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Chicago, IL — A Chicago University has courted mixed reactions after offering a minor in gay studies.

Chicago's DePaul University, the largest Roman Catholic university in the United States, has launched a course titled Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Studies. 

The new minor program looks at issues of homosexuality and offers students an overview of the “history of the queer movement” in legislation as well as the place of homosexuality in the US as a social movement.

DePaul is the first Catholic university to offer a minor in the topic which seems to contradict the Vatican's official teaching that homosexual orientation is "objectively disordered" and homosexual behavior is "intrinsically evil."

Gary Cestaro, the director of the DePaul program and an associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages, told NPR that the program is "hugely important, really in line with the Vincentian mission of the university in the spirit of St. Vincent (de Paul) which is to allow students to appreciate themselves fully and understand their personal histories."

But DePaul alumnus and spokesman for Catholic Citizens of Illinois, Karl Maurer, said the programme advocates "anti-Catholic propaganda" and "validates people in a sinful lifestyle."

Classes for the subject are beyond capacity and the students enrolling in the classes are dismissing religious opposition as intolerance and ignorance. 

PinkNews.co.uk and GayLinkContent.com contributed to this article.