home

is where the heart is.

So I've been physically home in Arkansas for about a week now. Things are very strange, and it's been difficult learning how to interact with the world again in a non-equality ride capacity. The only topics I really know how to talk about right now are Queer-centered things.

To say that I miss all of the riders doesn't even do justice to how much I mean it. They are honestly my best friends and will continue to be long into the future, even if I don't speak to half of them again. The experience we had together is binding.

I will probably continue to post ride/Soulforce related things here from time to time to help me along with my thesis and to give you all updates about my life.

Thank you all so much for reading and commenting and praying and supporting and everything.

Namaste.

growing together

I had to write this for the official Equality Ride blog, so here's a copy and paste-

We walked quietly in single-file line to the edge of Cornerstone University just past 10:00 on Sunday night. As I walked, I mentally prepared myself for a long night of standing in silent vigil. We stood facing a building where students were gathered inside participating in a 12-hour worship service in preparation for our visit. One by one, we lit candles. We held them close to our chests, and the light illuminated our faces. We had come to let the students know we were thinking of them, too.



Students began gathering across from us, and it was too dark to see their faces, but we could see some of them pointing and standing on tip-toes to get glimpses of us over the hill that separated us. Several riders walked across the mound to the students and invited them to speak with us. The police immediately told the riders that we were not allowed on the property. And slowly, but surely, the students began bridging the divide between us. What ensued that night was a metaphorical bridging as well. We began talking with students and found ourselves sitting in large circles at the bottom of the hill discussing Cornerstone’s view on sexuality. We talked about the Queer students on campus, and many students shared insight about the friends they had that were forced to leave the school because of anti-gay harassment.

I was happy to hear a student say to me, “I really think a lot differently about you now. Our school said you were going to be shouting and holding signs… but you’re not. You’re out here holding candles. You’re just like us.”

We continued our conversations until 1:00 in the morning. When we left, I found that I couldn’t stop smiling. I was so grateful for the great conversations that I had and for the students’ willingness to bridge the physical and metaphorical divides between us to learn about our humanity.

The riders, unfortunately, had to be back at campus around 8:00 in the morning the next day, so we arrived puffy-eyed and yawning. We found yet again that students were happy to see us and were eager to show the Christian hospitality that their school had not afforded us. They brought us coffee and donuts and stood vigil with us, even in the rain and heavy wind. The wind blew so hard that it literally knocked several of us off our feet, and our ponchos flapped noisily as the wind gripped them and twisted them around our bodies.









At 10:30 a.m., riders Stephen Krebs and Matt Hill Comer, attempted to deliver a cornerstone to the university that riders Vince Cervantes and Vince Pancucci had created. They walked down the hill and onto campus, each carrying a side of the multi-colored stone. We watched, hoping that perhaps the school would see our loving intentions and change their minds. But they did not. And, several minutes later, the two young men were carried away in the back of a police car.









An adjunct professor of the college provided us with lunch, and we sat on the edge of the campus eating with students and answered their questions about faith, gender, and sexuality.



Through the ride, I have come to a better understanding of the intersections of sexism and homophobia. They cannot exist without one another. The anxiety and misunderstanding about Queer lives centers around expected gender roles and norms—roles and norms supposedly sanctioned by Scripture. These beliefs then lead society to believe that gender is inherent and not social, which makes it harder to see the humanity in LGBTQ people.

We stood vigil for several more hours before heading to a local Panera to chat with students. A former student and current employee of the school gave us a piece of artwork that she created for us that symbolizes growth. The canvas is painted green with shattered mirror pieces on its surface forming a tree. When I look at it, I see my face reflecting in the tree. And I am reminded that through the Equality Ride, I have grown more spiritually and emotionally than I ever have before. This ride has influenced my life just as much as it has transformed students’ lives at the schools we have visited. We are all so blessed, for this is what nonviolence creates—a new place of understanding and truth…and above all, a place of growth.


taken at a communtiy dinner

this is neat, too

hmmm.

I am sitting in our hotel room in Michigan, after three full days of dialogue and civil disobedience at two schools. Today was our last day on a campus as the east bus, and I am trying to process and determine what I'm feeling.

Honestly I don't know.

People have repeatedly asked me, "So how has the ride been?" And I never know how to answer. Is there really one adjective that can describe an event such as this?

Beautiful. Crazy. Monumental. Educational. Absurd. Awkward. Eye-Opening. Breath-taking.

It's all of these things and so much more, and I hope that one day I will have the words to adequately talk about how amazing this experience has been.

Our days at Cornerstone University were pretty good considering we were not allowed on campus. I met an awesome couple, Jes and Jim. We had great dialogue about women and leadership, theology, love, etc. I am continually amazed by the people God brings into my life. It is people like Jes and Jim that give me hope in Christianity. It is peopole like my fellow riders, Jarrett, Bram, and Robin that tell me that one day it might be reasonable to deem myself Christian again.

I do not know if I am Christian. I guess at this point it is safe to say I'm not. It's not because I don't believe in God. It's not because I don't love Jesus. But, my life experiences up until this point have never really lead me to ask myself exactly, "What does it mean to be a Christian?"

What are these things that people talk of when they speak of the redemptive blood of Christ? What are we really meaning when we say one thing is sin? What does it mean to say Jesus died for my sins?

Can I answer these? of course... but only in the regurgitated Christian rhetoric I've been told all of my life. But, do I know what I'm saying when I say them? Do I know what redemptive blood looks like (metaphorically of course)? No. I don't have any of these real answers. No substantive answers to determine what it means for me personally to identify as Christian.

And I'm okay with that.

I believe in good. I believe in people. I think Jesus was and is pretty rad.

And I'll sit with that for while.

a taste of home

So I didn’t make it to Cedarville because I was sick. So, I stayed in the hotel all day trying to get better. By the end of the day, I felt great. The next day, the riders headed over to a neighboring city to visit the Coretta Scott King Center at Antioch College. We held a small community potluck and just had a relaxing day. We hung out with some students, climbed some trees, and coveted bicycles. We were told that the college was pretty liberal, so I wanted to walk around and check it out.











We went to the bookstore on campus, and on the way, I saw a spray-painted sign that read “Jail Solidarity,” so I asked a girl what it was about. That day, two Antioch students were arrested for sitting in at a recruitment center. I then thought “pretty liberal” was probably an understatement. When we walked into the bookstore, we immediately saw books on Transgender issues, Queer studies, anti-war topics, etc.



I browsed through their shirts, and their motto is “Education, Responsibility, Action = Change.” I bought a book in their Queer Studies section called Growing Up Gay in the South, which I have started reading, and it is fabulous. We chatted with the woman working at the bookstore, and she told us about a FTM transgender senior art exhibit on campus, and our jaws literally dropped. We got directions and headed over.



On the way out, we met some students and talked about environmental issues and such. They saw the patches on my bag and said that they have an anarchist resource center on campus ran by Queer Liberation activists. I didn’t know how to respond really… I didn’t know that schools like this one existed.

We walked across campus on the way to the art building, and the building is literally a giant warehouse. We discovered that a student can pretty much do art wherever they like. There was graffiti on the walls, floors, stairs, etc. The entire building was a canvas. I thought of Banksy and smiled. We learned that the exhibit closed the night before, but that we could still view the pieces upstairs. We also learned that the exhibit was solely STENCIL ART. If you know me, you know that I couldn’t make it up the stairs fast enough.



The stencils were beautiful. We later learned that all of the trans guys were students from the school, and I was impressed that Antioch had that many F2M trans students there.




my favorite


a view of the art studio below

We then walked around campus a little bit and found an amphitheater of sorts that had books painted on it.



We had to head back to the center, else I would have explored the entire day. I was really impressed with the school and the students. It was good being there, I felt like I was at home hanging out at the Locust House. The kids were smelly and shoeless and cared about the world. And it was good.

Gordon College

Gordon

When we arrived in the Gordon community/surrounding area, we were greeted with TERRIBLE weather. I thought I was in a monsoon, actually. It poured for hours. We visited a UU church in Danvers, Mass. and participated in a long service with music and speakers.





The next day, we traveled to Harvard Divinity School to meet up with Equality Ride founder, Jake Reitan, and Michael Huffington, a donor and supporter to the Equality Ride.



We then traveled to Gordon College to have dinner with administration and students. The student at my table was super nice and turned out to be a very strong LGBTQ ally.



After dinner, we headed to the chapel for a presentation. The chapel was almost full… I would say at least half of the student body was there, and the student body is about 1,200.
The Equality Riders gave a presentation called “Loving Like Jesus,” and discussed scripture and testimony to support the notion that everyone should love radically like Jesus and reach out to LGBTQs.





After the presentation was over, we went back to the room where we had dinner and met with many students. I talked with (I hope I can get their names right) Bonnie, Joe, Erin, James, and Miles. We talked about how to be a LGBTQ ally, and I expressed how this would take a large effort by straight people to reach out to the Queer community. Because Queers have been marginalized and silenced, it is going to take the majority speaking up and lifting out their arms to help eradicate homophobia.

We returned to the school the next day for another presentation on Spiritual Violence. A sociology professor responded with overwhelming support and discussed how symbolic violence must be present before physical violence occurs. He was also a straight ally.



Afterwards I headed to a philosophy class, which was very odd. The class was discussing Nietzsche, who I know nothing about, except that he said God is dead. A student in the class was presenting on Nietzsche and attempting to use Nietzsche as a tool to discuss a Christian model of The Fall. It made no sense to me…. But maybe it’s because I know nothing about this great philosopher. Then there was an awkward segue to us answering questions about our lives and the Equality Ride.

I learned that the students would be discussing Simone De Beauvoir at their next class and her book, The Second Sex. I talked about how I took a Feminist Philosophy course and studied De Beauvoir briefly. The professor asked me a rather bold question after a student asked us if we thought homosexuality was a choice.

She said, “You know, Amanda, since you’ve studied De Beauvoir that she says that she was not born a woman, but she became a woman. How can you relate this to sexuality?”

I knew where she was going, and I wasn’t buying it. She was implying that “nurture” heavily influenced sexual orientation. I deflected the question and discussed how I felt that gender was largely a social construction, but it was not fruitful to discuss how much nurture or nature was involved in orientation. What was fruitful to discuss, however, was the fact that the students in her class were going to have to graduate and work with someone like me, live next to someone like me, and perhaps have family members who are like me in the future… and they need to know how to deal with that.

I just felt very odd about the entire class, but I was glad to have the opportunity to speak to students in an academic setting.

After the class, we left for lunch and talked with students for the rest of the afternoon in the cafeteria area.



I joined a conversation with Enku and Josh, and ultimately found that the particular student they were talking to felt like a LGB orientation was OK, but having sex while being LGB was not. I relayed to him the importance of having a companion and someone to love. He said that individuals could be in a relationship together and love one another and not have sex. I said that perhaps, yes, but it didn’t make much sense because that would be putting unfair restraints on the relationship, which would keep it from growing to its full potential. AND, this is something we would never expect from a straight couple. His logic, (so common to many of the students we talk to) is really frustrating. I cannot understand how these students think living lonely, celibate lives is a good way to live. *sigh*

We left around 2:30 in the afternoon. I left happy that Gordon allowed us so many venues for discussion on campus, but still sad that I am continually proving my humanity to people. I am still proving that I am not sick and sinful and that my friends aren’t either.

I was also going to try and meet up with Joan, Kourt’s ex-girlfriend while I was in Massachusetts because she lives there, but our schedules and the weather did not allow for it. We have been writing back and forth for a bit, and I think we have created a nice relationship… as nice as it can get over myspace I guess, haha. But, I am grateful for civility and kindness. Perhaps one day we will meet.

I fell asleep on the bus pretty quickly after we left, and when I woke up, I saw snow and freaked out, and went back to sleep.

sunny days at Messiah College

I don’t know if I have too much to say about our stop at Messiah College. The school invited us on, and for the first (and probably only time) in the ride, a group of all women greeted us as we exited the bus. The President of Messiah College is a woman, and many members of administration are also women. This alone brought a lot of comfort to the riders, as we have not seen much diversity thus far.



When we arrived, we were shortly escorted to a breakfast with selected students and administration. I talked with one (male) member of administration for a while, and we posed several questions/situations to him concerning gay students on campus to get an accurate picture of what the atmosphere is like. We learned that a student can be openly gay on campus at Messiah, but any attempts to be in a relationship would qualify for some type of disciplinary action.

In essence, this school, and several others along the way, advocate for LGBTQ people to live lonely, celibate lives.

We also talked with the students and administration a bit about the faith tradition of Messiah College because it is a Brethern in Christ school. I found that this particular faith tradition holds service, social responsibility, and peace to be of utmost importance.

After breakfast, our student host took us on a tour of the campus, and we saw an awesome senior art exhibit. Lots of talent at Messiah! There was on piece in particular that struck me… mostly because I could not determine the intent of it. The artist took stories, artifacts, etc. from people all over campus dealing with things that they had all struggled with. There were several letters from gay students, and some taken from the equality ride website. However, these letters were also accompanied with parts of the piece dealing with anorexia, gender norms, etc. I wasn’t sure how I felt about LGBTQ lives being paralleled to eating disorders, but I was nonetheless happy about the exposure of Queer people’s stories.

Shortly therafter, I was invited to speak to a Sociology class. When I walked in, I knew that the class would be an excellent one. Several of the students were wearing shirts that had female-female, male-male, and female-male signs on them. The room was packed, so much so that several students were sitting on the windowsills. We mostly talked about the movement, its effects, its consequences, our perspectives on it and such. Several students approached me afterwards and thanked me for coming.

Unfortunately, the day was not completely filled with this type of positivity. Repent America was on campus as well that day, yelling at students, passing out literature, and denouncing our visit. I saw one sign that read, “Equality Ride is a phony mockery of Blacks,” I’m presuming to condemn our association with the Freedom Rides. Police tried to get them to leave, but the organization threatened legal action, and ultimately a deal was made for them to quit passing out literature and to stop yelling at students.

We found that many Messiah students were engaging the Repent America group in conversation to defend our visit and to defend LGBTQs.
That afternoon, there was a well-attended panel, where the riders discussed their experiences as LGBTQs. Two other members were on the panel—a friend of the administration and a student. The tone was civil, but I was disappointed in the way the moderator handled questions. He essentially summed them up in his own words and grouped similar questions together. Hardly any questions were read verbatim or directed toward individual riders. At the end of the forum, we saw students passing out flyers for Messiah’s first Gay-Straight Alliance meeting! Of course, the organization is not (and probably won’t be) sanctioned by the school, but it’s a great start.

We left campus around 5:30 and headed to a house near campus called the “Restoration House.” It is owned by the college, and students live there. They are committed to community building and sustainable living. All of their food is organic, they keep up a local orchard, and they have community dinners each week. We were the invited guests that week, and the house was packed. The food was delicious.



I had good conversations with students, including one student who was just accepted to a school to become a Catholic priest. He was kind of confused about identity, which I find to be a common confusion on campus.

Many people want to know why we think our identities as Queer people are so important… which really reflects a severe misunderstanding of how it is not a separate identity, but a fluid one. As Mandy said during the panel discussion earlier that day on the topic-

“I am many things. I am a lesbian. I am a daughter. I am a sister. I am a lover of dinosaurs!”

I tried to explain to the student that a Queer identity often entails certain cultural aspects but does not always have to. I hope I helped explain it a bit. It’s a hard thing to explain.. because it’s just who I am. Just as he could probably not explain to me what it’s like to be straight, I cannot explain so easily what it’s like to be Queer. It’s a part of life that influences so much of how you relate and react to others.

Anyhoo, I think the day was pretty productive, more so than at other schools. The students are excited about starting an alliance, they are eager to see a policy change, and most importantly, they are networking and building an internal community that will help sustain them in the future.

reflections on our stop at Patrick Henry

Our stop in Virginia to visit Patrick Henry College was characteristic of a lot of our stops in terms of the presence of a very dichotomous community who welcomes us and loves us and also a community like the school who shuts us out and publishes falsities about our visit and us.

We arrived at Patrick Henry College on a cold morning to over 100 police officers, a visible 45 or so lined up across the property line in front of the school. The college clearly marked their property line with caution tape and no trespassing signs. I was the designated police liaison for the stop, so I spoke with police upon arrival. The police were awkward, in my opinion, but very willing to work with us. Riders later heard several of the officers comment on how stupid they felt for the excessive police presence at the school. There were police in front of us, to the side of us, in the buildings at the school, on four-wheelers riding across the campus… it was wild.









We stood vigil for an hour, had a press conference, and then two of our riders, Jarrett and Josh, walked on to the school carrying invitations to a community dinner to be held that night. The police let them walk pretty far on to campus, I think because they weren’t quite sure what to do, before they arrested them. Jarrett and Josh are both Black, and their arrests were strategically chosen because Patrick Henry College currently enrolls NO Black students.







A few other quick facts- over 80% of Patrick Henry’s students are home-schooled before attending college. The students and faculty are required to believe in a strict 6-day creation story. The school has a high turn over rate of faculty because of such things.

We went to lunch, and when I returned, my friend Nick who lives in DC was waiting on us. It was really awesome to see him again. I miss organizing with him and being around fellow Arkansans who want to partake in radical work. I feel like those type of activists are a dying breed in Arkansas, and I am not really sure what it will take to get people involved again. But, anyways…

We stood vigil again, and then it started to rain, so we put on our ponchos and continued standing silently, waiting to be let on campus to speak with students. The police began to take shifts. They would file in and out every so often to stand in front of us.





We received a copy of the press release sent out by Patrick Henry College stating that we wish to engage students in inappropriate topics about sex. There were other horrible things said, most of which are found in the letter a couple of posts below.

The rain slowed, and an officer approached me to tell me that a hailstorm was on the way, and that we had to do something quick. Luckily our bus was already on the way, but was late because of a traffic accident. We gathered and crossed the street, and it began to pour down. The rain was hard and thick. By this time, the hailstorm had weakened, and I don’t think the precipitation was quite that solid, but it was still unpleasant. We stood, waiting on the bus, getting soaked despite our adorning of ponchos. We tried to make jokes while we waited about our miserable condition, including that we felt like that day brought a new meaning to the phrase, “come hell or high water.” We stood about 10 minutes in the pouring rain when our bus finally arrived.



Then we headed out to a community member’s house—the same house that we had breakfast in earlier that morning. We hung out, dried off, and rested. I spoke to Nick a long time about organizing and how much we miss it.

Our evening ended with a community dinner at the restaurant that the community members’ happened to own. By the end of the day, I was exhausted and often feeling like I always do after a stop—in a state of mixed emotions. Confident in our message, but sad in the college’s decisions and actions.

Montreat College

Montreat is interesting because the college, the city, and a camp/retreat center are all located at the same place. In other words, this community is very, very small. We were happy that Montreat invited us on campus because it would have been very difficult finding public places where we could stand vigil.

I talked with a member of administration for much of the morning in the cafeteria, discussing with him the harmfulness of their policy. A few Montreat students contacted us prior to our visit and told us about the harassment they face and how said harassment goes unchecked and uninvestigated by administration. This troubled him. We were given “free reign” essentially over the campus, meaning we could go into any classrooms in any building. A student invited us to the art studio, so we went there and talked with some more students and looked at artwork. I met a student who is interested in doing Intelligent Design research, so we chatted about the legalities of such things in schools. I wrote a paper on ID for a class in Religion, Politics, and the Law, so I had some basic knowledge.

We then went to a presentation/forum, where the riders presented on something that we have all encountered—spiritual violence. Spiritual violence manifests itself in anti-gay rhetoric and ex-communication of Queer people from the church. Then, two professors from the college “responded” to our presentation. The response was not a response, however. One professor of theology had a 14-page paper that he read verbatim—not at all responding to what we had just discussed. In fact, this professor advocated for spiritual violence unapologetically. What is even more interesting as that he says he advocated a traditional Christian position, which supported the subjugation of women. Keep in mind, there is a lot of academic fluff, but the sexism and homophobia are blatant. Here are a few quotes from his paper.

“The Father and the Son share one nature, since the eternally begotten Son comes from the Father, just as the woman both shares the nature of the man and comes from him. And just as the woman is differentiated from the man by properties peculiar to her gender, so in the Trinity the Son is differentiated from the Father by a difference of properties. This mystery is what St. Paul alludes to in 1 Corinthians 11 when he says that, "the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God" (11:3). He says that man, "is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man" (11:7-9).

Christ bears the same relation to God as the woman does to the man, in that the created order and dependence of the woman upon the headship of the man is an earthly image of the loving submission of the Son to the headship of the Father within the life of the Trinity. The woman was created to reflect the glory of the man just as the Son as the image of the invisible God reflects the glory of the Father. Central to Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 11, based as it is upon the creation story, is that the very order of the life of the Trinity is to be reflected in the order of marriage, in which the man and the woman in their complementary roles image the loving headship and submission of the Father and the Son. For Christians, this is why Genesis 1:26 says, "Let us make man in our image."

Thus, the relationship between the genders constitutes an intentional pattern that is designed to reflect the love of the Trinity. You cannot take either gender out of that picture without distorting the divinely intended order inherent within humankind's image bearing role as male and female. It will not do to point out, as Mel White does, that this passage in Genesis says nothing about single persons or couples who do not have children. This is obviously because in the original man and woman we see a pattern for humankind as a whole. Childless couples and single persons, cannot constitute that pattern, for the simple reason that if they did the human race would only last one generation. But neither childless couples nor single persons disrupt the natural created ordering of the genders. Neither instance takes one of the genders out of the equation and replaces them with another, so they do not constitute analogous examples that can be used to support the practice of homosexual partnering."


And finally, he calls for the ex-communication of Queers who refuse to see the power and truth of the Holy Scripture:

“I cannot stress enough that the excommunication of any baptized person should only be put into effect after a process of loving and patient pastoral care, in the knowledge that all human beings fall short of the glory of God, in the hope that as she makes progress in the spiritual practices of prayer, Bible study, participation in worship and Eucharist, and the daily dying to self which is integral to Christian discipleship, she will come to acknowledge those points in her moral choices which are inconsistent with her identity in Christ, and her obligations as a member of the ecclesial family of God. The Church herself bears a heavy responsibility in this process. The only way practicing homosexuals will ever be brought to the point of accepting the Church's historic doctrine, to which all Christians are sacramentally committed through baptism, is if the theologians and pastors of the flock of God speak with a clear and consistent voice, and resist every temptation to conform the Church's moral teaching to the whims and deviant practices of the ethically bankrupt culture which surrounds us.”

By the end of his presentation, I was crying at his us of spiritual violence against my friends, my community, and me. It was doubly heart-breaking that he supported the view of women as less than. I could not stay in the room long after that, though many Equality Riders approached him to dialogue about his views. Our co-director, Jarrett, told him he was a Pharisee, which later made me smile. But, then I felt beaten and worn. It’s never the screaming, the sign holding, or the excessive police presence that tears me down. It’s the outright use of spiritual violence to make us feel less than that gets to me. It’s the untruth and the misuse of the Bible coupled with sexism and homophobia to produce a hate that stings.

We later went hiking up Lookout Mountain, which totally kicked my butt, but the exerting of energy made me feel much better. Looking out off the mountain to the city below left me with a peace that helped sustain me after the violent incident.



I made several friends and ate dinner with them at a local UU church, and felt overwhelmingly better by the end of the night.



Just today, we received word that a student met with the Dean of Students to discuss a policy change at Montreat. The administrator told her that he could foresee a change that only excludes homosexual sex acts, as to give it parity to heterosexual sex acts. The administrator said that sexual orientation could very well be added to the anti-harassment policy. So, despite the rather negative experience I had there, change is happening. And, if it takes me absorbing hate and spiritual violence to see these policies change, I will gladly do it for the rest of my life.

a really good video on patrick henry

from the washington post

A further look back

I wanted to say a few quick words about our stop in Birmingham because it has had quite a profound impact on me, and I haven’t had the time to write about it yet. Being in a city with so much history where nonviolence blossomed and was successful really meant a lot to me. Perhaps it was my own doing, but I felt something in the air in Birmingham—a spirit of reconciliation, of turmoil, of triumph.

We visited the Civil Rights Institute and the 16th street Baptist Church, where a bombing killed four young girls. Upon arriving at the Civil Rights Institute, we were ushered into a small theater where we watched a movie about the city of Birmingham and the role of Blacks in creating and sustaining the city. The movie ended talking about segregation and a picture was shown of segregated water fountains. Then, the screen rose, and the very same water fountains that were in the picture were present before us. And this was the entrance into the museum. It was a really weird/surreal moment.

Everything in the museum was donated and is a real artifact of the Civil Rights era. The pictures/advertisements of Blacks were particularly disturbing to me. There was one especially disturbing—a handbill from Hot Springs, Arkansas—advertising a Black man giving a white man a bath. His features were exaggerated. His skin was really, really dark. And, he was saying something unintelligent. I teared up at the pictures of the lynchings, and with each new artifact I saw and each new piece of information I read, my lip began to quiver, and my whole being was just genuinely sorrowful.

I kept waiting to come to the Freedom Ride section of the museum. With every step I took, I got more anxious. And I finally made it and my breath was taken away. There was a large piece of the bus that was bombed in Anniston there. It was burnt and damaged. You could actually look inside and see the burnt seats and the smoke-damaged ceiling. I began to think back to the readings about the bombing that I have read. I pictured them—black and white—sitting there. Scared. Unsure. I saw the bus filling up with smoke. I saw them rushing out of the bus in a frenzy. I became overwhelmed, and before I knew it, the tension that had been building found a release. I was bawling. My entire body was convulsing in fits of sadness and disgust. I remember whispering to myself, “How could they?”

How could they do this to someone based on a benign characteristic like skin color? How could they?

I pulled it together after a hug from a friend and finished the museum. I was disappointed to see that the Human Rights section of the museum at the end failed to include LGBTQ issues…

and then I remembered why my presence on the ride was so vital. So necessary.

So that one day, the world will see Queer oppression as just that—an oppression that must be targeted and eradicated, just like all other systematic forms of violence and discrimination.

letter from the president of patrick henry college

sent to parents of students:

To Parents of PHC Students:

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me take this opportunity to alert you to an event that will occur at Patrick Henry College on April 12—an event that, as you may have heard, is being thrust upon all of us at the College against our will.

As background, in mid-January I received a letter from the co-director of Soulforce Equality Ride, a traveling band of homosexual activists professing to emulate the civil rights crusades of the 1950s and 1960s. The group’s real mission, however, is much less virtuous. Using sophisticated methods of political theater (i.e. civil rights imagery, symbolism, and language), Soulforce travels the country in buses, hoping to insinuate its activist message and membership into the fabric of Christian campuses. There they attempt to engage students in inappropriate dialogue about sex, sexual orientation and gender. Their aim is nothing less than to confuse and indoctrinate young Christians to the notion that God’s Word supports the “gay” lifestyle, or that it remains morally mute on a subject about which the Bible actually has much to say -- on behaviors it explicitly and indisputably labels sin.

The group has informed me that on April 12, Soulforce intends to include PHC on its cross-country bus tour, adding us to their list of Christian colleges deemed to hold policies and doctrines that refuse to affirm the validity of homosexual practices. Since this is the third year of the Soulforce Equality Ride, there is ample documentation of the tactics used by this group to infiltrate colleges like Notre Dame, Liberty University, Regent University, Oklahoma Baptist University, and many others. Depending on the school’s response (which varies from college to college), the staged protests take many forms, all geared toward an overriding objective of “exposing” intolerant, “bigoted hostility” by these institutions. Their tactics can involve infiltrating the campus, staging protests and waving signs (such as “We support the gay and lesbian students at Liberty University,”) and holding impromptu “worship services,” with activists quoting Scripture and singing Christian songs to portray themselves as “fellow Christians.” Their dialogue with students can include statements like, “Many people don’t fully realize that they are gay,” or “We can help you uncover the deeper truth about yourself,” or, “You may not think there are gay and lesbian students at PHC, but....” If allowed, they would disrupt classes and lunchrooms and chapel services, and, in a growing number of cases, provoke police intervention and arrests.

I have been in communication with the organization about their visit and informed them that, since I do not believe that appropriate dialogue can occur under the conditions of Soulforce’s uninvited visit, we can neither welcome nor allow them on the PHC campus.

I did propose, as an alternative, that they establish a neutral venue for a more organized, intellectually responsible debate. In lieu of their visit to our campus, I said that we would be willing to send PHC students to undertake a formal debate on the merits of the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As you might imagine, they rejected my invitation on grounds that formal debate is not “authentic dialogue.” I chock it up to an undeniable fact: as evidenced by their intrusive tactics and internal literature, Soulforce can claim no authentic desire to embrace intellectually responsible dialogue. Rather, it wants to entangle its targets in a manipulative form of political theater. I believe their approach is contrary to intellectually substantive dialogue, and have therefore asked them not to come to PHC on April 12, emphasizing that they will not be allowed on our campus.

Do I expect that to stop them from showing up at our entrance come April 12? No, I do not. But if they do, I want you to know that I have spent a good deal of time in prayer and consultation with our faculty, staff, and many of our students to determine the best course of action. My overriding concern is to protect our students (and your children) from a rude and offensive disruption to PHC’s educational goals and spiritual objectives. To this end, I have decided to take the following steps.

Experience teaches us that these events can, at times, best be defused by simply refusing to engage. In our case, this may be achieved by posting police at the campus entrance and refusing to interact with Soulforce on any level. While I have not forbidden our students from dialoguing with the protesters out on the roadside, I have requested and strongly urged them not to. Students who walked out to the roadside for conversations would be rewarding the group’s rudeness, and would expose themselves to carefully scripted manipulative techniques. If you concur, I would appreciate your reinforcing my request on this point as you have opportunity to talk with your son or daughter.

We expect that Soulforce will arrive, as expected, on April 12, that they will protest in front of our campus for an hour or two and, at a predetermined time, send their designated representatives to cross our property line. In that event, local police have been instructed to make arrests quickly, hopefully ending the event without further incident. This has already occurred on several campuses, including at the University of Notre Dame earlier this month.

As one might imagine, our decision to close the campus to this group grates against the natural desire of some of our students for intense engagement and rigorous debate on all issues. Many are quite good at it and would, I have no doubt, not merely withstand but powerfully counter and dismantle the most sophisticated deception. Understandably, such students question my decision. Moreover, even Christianity Today has editorially praised campuses that threw out the welcome mat to Soulforce, applauding them for practicing “the power of hospitality.”

I understand and share the desire to engage; yet, as I have prayed and studied, I have found that the Bible indicates otherwise in a case like this. The scriptural basis for our approach is, I believe, well-founded. Those who would urge our College to practice open-armed hospitality toward Soulforce and its members overlook a critical biblical exhortation.

In several places in the New Testament (Acts 20; 1 Cor. 5; 2 Tim. 3, to name a few), the Apostle Paul charges believers to have nothing to do with self-described Christians (note: not ordinary unbelievers) who have willfully rejected the truth. In 1 Cor. 5: 9-11, Paul writes: “I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people – not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral... In that case you have to leave this world: But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer... With such a man do not even eat.” In 2 Tim. 3:5, Paul warns against those “having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

The Apostle John describes the person who once held, but then actively taught against gospel truth. Of such a person he says, “do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.” (2 John 10-11)

In these and other passages, the Biblical message is stern but explicit: have nothing to do with them. I take this charge seriously. Soulforce as an organization presents itself as religiously-motivated and ecumenical in character. The organization’s founders, its key leaders and many of its activist members do not present themselves as being somehow non-Christian; rather, they present themselves as being emphatically Christian. In their literature and throughout their website, they portray themselves as being more deeply committed to the Bible and the Spirit of God than others.

I believe that God wants us to express love to all persons. But sometimes love requires us, according to St. Paul, not to associate, not to invite them in. If, on April 12th, we are engaged against our will by people forcibly entering the campus, I have instructed our students to treat all persons with respect, kindness, and restraint. But I am committed to protecting our campus from being duped by a tactic that is manipulative rhetorically, politically and, ultimately, spiritually. To invite such a group, in the full panoply of their political theatrics, in amongst us, would be the wrong way to expose our students to bad ideas. More importantly, it would subject them unnecessarily to the wrong kind of spiritual influence. I will not do it.

This event will come and go, and soon be forgotten. Still, it is a reminder that we face a concerted battle of ideas in our day, where many are attempting to blur all the markers of truth and moral clarity. But it is not only a battle of ideas. Because of the beauty of our mission and calling, PHC is inevitably a focus of conflict in the spiritual realm. The Apostle Paul warns us that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood.” (Eph. 6:12) This reminds us that human beings are never our ultimate enemies. We need to stay close to Jesus first and foremost—not the Jesus of our imagination but the Jesus of the Bible—in order to be equipped with true wisdom for this and all other challenges that we are privileged to face.

I trust you understand and can support this decision. I ask that you hold up in earnest prayer everyone at Patrick Henry College as April 12th approaches. We love our students, treasuring all that God is doing for them in our midst, and we appreciate your partnership with us in God’s work.

In His Name,
Graham Walker
President
Patrick Henry College

covenant college, looking back

**stephanie, if you are still reading my blog, could you send an email to amanda@equalityride.com**

Backtracking to Lookout Mountain, Georgia:

Our day at Covenant College started with a police escort up the mountain to the school. Covenant College is located on top of a mountain… the same mountain where civil war battles took place and where a subsequent Union defeat occurred. I visited the mountain last summer actually on a road trip with friends, but this visit was anything but leisurely-oriented.

We arrived, filed out of the bus, and were immediately told that if we stepped one foot onto the grass that we would be arrested.



We looked up the hill and saw several tiny faces looking over hedges down at us. They were students peering down watching us. We waited for a while and one by one they slowly made their way down. We waved at them, letting them know that it was okay. And thus it began.



Students eventually poured down the mountain. We probably spoke to over a 100 that day. They all came eager with questions, concerns. They asked amazing questions about gender and sexuality and their intersections. We sat on the pavement, dialoguing and eating lunch together that both the school and the local MCC provided.





Many expressed their opinion that they wanted us to be allowed on campus. Others said they thought the administration made a wise choice. We learned that prior to our visit, the student senate passed a resolution saying that they disagreed with the administration’s choice to not allow us on and felt that Covenant should offer us a hospitable welcome. I met an awesome girl named Sarah there, and we talked for a while about my experiences and our families.



About midday, several riders read aloud the new covenant that we brought to Covenant. This covenant was designed by the Equality Riders asking Covenant College to end suffering of LGBTQ students and to recognize the harmfulness of the college’s policy. Then, Jarrett Lucas, our co director, announced that he was going to simply walk across the grass and deliver the covenant to a member of administration that he had been communicating with.



Then they walked across and were immediately rushed toward by police. They offered out their wrists in front of their bodies and were arrested for simply delivering a piece of paper. I believe the students saw the hypocrisy of their school. They saw that Christ would never treat nonviolent, loving people in this manner. I saw several students weep at the site of the arrests. We then began singing as they sat in the paddy wagon waiting to be hauled off. Many students started singing with us, as most of the songs we sing are Christian hymns, or are songs from the Civil Rights Movement that are learned easily.





I talked with several students about their feelings on the arrest. Many were shocked and didn’t know how to respond. This is good. Having questions and not knowing what to think immediately is a great response to be had.

Several Covenant students led a prayer for us—a gracious prayer full of love, hospitality, and an earnest seeking for truth.



We eventually left and went downtown to a coffee shop and a park. We learned that our riders would be held in jail over night. I met up with Sarah again, and we talked with Curtis in the park for over an hour. She then joined me for dinner at a local restaurant. We eventually delved much deeper into my spiritual approach in general. She asked questions that I was almost afraid to answer because many conservative Christians are quick to criticize Queers for the answers that some of us have.

Q: “So, to you… what is the purpose of marriage?”

A: “Well, quite honestly, I am not sure that there is one…But I can see how a couple would want to announce their commitment to one another before God. I’m fine with that.”

Q: “So you don’t think that there is a hell?”

A: “No, I don’t. I don’t think my God would ever do that to anyone.”

Q: “Do you think that sex before marriage is okay?”

A: “Yes, as long as it’s done wisely. Knowledge about what you’re doing and being responsible is always the most important thing.”

There are certainly many people on the bus who do not believe any of these things. But these beliefs are mine, and I was going to tell her the truth. She had a really hard time understanding same-sex attraction… which I thought was a foundation, an understanding that didn’t need to be touched. But, it really amazes me the things that students don’t know. I have talked to several people who thought AIDS magically appeared in gay men. I talked with students who didn’t know that same-sex love was just that—love.

I am really frustrated with people saying, “They are a private institution. They have a right to have these policies.”

Yes, they have a right. But there is a higher truth to be sought—a truth that ends oppression and ignorance. And these institutions are not seeking this truth by any means.

That is really all I have to say about our Covenant stop. I walked away with a headache from all of the talking I had been doing, but it was good. I know I made at least one friend that day and planted a seed where there was not one before.