By Emily Alpert
In Cleveland, Tenn., actor Matthew Myers came out to a professor, and was expelled from Lee University.
'I had only one full semester and one partial summer session until graduation,' writes Myers. The dean informed him that he could return only if he completed a 'healing' program, and got a letter from his pastor 'confirming that I was actually healed of this abomination.'
Myers' story is not unique. Around 200 colleges nationwide have policies similar to Lee, which expels openly gay or lesbian students. Others, including Wheaton College in Illinois, expel any student, regardless of sexual orientation, who expresses acceptance of LGBTQ people.
To challenge such policies, 35 young activists are traveling the country by bus, spurring dialogue on campuses where 'gay' is a four-letter word. The seven-week tour, called the Soulforce Equality Ride, is the brainchild of Jacob Reitan, a recent graduate of Northwestern University. Reitan is a devout Christian and a member of Soulforce Inc., an interfaith nonprofit devoted to LGBTQ inclusion in religious communities. His idea was born at a Chicago gay bar, where Reitan met a student from Wheaton, a conservative Christian school.
'He said to me, 'No one really knows that I'm a gay student at Wheaton—if I told anybody, I could get kicked out,'' said Reitan. 'So I said to him, 'That's horrible. We should do something about that.' And his response—which really took me aback—was, 'Actually, I think it's a good policy. I think it's a sin to be gay.''
'The LGBT movement had failed him,' Reitan concluded. 'He's a young man with fundamentalist parents, going to a fundamentalist college, told all his life that homosexuality is a sickness. Yet invariably, he finds himself at a gay bar, wanting to be loved and affirmed. But when that affirmation comes, he can't accept it—because we, the LGBT movement, hadn't taken the time out to put ourselves in his home, in his school, and to put out that message.'
Collaborating with Soulforce founder Reverend Dr. Mel White, Reitan began to plan the bus tour, inspired by the Freedom Rides of the 1950s and '60s. White, a former ghostwriter for conservative Christian leaders such as Billy Graham and Pat Robertson, endured almost 30 years of so-called anti-gay therapy before being able to reconcile his sexuality and his faith. He is the author of Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America.
Reitan and White solicited applications for a diverse group of riders, including Buddhists, Catholics, Christians, Jews, agnostics and atheists. Two are former students from Christian universities, from which they were expelled for being gay. One is a straight ally. Their hometowns range from small Southern towns to large cities like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
The riders themselves are a key part of Soulforce's peer-to-peer approach. 'We humanize the issue [ of LGBTQ rights ] and get these schools to really wrestle with it,' said Reitan, who added that the tour would help affirm LGBTQ students at religious colleges. 'We're not an abstract concept, and we're not some group of people that just exist in San Francisco, or in Boystown, Chicago.'
The tour embarked March 9 from the national headquarters of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities ( CCCU ) in Washington, D.C. Of the 19 schools on Soulforce's itinerary, 15 are members of the CCCU.
Soulforce Media Director Robyn Murphy calls the CCCU 'an unlikely ally.' The group 'definitely forwards their particular understanding of the gospel,' she said, 'but they have been wonderful.'
Murphy added that CCCU President Bob Andringa has been instrumental in facilitating communication between the activists and the schools, and in coordinating Soulforce presentations and discussions on each campus. The group's topics include the history of religious violence; the Bible and homosexuality; gay rights worldwide; and a presentation called 'Letters to Mel,' in which Soulforce members read mail received by White, including letters from supporters, detractors and LGBTQ youth.
The Equality Ride has sparked a wide range of responses, from hospitality to outright hostility. At Liberty University in Lynchburg. Va., where the tour made its first stop, the activists were prohibited from the campus. Liberty's chancellor, Reverend Jerry Falwell, called the visit a 'media circus that might present immorality in a positive light.'
When 15 Soulforce members walked onto the campus to speak, they were arrested along with 10 of their supporters.
Unlike Liberty, however, many campuses have been receptive to the Equality Ride. Reitan said that Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, is sponsoring a discussion about the significance of Brokeback Mountain, and Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles has scheduled meetings with every dean of students and every academic dean.
Rider Alexey Bulokhov, liaison to Wheaton College, said, 'Wheaton has been very cordial and open to dialogue. They've even welcomed us for two days onto campus—most schools, it's only for a day, or less.' Wheaton is hosting planning three different campus-wide presentations when Soulforce visits in April, and has invited the group Soulforce to attend chapel.
In addition, Soulforce has received numerous letters of encouragement from closeted college students at schools on the Equality Ride route. 'I am so grateful you are coming to Wheaton College!' writes a closeted lesbian student. 'I don't think most [ people here ] … have any idea how unsafe and unwelcome GLBT people feel here.'
'People have actually surprised me with their understanding and their support,' said Bulokhov. 'If you give people an opportunity to think about it and confront it themselves, there's an opportunity for change and progress and evolution.'
Reitan said the ride is the first in a series of youth-based LGBTQ efforts. 'Soulforce has a lot planned down the pipe'—especially for young people, he said.
'We don't think we're going to work miracles—even though Jesus certainly worked some,' said Reitan, 'but we're going to make [ these colleges ] think about the moral underpinnings of their choices.'
Soulforce Equality Ride comes to Chicagoland April 19-22. See the Web site www.equalityride.com
Local Notes
Human rights: Mputa Mbundzu, a Congolese man who has been granted asylum in the U.S., will speak about human-rights abuses on April 27 at Mercury Cafe, 1505 W. Chicago. The suggested donation is $10. RSVP at congoevent@sbcglobal.net .
Keeping vigil: 'Vigil in Chicago: Zero Tolerance Now,' for victims of sexual abuse by priests, will take place on Good Friday, April 14, 3:00-4:30 p.m., in front of Holy Name Cathedral, 735 N. State. E-mail fie7jm@aol.com or sheilaboyle@mac.com .
