Hi, my name is Irene...

[girl_meets_wrld]

Hi! My name is Irene. I'm a new transfer student at Liberty U (yes, that Liberty ). I'm 23 years and a nursing student. I'm in the closet. I also believe in God. Though, I'm not sure about where I stand on the whole "God & Homosexuality" debate.

Since transferring to Liberty last week, I've been so confused as to whether or not I should transfer or make the best of it. I really need some advice and social support regarding my sexuality, religion, and Liberty U.

It's hard living in the closet because there's no1 around that I can vent to! I hope I can find a few friends here.

/Oprah moment

[Masood]

Originally Posted by girl_meets_wrld

Hi! My name is Irene. I'm a new transfer student at Liberty U (yes, that Liberty ). I'm 23 years and a nursing student. I'm in the closet. I also believe in God. Though, I'm not sure about where I stand on the whole "God & Homosexuality" debate.

Since transferring to Liberty last week, I've been so confused as to whether or not I should transfer or make the best of it. I really need some advice and social support regarding my sexuality, religion, and Liberty U.

It's hard living in the closet because there's no1 around that I can vent to! I hope I can find a few friends here.

/Oprah moment

Dear Irene you could be well my daughter I have struggled with these issues for 58 years and I am telling you out of experience , do not confuse yourself. Homosexuality and sexual orientation is one thing and loving God is something entirly different , I am sure you are going to be a very succesful Nurse , find yourself one of the affirming churches in your area , attened the church regularly, there are heterosexual and Homosexual members in those churches who are going to work with you till you come into complete reconcilation with yor sexuality and with God , live your life be sure of your salvation and do not let anybody tell you otherwise. you are saved, God loves you, and he does not care the person you love is a man or a woman trust me i learnt it the hard way I hope I have been able to make it a little easier for you Masood

[BruceChris]

EDIT:Masood is more of an optimist than I am.

Edit:There IS a Lynchburg PFLAG

www.lynchburg-pflag.org/

At my alma mater, The Univ. of Minn., Jack Baker, an openly gay man, was elected student body president, in 1971.

I would love to reach out and give you a big hug. Most of us here would, but my arms arn't 1000 miles long, and most here have much the same problem.

I think you need someone gay sensitive, and not judgmental to talk to. (Strongly consider moving to a more accepting place.) I know from the experience of a close friend that a nursing school can stop you from getting a career, or even a degree, and not have to answer to anyone.

P-FLAG, Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays is a national organization. See Above.

Church of the Covenant - UCC
4415 Boonsboro RD.
Lynchburg, VA24503, and


First Unitarian Church of Lynchburg - UU
818 Court Street
Lynchburg, Va.24504
http://www.uulynchburg.org

EDIT: Boonsboro seems to be a fair ways out. They're on the northwest corner, and Liberty is on the southeast

Above are my only references for a gay friendly church in Lynchburg, and you probably don't want to be seen visiting such Ungawdly Liberals. (UCC is my church, and they're wonderful)

There are many wonderful LGBT resources on the web. But Lynchburg, and Liberty have a REPUTATION, and not a good one.

Try also: http://www.welcomingresources.org/index.htm

Other Soulforcers will have their say, Bruce Chris[

[Gennee]

Welcome to the forums, Irene.

Gennee

[alphie]

My advice to you is to transfer. Liberty U will do no good for you. There are a lot of good nursing schools that you can go to. God bless you for wanting to be a nurse - they are a gift from God. You (as a whole person) are a gift from God. I can only imagine that this university will mess you up. God be with you.
Peace and Love in Christ!

[girl_meets_wrld]

Thank you all for taking the time to read and respond to my intro thread. They are always the hardest, and I've left so much out. But I hope you guys will get to know me a little better.

Masood -- Knowing that someone else has gone through these issues definitely makes it easier for me!!

BruceChris -- Wow a PFLAG in Lynchburg?! If only my parents were accepting... Hopefully I've found a gay-sensitive person in the counselor I'm going to start seeing (not a Liberty counselor!). Thank you for doing all that research!!!

Gennee -- Thank you! right back at ya!

alphie -- thank you for the advice! You've voiced some of my concerns regarding if I stay. But if I transfer again to another school, I will have to wait until a semester to get into a program. And I'm 23 and I wanna be done with undergrad once and for all!!!!!

My thoughts about this situation (if anyone cares!):
So far my time at Liberty has been 99% positive. Though I have heard stories from gay alums themselves about how some were asked to leave when the came out. However, while my teachers are very Christian and conservative, they don't use the fire and brimstone approach I imagined they would. In philosophical and social science classes, my teachers promote critical thinking as opposed to blind acceptance of their own views. Maybe Liberty is less "fire and brimstone" because Jerry Falwell is RIP?

I'm not out now, and don't plan to be until I move away for graduate school in late 2011. So I don't really mind not being able to walk around with a "Virginia is for lesbians" t-shirt My only worry now is what if I get my BSN from Liberty, and then they find out I am gay afterward. Can they revoke my degree?

Someone please tell me I'm being ridiculous (or not).

I'm sooooooo glad I was able to find this community!

[girl_meets_wrld]

Does anyone know the answer to my question? Please help!

[BruceChris]

But it's my hunch that if you make it through, and get accepted by another school, it will be pretty much out of their hands.

To be practical, and more sanitary, most nurses wear their hair fairly short. You only see nurses that look like an old picture of Farrah Fawcett in TV commercials. So you've got an advantage there.

But if you spend a year or two there, and then have no transfer credits to show for it, that could hurt. Did those gay alums lose any credits, or much money?

But can you pass for straight, and for how many years? Would you date an occasional *boy*, to give yourself credibility?

Peace and Love, Bruce Chris

[girl_meets_wrld]

Originally Posted by BruceChris

But it's my hunch that if you make it through, and get accepted by another school, it will be pretty much out of their hands.

That's what I was thinking. I'm not planning on being a nurse forever anyways.

Originally Posted by BruceChris

But can you pass for straight, and for how many years? Would you date an occasional *boy*, to give yourself credibility?

I can definitely pass for straight. I'm playing the "I just wanna focus on my schoolwork" card.

Thank you for responding.

♥ Irene

[CagedBird]

Hey Irene! I'm Bird

I hope you can continue to enjoy your time at Liberty, without any problems. As for your question, I don't know if you already got your answer, but I really don't think that's possible. I highly doubt it is.

[RunTime]

Originally Posted by girl_meets_wrld

Thank you all for taking the time to read and respond to my intro thread. They are always the hardest, and I've left so much out. But I hope you guys will get to know me a little better.

My thoughts about this situation (if anyone cares!)[/U]:
So far my time at Liberty has been 99% positive. Though I have heard stories from gay alums themselves about how some were asked to leave when the came out. However, while my teachers are very Christian and conservative, they don't use the fire and brimstone approach I imagined they would. In philosophical and social science classes, my teachers promote critical thinking as opposed to blind acceptance of their own views. Maybe Liberty is less "fire and brimstone" because Jerry Falwell is RIP?

I'm not out now, and don't plan to be until I move away for graduate school in late 2011. So I don't really mind not being able to walk around with a "Virginia is for lesbians" t-shirt My only worry now is what if I get my BSN from Liberty, and then they find out I am gay afterward. Can they revoke my degree?

I'm sooooooo glad I was able to find this community!

Welcome to Lynchburg and to Soulforce. To add a couple of things:

There are other churches in the area that are open. First Christian Church on Rivermont is open and affirming, and has a fair number of gay members. If you prefer to stay with the Baptist churches, you may want to look into Peakland Baptist. I do not know the current stand of the pastor, but their former pastor (now retired and attending First Christian) is gay-affirming.
Of course, the Quakers are welcoming, but are a very small group and an unprogrammed meeting, quite a bit different from the Baptists.

You have other choices in nursing, but you said you don't want to lose any semesters. Still, don't forget that Lynchburg college also has a B.S.N. program and Lynchburg General offers an RN program. THis can be upgraded to a BSN with probably less expense than going BSN all the way. And neither school will care about your sexual orientation.

Regarding the revocation of a degree - theoretically its possible, but HIGHLY unlikely. Public colleges generally have to have significant grounds to revoke a degree, usually but not always limited to academic cheating, plagarism, etc. Private schools in theory have more leeway, but realistically, Liberty now has 50,000 students, between the campus and the on-line students. There are gay alumni, alumni who have committed adultery, students who drink, smoke, gamble, do drugs. They don't have the morality police to track every graduate and make sure they never violate any clauses in the code of conduct. (Do they still make you read "The Liberty Way" when you enroll?) Its a much greater chance that they could expell a current student who violates their codes than hunt you down years later and revoke your diploma to punish you. Liberty has gay graduates working in the hospital (and Centra Health doesn't
care if you're gay) and I don't know of anyone's degree being revoked.

Although I would be wary of the critical thinking at Liberty, it doesn't generally stretch that far. Announcing as a Democrat is almost as bad as coming out gay, so I wouldn't push the envelope if you don't want to court trouble. They can't control your thoughts, but they can make life miserable for expressing them.