At our first training back in January, each rider was assigned a stop to organize during the trip. What this means for me is that I had been working on our stop at Belhaven University in Jackson, MS for about 2.5 months by the time we actually got there on March 29th. Naturally, I was a little bit anxious that things would go smoothly and productively.

Mostly, they did. We had a lovely day on campus filled with conversations with students, faculty, and staff and interspersed with lots and lots of great food. Far from the hospitality for appearance’s sake it felt like we had received elsewhere, it seemed that the folks at BU really wanted us there to have conversations and talk about the issues. We – the folks at the school as well as us on the ride – learned a lot and walked away with new friends. We were also able to do a service project with a group of students the next afternoon, and had two awesome potlucks at community churches with lots of networking opportunities. Success!

Aside from the “usual” discomforts of folks pulling out the same passages of the Bible and urging us to reconsider our sinful ways, and (especially for the non-Christians among us) prayers for our souls and salvation, we also experienced a special kind of tension in Jackson – a place that in many ways is the heart of the Deep South. A city with 85% African-American population and also one of the poorest major cities in America, in a state where racism both remembered and present in a fashion unseen anywhere else. A place where the Freedom Rides made a stand and are still remembered with fear and anxiety. And, it turns out, a place where the only LGBTQ affirming spaces are largely white.

A fellow rider, a person of color, pointed this out to me and requested that I allow one of the smaller events to be optional, to give folks a break from the pressure of being so identifiably different all the time. Upset that I had failed to account for this in my planning, I responded initially by saying no and justified my response by saying it would be rude to the folks who were hosting us. My response was rooted in my ego as well as in ignorance of what it means to be a person of color anywhere, and especially being a person of color doing something like the Equality Ride. My response was racist.

When I realized this, I was crushed. I just didn’t know what to do. We worked it out eventually, on a personal level at least, but I was left with the realization that in my desire for things to run smoothly I had failed to meaningfully confront racism yet again. I had neglected to account for the experiences of folks who are different from me – a unique kind of hypocrisy when I’ve had the audacity to confront so many people at the schools we’ve visited with similar truths. The log in my eye is bigger than I thought, it would seem.

I am still satisfied with much of our experience at Belhaven. I really do believe that some folks we talked with will be allies for LGBTQ people at that school and that our message of God’s affirmation and love for all God’s children was received. But here, at the halfway point in our trip (8th of 16 schools), I am learning all over again of the inadequacy of my approach. If I could go back and repurpose those 2.5 months, I would. But I can’t.

All that’s left is tomorrow.

Next: Mississippi College in Clinton, MS.

Selections of press coverage from the 2010 Equality Ride thus far. For media inquiries, contact Jennifer Luu.

Editorial: Baylor rightfully welcomes Soulforce in Christian love

Baylor Lariat Online

This week, Baylor made a positive statement by allowing Soulforce on campus and welcoming them under the doctrine of Christian love.

More specifically, Kevin Jackson, vice president for student life, handled the equal rights advocacy group’s visit in a transparent manner that allowed for dialogue to take place on campus.

Equality Ride members walked around campus Tuesday speaking individually to a broad range of students advocating a message of acceptance for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals. [...]

Christian Universities set for visit from gay, lesbian group

Reporter News: Your Abilene Online

Local university administrators have been preparing for this bus stop for months. The SoulForce [sic] Equality Ride arrives at Hardin-Simmons University today, kicking off four days in Abilene. SoulForce’s two-month bus tour is visiting universities to discuss lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. The group will visit HSU today and tomorrow and then Abilene Christian University on Friday.

Michael Whitehorn, senior vice president for student development at HSU, said he does not anticipate any problems with the group’s visit. “I expect (the visit) to be congenial, but I’m sure they’ll ask difficult questions about policy matters and whatnot,” Whitehorn said. [...]

Soulforce to return to campus

ACU Optimist

An organization that advocates for the rights of “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning people,” will visit campus for the second time in four years this semester. Soulforce members will travel for almost two months on their tour of 13 universities in more than a dozen states.

Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president for Student Life and dean of students, said Soulforce contacted the universityand requested permission to stop at ACU on Apr. 9 as part of the 2010 Equality Ride. [...]

Soulforce Plans Campus Visit

Omnibus Online

Everyone’s interest has at least been piqued by the upcoming Equality Ride visit of Soulforce April 14, the organization attempting to end “religious and political oppression” of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning people (LGBTQ).

“Currently, there is a visit itinerary and an agreement of understanding that is being discussed between the University and the Equality Ride group,” said Dean of Students Rob Harris in email correspondence. “Once there is mutual agreement, those details will be shared.”

Harris added, “If there is not a mutual agreement regarding the itinerary and memo of understanding, then the group will not be allowed on campus. Based on the group’s purpose, as stated in their letter, I anticipate an agreement being made.” [...]

Langdon Reflects on Equality Ride

Houghton Star

Many people were involved in the March 9 Equality Ride visit, but only one individual had close ties with both the Soulforce organization and Houghton College. Because of this unique distinction, former Houghton student Andrew Langdon was tasked by his fellow Equality Riders with organizing the day’s events. After the visit, The Houghton Star asked Langdon to reflect on his time at Houghton and share his thoughts about the March 9 visit. [...]

Tonight was the first part of our two-part visit to Hardin Simmons University (HSU) in Abilene, TX. Our visit to HSU was prompted by a faculty termination policy that equates “homosexuality” to incest and sexual abuse of children in a list of “acts and lifestyles deemed sexually immoral.”  The policy also has wording that makes acceptable the firing of faculty members due to disability.  Additionally, HSU has an anti-bullying policy that leaves gender identity and sexual orientation out—implying that queer students are not protected from harassment based on their identities.

I was grateful tonight for the boldness and persistence of our group of 25, extemporaneously driving home the urgency of the need to shift this policy and to be proactive allies for LGBTQ students.  I was also grateful for the frankness returned by the faculty with whom we met and broke bread, and with their willingness to listen and engage.  The administration made promises to revisit their anti-harassment policy, and consider ways to better protect their LGBTQ students.   We talked about concrete ways to end silence and make Hardin Simmons an environment where students feel safe and loved.

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WAPT 16 writes about the Equality Ride’s visit to Mississippi College

Administrators at Mississippi College met with members of Soul Force [sic] for the first time Wednesday.

Soul Force, a national gay rights group that travels the country, has visited MC for three years in a row to protest school policies they said discriminate against gay college students. MC does not specifically ban homosexuality, but the student handbook says it will not be tolerated on campus.

Jason Connor [sic] organized the stop at Mississippi College.

“Mississippi College identifies as a Christian university and one of the things that we are trying to talk about is that being gay and being Christian are not mutually exclusive,” Connor said.

Soul force first visited in MC in 2007

Read the rest of the article, view a video, on WAPT 16

The morning started off a lot like any other morning on the Equality Ride…early. The terrain shifted from one beautiful panoramic masterpiece to another. We ascended upon Huntsville Alabama a quaint mid size town about an hour and a half away from Birmingham nestled in a cute valley. I could tell from the energy of this town that this stop was going to be very different from the stops we had previously. Reasons being:

1. Oakwood University is a Seventh Day Adventist denomination school, and I grew up SDA.
2. This was also the first historically black college we had been to on this years ride.

It had a feeling that the town itself not only the school was on the cusp of something really huge happening. We had church at the Spirit of the cross church that Sunday and we ironed out the final details of the stop the next day.

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