SOULFORCE MEDIA ADVISORY
September 29, 2008
Contact: Katie Higgins, katie@soulforce.org, 843-259-8876
LIBERTY U. TO ALLOW EQUALITY RIDERS ON CAMPUS
Young Adults Tour Christian Colleges to Advocate Safety
and Inclusion for All Students
What: On Wednesday, October 1, the Soulforce Equality Ride, a youth-organized bus tour to faith-based colleges, will bring a message of inclusion and love to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Five young adult Equality Riders will donate gay-affirming Christian books to the Liberty University library and talk with students about safety and acceptance for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students.
Why: More than 200 U.S. colleges and universities have explicit policies that discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students. At Liberty University, gay and lesbian students are subject to reprimands and disciplinary consequences, including ex-gay conversion counseling and expulsion.
When: Wednesday, October 1, 2008
1:30 pm, Equality Riders arrive on Liberty University campus
7:00 pm, Public forum at First Christian Church in Lynchburg.
Where: Equality Riders will enter campus via University Blvd.
First Christian Church is located at 3109 Rivermont Ave. in Lynchburg.
Who: The 18 to 26-year-old Equality Riders are members of Soulforce Q, the young adult division of Soulforce, a national social justice organization. Soulforce was founded by Lynchburg resident Rev. Mel White, a former ghostwriter for Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr.
Since 2006, the Equality Ride has visited 50 schools, hosting public forums, participating in panel discussions, and taking part in worship services and Bible studies.
The organizers of the Equality Ride use a collaborative approach, writing to college administrators months in advance and inviting them to work together to design programming that examines diverse points of view—including points of view that affirm gay and transgender students.
What I can understand: That a gay person would share the same kind of conservative Christian beliefs as a straight person, exempting the conservative beliefs regarding homosexuality. However, beliefs on women preaching, abortion, divorce, speaking in tongues, the status of the unbaptized, whether people are “saved” – these beliefs have nothing to do with people’s sexual orientation, and I can understand a gay person taking conservative stances regarding them. I can understand wanting to attend a school that shares these conservative religious stances, to be around people who believed as they do.
What I cannot understand: Attending a school such as Liberty University if one is gay, where such a poisonous attitude toward LGBTQ folks exists.
Hi Emily, I think I understand your concerns, but I don’t believe it is that simple. The LGBT folks who attend schools like Liberty do so for many reasons. Some because they want to minister in their churches and get an education recognized by the churches they attend. Without these credentials, the doors close (and when they find out you are LGBT the doors slam in your face!)
When I went to Nyack College, I did so because I wanted to become a missionary AND I didn’t want to have to deal with being gay. The oppression around me rotted me from the inside. I chose Jesus over being gay, or at least I tried. I needed someone to come on campus to help me see through my confusion. Sadly the only people talking about LGBT issues at Nyack when I attended were ex-gays. I needed to hear a different story.
These Equality Riders do so much for the whole community of the school. Mostly straight folks will meet them and hear their presentations. Most of the administration will turn a deaf ear, but these young students, the future leaders of their churches, communities and Christian schools, will get all kinds of new information. They will see Christians who also happen to be transgender, lesbian, bisexual and gay. They will also meet people in the Equality Rides who are not Christian and who have a passion for social justice and morality (something that seemed foreign to me when I went to Nyack College and believed we had the monopoly on morality).
Who knows what LGBT people already exist in the lives of the students who attend schools like Liberty and what LGBT people will pop up in their lives on their jobs, their communities, churches and even in their own famililes. We need to address the spiritual violence against LGBT people in churches and schools in the US and elsewhere. The Equality Riders get to face that violence head-on and respond in love, truth, non-violence, clarity and sanity. In when that happens, the world changes bit by bit.
As Peterson said, there can be many reasons for LGBT individuals who choose to attend a Christian school like Liberty. Quite a few of GCN’s members are alumni of such schools. Many of them were still in denial about their orientation at the time, some were attempting to be ex-gay, some hoped that such an environment would “fix” them, and so on.
Ok. i get it now.
I never doubted Equality Ride’s importance and G-dly purpose. They are definitely, truly making a difference at the grass roots in the best way imaginable. Actually, it makes me want to get involved and travel with them.
I don’t understand the 16 to 26 year old nature of Soulforce. Do these 200 sschools not have adult, or even senior students?
As an LU Alum, I am thrilled.
I’ve never thought about it before but that’s an interesting point. Peterson?
THE BIGOTRY AND PREJUDICE BEHIND OPPOSITION TO JUST A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO MASQUERADE AS RELIGIOUS TRUTH!!
David not sure, it may have more to do with who is available for the rides for the several months required to be part of it. My sense is that they are open to older folks. I have considered (and been asked by Soulfroce to consider) being part of the ride myself, but I cannot commit to the whole time with my other responsibilities.
I always though equality ride wanted anybody. In this case I thought maybe they were going for a generational thing.
Personally, I wish a positive move such as this exists when I was in that age gap. Many reached their convictions when they reached adult maturity. I believe it is in this age group where most of us are always pulled apart by confusion, peer-pressure, familial and societial influences. I do not have even an inch of space to realise who I am and what do I want from life at that age. I believe the target group to be the most vulnerable and the more likely to be easily influenced by the environment we had when we were just teenagers having to discover what the world brings for us. Soulforce does good for the grassroots.