News Coverage of the 2006 Soulforce Equality Ride

[schoolboi]

I thought the news coverage was great. If anything I believe we should escalate our language to increase the shame on institutions that discriminate against GLBT people.

One observation, it is interesting to see how the schools are framing the issue. All of them keep saying, "We have no policy that bans gays. We have a policy that bans any sexual activity outside of marriage." Another statement is, "The main goal of the Equality Ride is to gain media attention." We have heard both statements from Liberty and Regent. I'm sure that Pat and Jerry's friends in the heavily funded far right think tanks in DC had their hands in this wording. My question is how do we insure that we keep the upper hand when it comes to framing the issue?

On a different note here are a couple of letters to the editor in the local Lynchburg paper. I'm glad we have sparked dialoged in the community.

Letters to the editor for Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Lynchburg News & Advance

It’s time to wake up, Virginia, and realize that we are in the midst of a fully-fledged civil rights movement. What further proof do we all need beyond Jerry Falwell showing his true colors as a coward and a bully by having the Equality Riders arrested last Friday?
Anyone refusing to accept that the gay rights movement is a civil rights movement at this point is either blind, truly bigoted, or a hypocrite. The biblical passages being used by the opponents of equality are no different from the biblical passages used in years past to condone slavery, segregation, and to fight against legalized interracial marriage; like these other failed efforts, using the Bible for discriminatory ends has no place in a society supposedly committed to equal treatment under the law for all its citizens.
It is my fervent hope that if the people of this country fail to do what is fair at the polls, the courts will do what is right in the end. In Virginia, we have a choice this November. Will you stand up on the side of equality and fairness when you go to the polls and vote to defeat the proposed marriage amendment, or will you cast your name alongside those of Bull Connor and George Wallace?

NATHAN VERILLA
Lynchburg

Diversity a must
I am a graduate of Liberty University and I am appalled by the recent arrests of the activists. This is proof that LU isn’t about freedom of speech, only freedom from speech that is “different” from what they want you to hear. If college is to form well-rounded individuals, then diverse points of view, whether or not you agree with them, must be presented.
I spent time in both public and Christian schools, and I had a better educational experience in the public setting because the forum for discussion was much better and non-discriminatory, contrary to what most Christian leaders want you to think.
I hope LU thinks twice before doing something like this again. It only says to the non-believers, “You are not welcome in our club if you don’t think, act, dress, look as we do.” And that’s not what Jesus admonished us to do.

SUSAN HOWARD TYREE
Winter Park, Fla.

[schoolboi]

Bus tour promotes gay rights at schools

Lee University response to "Equality Ride" visit

[schoolboi]

Making the 'necessary trouble' on campus By our own Jake Reitan

[NathanATX]

Jake rocks!

Heck, all you folks do!

[awediot]

The one thing missing from all these media takes is that SoulForce is a Spiritual group and a number of Christians are involved. It is consistently portrayed as merely a gay rights group and the distinguishing heart and motives of the riders is forgotten. The Christian confronting Christian is a whole different, more sensitive and touching story that is being lost, indeed making them look like close minded bullies. Is this the media's doing, or has Soulforce played this aspect down, or maybe just not played it up enough?

[Jennifer5]

Jake sure knows how to say things, doesn't he. He always gets me to listen.

[Emproph]

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039861.cfm

Thank you Dr. Randall Pannell (associate VP academic affairs), nothing could possibly demonstrate that you understand God’s unconditional Love better than others, than to characterize it as an “offering” to be “rescinded.”
-Does he think God came down from infinite Heaven to teach we humans how to reject others, something we have perfected on our own?

Baxter Ennis, PR for Regent. (Too many to list, but the last paragraph sums it.) I’m paraphrasing, ‘not only does Jesus love them, but we do too. But no where in the bible is homosexuality accepted.’

You’d think someone asked him:
Mr. Ennis, how can I better teach my child how to blanketly dismiss millions of first hand eye witnesses as idiots yet portray my own chosen behavior in doing so as something Jesus would do?
-So much for "Forgive those who 'trespass' against us."

It’s the same complaint we’re getting here for calling it a dialogue while at the same time calculating media attention. I don’t know how valid the complaint is, but I can honestly say that I have more respect for the Fred Phelps “God hates fags” gang/flock than I do the aforementioned. They at least have the courage to recognize how they feel and the honesty to express it without shame. They may be hypocrites about God's Love, but they are as honest as it gets when it comes to expressing their hatred.
(Edit -See post #35 Venari clarification, #36 Emproph spiritual growth)

[schoolboi]

AFA's Wildmon proposed a hypothetical tour of gay bathhouses, repeated misinformation on average gay incomes

Summary: In response to gay rights organization Soulforce's Equality Ride -- a bus tour aimed at confronting religious schools and military academies that ban the enrollment of GBLT students -- the American Family Association's Don Wildmon proposed his own hypothetical trip to "the homosexual bathhouses," saying, "[W]e're going to confront these people ... for what they're doing."

[NathanATX]

Originally Posted by schoolboi

AFA's Wildmon proposed a hypothetical tour of gay bathhouses, repeated misinformation on average gay incomes

Summary: In response to gay rights organization Soulforce's Equality Ride -- a bus tour aimed at confronting religious schools and military academies that ban the enrollment of GBLT students -- the American Family Association's Don Wildmon proposed his own hypothetical trip to "the homosexual bathhouses," saying, "[W]e're going to confront these people ... for what they're doing."

As ridiculous as the article is, I actually find it very exciting. These guys are flustering. They're making fools of themselves. They are going to appeal less and less to intelligent, fair-minded Christians.

[schoolboi]

Legal Expert: Christian Schools Should Not Welcome Militant 'Gay' Activists

[awediot]

If by coincidence I hadn't learned about this group from the inside out just days before the Equality ride pulled out of the station, from what one reads about it, I would agree 100% with the above link. As I mentioned earlier and in other posts, if the Christian/spiritual element driving the bus continues to be ignored, militant gay activists misusing the civil rights struggle is exactly what they look like.

[dewdrop_world]

Originally Posted by schoolboi

AFA's Wildmon proposed a hypothetical tour of gay bathhouses, repeated misinformation on average gay incomes

Summary: In response to gay rights organization Soulforce's Equality Ride -- a bus tour aimed at confronting religious schools and military academies that ban the enrollment of GBLT students -- the American Family Association's Don Wildmon proposed his own hypothetical trip to "the homosexual bathhouses," saying, "[W]e're going to confront these people ... for what they're doing."

I would like someone to go with them and count how many times those guys have to adjust their genitalia as they get aroused by what's going on in the bathhouses. 'Cause we all know that's what would happen!



hjh

[Jamie McDaniel]

Originally Posted by awediot

As I mentioned earlier and in other posts, if the Christian/spiritual element driving the bus continues to be ignored, militant gay activists misusing the civil rights struggle is exactly what they look like.

From my mere six years of working for GLBT rights, I've come to see that any time we are assertive, any time we directly challenge the status quo, there will be this cry of "militant gay activists." I'm feeling that the degree to which the fundamentalists exclaim this is one of the best barometers that we're doing something right.

Perhaps we could do a better job of "marketing" the spirtual aspect of Soulforce. But even if Moses and the prophets came down and told hard-core fundamentalists we were people of God, I doubt whether they would currently believe. In the article that schoolboi posted, notice how they will not acknowledge us in such a way, saying:

Mat Staver, president of the Florida-based group Liberty Counsel, says Christian schools like Liberty University are willing to share the gospel message of Christ with homosexuals who are not acting confrontationally. However, he contends, Christian schools have no obligation to welcome militant homosexuals on campus.

[schoolboi]

Thanks Jamie for your post. You always have great comments. I also feel that the press we are getting (especially attack articles from the terrorist Christian right) show we are pushing the buttons that will bring change.

[Venari]

Originally Posted by Emproph

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0039861.cfm

Emproph,

I think you and I see things in a different light. Namely this section:

Baxter Ennis, director of public relations for Regent, said they hoped to turn the protest into a conversation.

"We were going out of our way to be welcoming," he said. "We had set up three separate events so that they could dialogue with our students, with our faculty and even with our university officials."

But Dr. Randall Pannell, associate vice president for academic affairs, said when the Equality Ride Web site continued to falsely claim that Regent was not open to dialogue and not intending to allow the protesters on campus, the school rescinded its offer.

"This visit would have afforded us a chance to meet them, engage them in some academic settings, listen to their perspectives and share with them our Christian biblical views," he said. "We genuinely regret that this opportunity for discussion and understanding has been lost due to Equality Ride's public misrepresentation of Regent University."

In spite of all that, Richard Lindsay, press liaison for Equality Ride, still maintained his group's intention is to work toward constructive dialogue.

"We will continue to communicate with administrators up to the last minute in attempts to clarify any points of disagreement before resorting to civil disobedience," he said. "Most of the schools on the Ride have agreed to allow us on campus to speak to their students in the spirit of free academic exchange, and we are grateful for this opportunity."

This section seems to be key to how many of the other schools are going to view the Equality Ride. Regent cooperated with the Equality Ride and opened their campus to them to dialogue, yet they continued to be smeared to the media by the Equality Ride. I will give the Equality Ride the benefit of the doubt that it was a simple oversight that they did not change the website or quit making the statement that "Regent was not open to dialogue and not intending to allow the protesters on campus." The point in this is it was an error the Equality Ride made which lead Regent to believe they were not tryly looking for a dialogue but media attention.

So my question arises is why was no apology issued to the school for the mistake and ask them to re-invite them onto campus?

Also I am confused by a statement that Richard Lindsay the press liaison for Equality Ride said; "Most of the schools on the Ride have agreed to allow us on campus to speak to their students in the spirit of free academic exchange, and we are grateful for this opportunity." Last time I looked only 8 of the 19 invited the Equality Ride onto their campus, so that actually means the MOST of the schools are not going to welcome the Equality Ride onto their campus, but yet the "press liaison" is saying the opposite ... I am not sure if I can account this statement into a simple mistake or oversight.

Others may not be as willing to over look the statement on the website as a "simple oversight" which gives credence to the idea that the Equality Ride is less about academic dialogue but more about getting media attention.

Just my two pence,
Venari

[Emproph]

Originally Posted by Venari

I think you and I see things in a different light...

Now that I’ve read your post, the article again and thought about it some more, I see your point and I shouldn’t have missed it. So if by ‘different light’ you mean ignorant, hypocritical and supremely jaded, yes.

Originally Posted by Venari

This section seems to be key to how many of the other schools are going to view the Equality Ride. Regent cooperated with the Equality Ride and opened their campus to them to dialogue, yet they continued to be smeared to the media by the Equality Ride. I will give the Equality Ride the benefit of the doubt that it was a simple oversight that they did not change the website or quit making the statement that "Regent was not open to dialogue and not intending to allow the protesters on campus." The point in this is it was an error the Equality Ride made which lead Regent to believe they were not truly looking for a dialogue but media attention...
-So my question arises is why was no apology issued to the school for the mistake and ask them to re-invite them onto campus?

Thanks for pointing that out. If that’s the case it’s a perfectly acceptable complaint and response on Regent’s part, especially since they made the effort to be welcoming. I would have felt the same way.

Maybe Soulforce needs a conservative Christian on staff. Come to think of it, I could use one too every time I’m watching religious shows on TV or surfing the net for “how to combat anti-gay bigotry.” I’ve grown so distrustful I’m falling into the same trap of judgement without merit that I accuse “them” of.

“See things in a different light” That’s too funny (polite). Had it been me responding, the post probably would have started out something like: Emproph you ignorant bastard, how dare you assu.....

So I appreciate it Venari. The clarification and the respectful way you delivered it. Thanks.

[schoolboi]

Uninvited guests
How hospitable should Christian campuses be to visitors who oppose their beliefs?

Look friends I'm in the pic in the article! This was taken last year at the Liberty action.

[Jamie McDaniel]

Equality Riders Arrested At Oral Roberts University

[NathanATX]

More ORU news...
http://www.kotv.com/main/home/storie...ge=1&id=100880

http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/topic....ID=3320&#39466

[schoolboi]

Opening the Door in the Name of Tolerance

This article is not specifically about the equality ride, but I think it is a response to the ride. Interesting.