University of the Cumberlands

This is Greg. I’m sorry to announce that we’re calling off the Equality Ride because we’re all just too tired, and we ran out of chocolate chip cookies.

So, ya. Happy April Fools’ day, everyone. We’re doing well, and we’ve been getting some great community meals and support along the way.

Today I’m writing about our visit to the University of the Cumberlands. Three days ago, when I was writing in my journal about the visit, I wrote thirteen handwritten pages. I don’t think you want to read my sprawling ramblings, but needless to say – I’ve a lot to say about our March, 28 visit to Williamsburg, KY. It was a day where riders and students showed their ability to overcome any obstacle, a day of dialogue, and a day of progress in the form of painful, hard-earned, growth.

When we pulled up to the front of the University of the Cumberlands on a gloomy March morning, we were met by about 45 policemen that refused to let us off the bus until the president of the university used our bus speaker system to accuse our stop coordinators of turning down an offer to come onto campus. Matt Hill was a bit more cordial than I would have been in that situation, and he apologized for the possible miscommunication. We never turn down an offer to attend campuses peacefully and fairly, and are always ready to work with administrations. But, the president insisted that we were the ones being hard to get along with, and he informed us that we were not welcome to his campus even though we still wished to talk peacefully with students, as if the excessive police force didn’t already clue us in.

So, we filed off the bus, and were told by the police that we couldn’t stand on the public sidewalk. We were all a bit surprised; this was not a situation any of us had encountered before. The officers told us we had to “keep moving.” Their stated reason was, if we stopped on the sidewalk, then we would be obstructing city traffic. Determined to avoid arrest and share our message with the university students, we obeyed their questionable demands. Walking up and down the sidewalk on the side of the street opposite the university, we carried our banner and our Bibles, raising our voices to sing “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around,” “Stayed on Equality,” and “Amazing Grace.” Officers ran to follow us as we walked down the sidewalk, making sure that we kept moving – back and forth, back and forth. This kind of harassment continued all day, even when we arrived in front of the courthouse to prepare for our rally.

Students and community watched from newly green lawns, cool porches, or the steps of school buildings. As we sang, more people came to watch the brouhaha with all the onlookers, the riders, the singing, and the police. We broke off into small groups to walk on the sidewalk and talk to students. Despite, and possibly in spite of constant harassment by the police, students and riders conversed with each other. For example, two riders stopped on the sidewalk to talk to students sitting on the steps of a university building, and a policeman came and stood in between the two riders and the students. He crossed his arms, and said with a frown on his face, “Y’all can’t stop on this sidewalk.” The students got up and followed the riders. Throughout the morning, everyone was walking and talking, sometimes two or three students to one or two riders.

Well, not everyone walked and talked. Jake Reitan got arrested for having a toe in the grass after scolding the officers for violating our constitutional rights. After seeing the injustice of the situation, three University of the Cumberlands students were arrested soon after Jake for standing on the sidewalk and refusing to move. The university President watched, and even talked to the last of the students to be arrested. When I became dizzy, the head of campus ministries offered to sit with me, even if that meant getting arrested by the police. Eventually, we were warned to resume walking. Some students chose not to talk, one young man chose to express himself by wearing some bikini underwear and a shirt that said, “I <3 BJs.” He got a lot of laughs out of both students and police, many of which were standing across the street on the sidewalk.

After a rainy lunch, there was a rally at the courthouse. Curious community members, high school students, college students, police, city officials, counter protesters, and riders all assembled together to see what the stop coordinators, Bronwen Tomb and Matt Hill, had to say. Jason Johnson spoke eloquently about being kicked out of the University of the Cumberlands for being gay. He assuaged the conscience of the audience and related to them the unexpectedness of being expelled from the university during the middle of his last semester before a planned transfer. The rally and the day ended with words of thanks. Jordan Palmer of Kentucky Equality had brought refreshments to the rally and purchased our hotel rooms, and his mother Nancy had cooked us an amazing chili dinner, which was hosted in the St. Clair church of Berea.

Throughout the day, we brought the message that Christians can be right with God and be gay, that gay Christians live joyful lives full of health and companionship when they overcome spiritual oppression, and that the University of the Cumberlands should stop promoting the sins of self-loathing, suicide, hate, bigotry, and discrimination against its gay students. Even if they didn’t agree with our contextual biblical arguments, many students and faculty listened to what we had to say. In the end, they could not dispute our life stories and our witness.

I am quite certain that dialogue will continue in the sleepy town of Williamsburg, KY. As one high school student said to me on the street, “Do you realize that you just dropped a bomb on one of the most homophobic places on earth?” This makes me smile as I contemplate the fact that, despite the antagonism of the administration and police, students and faculty sought conversation. Three university students were even willing to stand on the sidewalk and be arrested to support the rights of all U.S. citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The gay citizens of Williamsburg gained a voice and some powerful new allies, and it became apparent that the University of the Cumberlands is more concerned about Southern Baptist legalism than serving its students or furthering the Christian message by showing Christ’s love and compassion to the world.

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