neighbor as yourself”. We are ALL God’s children. Shame on them for cowardly reacting in this way to Trump and this administration.
I would suggest putting an “A” at beginning of this headline. It is easy to confuse the subject of the article with the more prominent Catholic University in D.C.
I would expect more from a Benedictine University.. Their first statement about the purpose of the day was compassionate, non-threatening and Christ life.
Their retracting of that statement, however, indicates how their actions don’t coincide with words.. A wise woman, Venerable Nano Nagle, often followed her family’s motto, “not words, but deeds” I suggest the Benedictines ponder this motto.
I’m saddened by the University’s response, albeit maybe not surprised. Too many of our church leadership feel the need to bow to secular public pressure. Instead of following Christ’s teaching of love of neighbor. And you without sin cast the first stone.
The fallacy that Christians can make judgments on “sinful” people because they are going against God’s word is so lost on them. You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye Matt. 7:3-5.
And they puff out their chests so proudly basking in their own sin.