The Mercer Triangle Symposium was the first LGBTQ+ club at Mercer University, and although the club was only active for a short 3 years, it sure did leave its’ mark on Mercer history. In Fall 2005, the club mainly consisted of straight allies as many LGBTQ+ students were not ready to come out at the time according to April Trussel, the 2005 president of MTS. The organization held a forum on National Coming Out Day to promote discussion about the rights of the LGBTQ+ community on campus . There were two main issues that had been brought forward. The first issue was the lack of protection of students against discrimination based on sexual orientation as the student handbook did not state whether or not such discrimination would be tolerated at Mercer University. The second issue pertained to faculty as the spouses of faculty members in heterosexual relationships were eligible to receive free tuition while the long-term partners of faculty members in same-sex relationships were not eligible to receive the same offer. During the event 58 faculty and staff members, 26 students, and 35 anonymous mercer community members signed a statement saying that they are supporters of the LGBTQ+ community, and this list was later published in the October 13th, 2005 issue of the school newspaper, The Mercer Cluster.

Prior to the event, there were a few things that had already put a strain on the relationship between the Georgia Baptist Convention and Mercer University according to J. Robert White, the executive director of the convention at the time. For one, the convention had been upset that members of the convention were not allowed to be on the board of trustees at Mercer as the board was responsible for choosing the university’s president. This was especially upsetting for the convention as another one of their grievances was regarding Mercer’s lack of participation within the Southern Baptist Convention despite accepting money from said convention for student scholarships. Lastly, the then President of Mercer, R. Kirby Godsey, had published a book about religion that the GBC believed to go against Baptist beliefs. White acknowledged that while these issues did factor into the convention’s decision to separate from Mercer University, but he said that the National Coming Out Day event was the catalyst for the vote. One spokesperson said that members of the church were “deeply troubled” by the fact that religion professors not only attended the event but also signed the form that stated they were supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. White stated that the event went directly against the church’s beliefs about homosexuality and that it should not be promoted at the convention’s universities not only for spiritual reasons, but because the AIDS epidemic showed that homosexuality was also a health issue, according to him at least. After 172 years of partnership, the Georgia Baptist Convention voted to end its relationship with Mercer on November 15th, 2005.

The Mercer community was shocked at the immediate reaction from the Baptist community, and President Godsey tried to offer his support to MTS while also trying to maintain the school’s relationship with the GBC. Those a part of MTS did not think that their little event would garner so much attention, but with the severance of the relationship between Mercer and the GBC up in the air, the organization knew that they would need to make a decision regarding their response. Under the pressure of the university administration, the faculty advisors and students within the organization decided to disband the group. The pressure that was put onto the organization was not the only reason they decided to become inactive as the decision was ultimately made to protect the students. Some had hoped that disbanding the group would be enough to change the convention’s mind because many students relied on scholarship money that came from the convention, and many were worried that those students would no longer be able to afford the tuition.