DECATUR Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A minister's message during last weekend's commencement at Millikin University in downstate Decatur has sparked a controversy and now led to an apology from the school.
The issue centered around Reverend Wally Carlson who pretended to take a phone call from God during his invocation speech and made some comments regarding preferred pronouns.
"First of all, let's take care of the gender issue," he said addressing the audience.
"He understands and He's sharing with you that there's no theological justification for it, but he's choosing he and him today- doesn't like them and they and just because this is probably irritating enough people that it's coming out this way we're gonna stay away from she and her."
Transgender students like that Nat Long told WAND-TV in Decatur the comments turned what should have been a joyous occasion into an uncomfortable and insulting one.
"This isn't the first instance of transphobia that I've experienced directly at this school. I've had about three other incidents in the past year alone," he said. "I was just kind of sitting there like, you know, I was holding back tears."
In response, the university issued an apology to everyone who attended the commencement ceremony.
"Reverend Carlson's comments regarding gender neither reflect nor represent the values of our university," read the statement. "We were not aware of his remarks prior to commencement and were equally as surprised and disappointed by them."
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