“The queers are here! Where are the preachers?” they screamed at the unusually still fortress. Their tongues unsheathed, dozens of fuming protesters crowded the streets in front of Bob Jones University triumphantly waving signs of hatred and hypocrisy; all of them were terribly misguided in mistaking discrimination for faith. But with love in our hearts and good news in our hands, we stood as outcasts before the institution someone had called “the last bastion of holy, righteous decency in America”. We stood before the school that told us there was no room for dialogue. We stood as preachers and prophets.

This was it, our tenth stop. The still, South Carolina air was heavy with history, with tension. And our hearts were pounding as our spirits united in song. No one could turn us around. This was it, Bob Jones University. The school had long been on trial for its questionable practices and prejudiced doctrine. For eighty years oppressive tradition had been masquerading as truth. And that distorted paradigm firmly sustained sexism, racism, endogamy, and homophobia. But, just as waves shape the shore, we began to vigil before the university with every intention of touching and changing lives. At first we waited in unspoken reflection to mirror the silence of gay and transgender students. And then we began to sing, our voices bearing messages of hope and amazing grace. We sang to them, for them, and with them.

As curious students watched, one Equality Rider stepped forward and calmly entered the front gate carrying artwork that depicted her suffering within the church. Like a cruel joke, she was arrested, testimony of past rejection in hand. Immediately thereafter, a second followed suit. And then, a third did the same. While we stood in solidarity along the sidewalk, three young women took historic steps towards a shared dream of justice. While we stood in solidarity, three women were cited, not for crossing boundaries, but for challenging the sophism that holds them in place.

Christianity, as ministry of reconciliation, is ideally good news. It encourages a genuine unity that necessitates love, understanding, and ultimately, dialogue. However, in our relentless pursuit of these goals, we were labeled “evil and wicked” by those claiming to be Christian. We were shunned by Bob Jones University, a professedly Christian academy, for preaching inclusion. We were condemned by individuals for questioning their judgments. But most importantly, we stood as witnesses before humanity of the injustice that is soon to end.