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‘Dawg Ally’ training criticized by religious liberty expert
“Religious exemption laws” are a “license to discriminate” against “LGBTQ people,” according to a University of Georgia Pride Center training obtained exclusively by The College Fix.
The Fix filed a public records request for the “Dawg Ally” training offered by the campus pride center. The training also instructs participants about a variety of pronouns, including “Hu/hum/humself.”
Spokesman James Hataway did not directly address questions about religious liberty laws and if a participant could be a “Dawg Ally” if they disagreed with some of the content.
“The University of Georgia offers a variety of voluntary and optional resources, including this program last offered in Fall 2025 through the Division of Student Affairs, designed to promote respectful engagement across our campus community,” Hataway told The Fix via email.
“All of these resources, programs and training are administered in accordance with university policies and state and federal law,” the communications director said. “UGA remains committed to fostering a welcoming learning environment while protecting freedom of speech, religious liberty and the expression of differing viewpoints.”
While the most recent training occurred in October, the Pride Center still advertises the “three-hour training for all faculty, staff, and students who are interested in learning about gender and sexual identity, homophobia, heterosexism.”
The center also offers “departmental wide training.” The Pride Center did not respond to an emailed request sent in the past several weeks.
A fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center disputed the framing by UGA.
Nathanael Blake, author of “Victims of the Revolution: How Sexual Liberation Hurts Us All,” says the government “should not be demonizing religious liberty.”
“[I]t is grotesque that the University of Georgia is abusing the language of civil rights in its attack on the fundamental right of religious freedom,” he said.
The training instructs participants to be open to polyamory and says people must use the new language and term guidelines prescribed in the training to be considered an “ally” to LGBTQ people.
The training holds its participants to this standard through exercises such as “Coming Out Activity.”
In this exercise, participants write down their loved ones, roles, and favorite activities on separate pieces of paper.
The exercise administrator then randomly takes some or all of their papers to show how “homophobic/biphobic/transphobic attitudes and beliefs” create devastation to those coming out.
The instructions even lay out the manner of taking those pieces of paper:
“With one individual whom you might leave alone, return to them later and take everything,” the presentation states.
The training also provides a gender pronoun chart that includes “Ze / zir / zirself,” “Per / per / perself,” and even “Hu / hum / and humself.”
It presents these “neopronouns” as standard vocabulary participants need to learn to be certified as an ally.
Blake, with the Ethics and Public Policy Center, criticized the pronoun list. “I thought we were past pushing bizarre new pronouns on people, but I guess the University of Georgia didn’t get the memo that Woke 1 was crazy,” he said.
The Pride Center also provides alternatives to the polite language common to the South—replacing “Ladies and Gentlemen” with “Distinguished Guest[s]” and “Dear Sir / Madam” with “To whom it may concern.”
The training’s most-cited source was the Trevor Project, whose survey data—including a 2024 study claiming state anti-transgender laws drove a spike in suicide attempts—has faced significant methodological criticism.
“The Trevor Project is an activist organization whose surveys are so badly conducted that they don’t even rise to the level of junk science [—] they’re just junk,” Blake said. “No one should rely on them for accurate data.”
Blake said universities should “serve the public and promote the common good.”
“Radical trainings in queer theory and activism do the opposite.”
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