Soulforce Releases Route for 2008 Equality Ride

[Emproph]

Just to let you all know (if you haven't heard already (I actually read about this on PHB, which shows you how much I check out the Soulforce home page. )):

LGBT Young Adults to Visit Faith-Based Colleges in the South
October 2-November 13, 2008

(Austin, TX) Today Soulforce Q announced the route for Equality Ride 2008, a youth-organized bus tour to faith-based colleges. This fall, 17 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and straight young adults will bring a message of inclusion and safety to 15 schools throughout the South.

"As young people and students ourselves, we understand that it's very difficult to learn in an environment where you don't feel safe," said 22-year-old Jarrett Lucas, Co-director of the Equality Ride. "And students who face harassment or expulsion can't always speak up for themselves. That's where we come in. We can speak up for a community where everyone can learn without fear."

More than 200 U.S. colleges and universities have explicit policies that discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students. Some schools without explicit policies nevertheless foster climates where harassment of LGBT students is prevalent. A 2003 survey of 14 American universities found that more than a third of all LGBT undergraduates had experienced harassment in the past year.

Since 2006, the Equality Ride has visited 50 schools, hosting public forums, participating in panel discussions, and taking part in worship services and Bible studies. The goal is to inspire further conversation and to empower students, faculty, and administrators to make their school welcoming to all students.

The organizers of the Equality Ride use a collaborative approach, writing to college administrators months in advance and inviting them to work together to design programming that examines diverse points of view -- including points of view that affirm gay and transgender students.

The colleges' responses shape the itinerary. The Equality Ride strives to visit a mix of schools that are open to collaboration and schools that are not yet willing to make a place at the table for affirming viewpoints. The 2008 Equality Ride is focused on the South, with stops from Virginia to Oklahoma and from Florida to Kentucky.

Several other things are new on this year's Ride. The bus will visit more seminaries this year, including a planned stop at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. The Equality Ride will visit historically black colleges for the first time this year, with stops planned at Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Simmons College. And this year the Equality Riders will reach out to students and community members by organizing opportunities to come together in community service.

"We know that young people want to be part of the solution that heals divided communities, churches, and schools," said 26-year-old Katie Higgins, Co-director of the Equality Ride. "We're reaching out to these schools, because we can't heal those rifts until everyone has a place at the table."

2008 Equality Ride Route

Oct. 2-3 Liberty University Lynchburg, VA
Oct. 6 Columbia International University Columbia, SC
Oct. 9 Morehouse College Atlanta, GA
Oct. 10 Spelman College Atlanta, GA
Oct. 13-14 Palm Beach Atlantic University West Palm Beach, FL
Oct. 17 Heritage Christian University Florence, AL
Oct. 20 Mississippi College Clinton, MS
Oct. 23 Louisiana College Pineville, LA
Oct. 24 Dallas Baptist University Dallas, TX
Oct. 27 Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Fort Worth, TX
Oct. 29 Southwestern Assemblies of God University Waxahachie, TX
Nov. 5 Ouachita Baptist University Arkadelphia, AR
Nov. 7 Central Baptist College Conway, AR
Nov. 10-11 Union University Jackson, TN
Nov. 13 Simmons College of Kentucky Louisville, KY

Soulforce Q is the young adult division of Soulforce, a social justice organization that works to end political and religious oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people through relentless nonviolent resistance. For more information, go to www.equalityride.org.

Now remember, last year we were accused of defacing our own bus, so this year they're going to have to come up with something even better...

I'd worry about of course, but they're just not that creative.

[MCstudent]

I know I haven't been around on here much since the last Equality Ride visit, but I come back every so often to check things out. This certainly hasn't left my mind.

I've been checking back regularly to find out when the release of the route was going to be. I'm happy, and not in the least bit surprised, that my school has once again made it onto the route for the Ride. Last time things were a little less than pleasant on campus that day, but it made a lot of people start thinking, including myself. I talked with both Greg Johnson and Robin Reynolds for awhile last time, and those conversations I had still stick with me. Mississippi College is a small Southern Baptist university of around 3000-3500 undergrad students. The majority, but not all, of the traditional undergrad students have grown up in conservative christian homes believing what their parents believe, thinking that anything outside their little 'bubble' might be dangerous or threaten their precious 'safe' way of life.

I unfortunately come from a family where, I'm sad to admit, my dad is somewhat bigotted. In '07, when I told him about SF coming, he made a few comments that I would be too embarrassed to repeat. It hurt me hearing those words from my father's mouth. At this point, because he's backing me financially for school, I can't voice my opinions on this, much less let him know I want to be involved with the visit this year.

I'm a Christian, a straight ally, and a student at Mississippi College who is glad to see the Equality Ride stopping once again to raise awareness on my school's campus. My prayers are with Riders as they their make preparations and start their journey.

Here's a link to the thread from 2007's ER stop at MC. I have a link in the post that I made to pictures from their visit...

http://www.soulforce.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2473

[labguy22]

http://www.365gay.com/news/soulforce...stian-schools/

[krten1966]

I'm a 1997 graduate of Columbia Bible College. When I had received Enzi Tanner's email October 4th stating that CIU had decided not to meet with Soulforce and would not allow them on campus, I was disheartened. So, I sent an email to various administration at CIU and received this reply back from a trusted friend:

"As I had been talking with Katie Higgins (Ride co-director) it appeared obvious that their intentions were to come on campus despite our request that they agree to a neutral site meeting versus coming here. She said they would only be sending six to the off-site meeting. In a later e-mail she said that the six people from each group (SoulForce and CIU) does not fully meet the goals of the riders. We didn't restrict the size of the group meeting off campus so that also indicated to us that their intentions were more focused here on campus, which I can fully understand. Based on that we cancelled the off campus meeting.

At the same time we began talking about what we could do to accommodate them here. While not agreeing to all their requests (open access to campus, a chapel venue, etc.), we thought we could do something. We didn't have that determined when I informed Katie we were cancelling the off-campus meeting. So, what we did was mark off an area near the front entrance of campus all up in the trees so that there would be grass to sit on and plenty of shade. We brought a couple porta-pottys, coolers of drinks, and about 20 students came up at noon with boxed lunches that we ate together. I had sent an e-mail to our students telling them that any that wanted to meet with the group should be waiting in the student center Monday morning, about 25 came up when they arrived at 10:00 a.m. I think about 60-70 students interacted with them throughout the day (they were here about 5 hours). Probably 10-15 faculty joined in as well.

So while the initial communication was pretty negative sounding, we did intend to have the interaction. Was it what they wanted? No, but several of the riders expressed deep appreciation to our students. I appreciated the riders' cooperation and peaceful manner. Sometimes coming with an agenda makes it hard to understand all the angles involved, but I know we too could have done better. How, I'm not sure. Our efforts were sincere, there was more dialogue than we first thought we would offer and certainly more than they expected when they arrived.

I'm sure you were disappointed in us, maybe this will lessen some of that disappointment."

Then I read Soulforce's press release "Riders Connect with Columbia International Students, Despite Official Surveillance" http://www.soulforce.org/article/1441 which seems to carry a negative tone.

All I'm saying is that there are two sides to every story, and somewhere in the middle is the truth.

--Kevin

[Daniel]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the message you posted.

What do I glean from it? Not that there are two sides to a story, but that there is a desire on both 'sides' to communicate. And that is a good thing.

My sense is that when real communion takes place, there are no 'sides' any more than there is an 'agenda'. Just people talking about the reality of their lives.

I see that as the real story here.