Equality Ride Training

*looks around sheepishly* um, hi? Well, it has taken me a week to finally get the nerve to sit down and write this entry. I am rusty on blogging. It has been a long time since I've written fluidly about myself, so logging all of my experiences will be an adventure in and of itself. I'm sure you all will notice a gradual progression in my openness and writing abilities by the time the Equality Ride is over.

I returned from Equality Ride Training (in Austin, TX) on Monday. What a sad day, to be quite honest. Leaving there meant leaving an experience that has spun my reality on its head. I learned so much. To say that is an understatement really. I found the kind of movement I have been looking for. A movement of love and peace that acknowledges all kinds of diversity. I typically call this the Queer Rights Movement or Queer Liberation Movement, but others prefer various terminology. I will, however, call it pretty much anything but the "Gay Rights Movement." (I'm sure I will find time to rant on this later). The Equality Ride is going to equip me with the tools and methods I will need to be a part of this movement.

Two buses will be embarking from Minneapolis at the beginning of March--one going East, one going West--to academic institutions that ban the enrollment of openly Queer students. I am on the East bus. But, both buses synergized at the training. Bringing that many perspectives into one place was frightening, but liberating. We are all Queer activists of sorts, most of which very vocal and visibile in our respective communities.

Throughout training I began to realize that comparing my journey to the Freedom Rides was going to be an act of the heart. Logistical notions are really not comparable at all. It would be tiresome to examine these logistics when one journey sought to end transportation segregation, the other, homophobia in academic institutions. But, the principles, the values, the whole framework of these journeys is fundamentally the same. I began to see that both rides rely on nonviolence NOT as a tactic, but as a way of being--a way of living. This nonviolence, as Gandhi and King have described, transcends acceptance and brings the adversary and the nonviolent vessel to a new place of peace, where both have learned from one another.

I am currently pursuing an understanding of satyagraha (wiki it if need be). Tonio, a fellow rider, gave me a piece of inspiration, and I've been reading it to myself every day. I want to truly understand nonviolence and peace.

Drinking a cup of tea, I stopped the war. Peace is every step.