Creighton University Resists Pressure To Drop Macklemore Promotion Over LGBT Rights

Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. is distributing tickets to a Macklemore & Ryan Lewis concert despite a small, but vocal student objection.

The Creighton Students Union Program Board briefly delayed a ticket giveaway to a Macklemore concert at the CenturyLink Center, the Omaha World-Herald reports.

Two sophomores, Ben Thompson and Christina Laubenthal, wrote a letter to the campus newspaper arguing the school had an obligation to oppose the ticket giveaway because supporting the music duo was in "direct opposition with Catholic social teaching and Creighton's stated values."

Macklemore is well-known for his support of LGBT rights and Creighton is a Catholic university. Earlier this year, Macklemore offered support to Danielle Powell, a college student in Omaha who was kicked out of Grace University -- another religious institution -- due to her sexuality.

The letter from Thompson and Laubenthal generated heat on campus, crashing The Creightonian's website, according to the newspaper's editor Josie Bungert.

Creighton's Catholic student group also wrote letters to campus administrators voicing objection. In response, the university stopped the ticket giveaway to address the concerns, but allowed it to resume last week, the Associated Press reports.

The university said in a statement they took time to "appropriately address" the students' concerns before making the decision to resume the ticket distribution, according to USA Today.

"Our commitment indicated our efforts would focus on educating our students in understanding sensitive social issues facing our community in current times," the university said. "We want our students to be able to think critically and reach solid values that will guide them through the remainder of their life."

Macklemore and Lewis were not available to comment to the World-Herald. Macklemore's concert was scheduled for Oct. 29.