- March 6th, 2006, 7:59 am
#7117
ASOR Technical Advisor and Graphics Consultant
all right! now THIS is exciting:
http://newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellit ... 0514&path=
Gay rights group aims for LU
http://newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellit ... 0514&path=
Gay rights group aims for LU
By Zack Smith
zsmith@newsadvance.com
March 5, 2006
On Friday, a group of gay rights activists may risk jail to come to Liberty University.
The Soulforce Equality Ride, a seven-week bus tour visiting 19 religious colleges and military academies that ban the enrollment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, will make its first stop at LU.
Thirty-five people will participate in the ride, and co-director Jake Reitan said that as many as 100 people could join them in Lynchburg.
But their presence will not be welcome.
LU has issued a statement from the Rev. Jerry Falwell saying that the Equality Ride, which visited the campus last April in a trial run, will not be allowed to return to LU as a “media demonstration.”
“The parents of our students have entrusted their sons and daughters to our care,” Falwell said in the statement.
“Liberty has an obligation to these parents not to expose their children to a ‘media circus’ that might present immorality in a positive light.”
A release from Soulforce, the organization behind the ride, quotes LU Police Chief Randy Smith as saying, “Soulforce will not be allowed on the property and this will be enforced by arrest if needed.”
Smith was not available for comment, and LU did not comment beyond Falwell’s initial release.
Reitan said that Falwell’s decision could backfire.
“The reality is, they’re creating the media circus by trying to arrest us,” Reitan said.
“When they deny our visit and try to arrest us, they show their true colors.”
Reitan said the Equality Ride will also visit such campuses as Brigham Young University and Oral Roberts University, and include presentations and open discussion with students about homosexuality.
He said that he was inspired to start the ride by a gay student he met while attending Northwestern University.
Reitan said that the student, who attended Wheaton College, discussed the school’s anti-homosexual policy and his fear of expulsion for being gay.
“I said, ‘That’s a terrible policy, we should do something about it,’ and he said, ‘I think it’s a great policy. It’s a sin to be gay,’” Reitan recalled.
He said that one of the goals of the ride was to help reach gay students on religious campuses. He said they were being told that who they were made them an affront to God.
Soulforce is a locally based organization committed to “ending the stigmatization of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people - stigmatization caused by religion-based bias.”
The organization was co-founded by the Rev. Mel White, a former ghostwriter for Falwell who came out as a homosexual in 1993.
Falwell said in the statement that he had permitted Soulforce to meet with LU representatives last year, and allowed a delegation of 150 people from Soulforce to engage in dialogue at the campus church on another occasion.
He said that he felt that Soulforce was not acting in good faith with this visit, and would “use such encounters on Christian college campuses as a media attraction and for their ultimate purpose of fundraising.”
Reitan said that Soulforce just wanted to enter into a dialogue with people at LU.
“I don’t know if they’re going to change their hearts and minds,” Reitan said.
“I hope at least they’ll change their preconceptions of what it is to be gay and lesbian.”
The Equality Ride will meet at First Christian Church on Friday at 9:30 a.m. A service will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
For more information on Soulforce and the Equality Ride, visit www.soulforce.org or www.equalityride.com.
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
ASOR Technical Advisor and Graphics Consultant
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