AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) — A group that promotes equal rights for gays in religious orgnaizations appears to be targeting Baptist colleges and universities in its third annual tour of faith-based educational institutions.
Nine of the 15 stops scheduled on Soulforce Q’s Equality Ride will be made at Southern Baptist-affiliated schools, including Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
Soulforce Q is the young-adult division of Soulforce, an interfaith organization that “works to end political and religious oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people through relentless nonviolent resistance,” according to a press release.
“As young people and students ourselves, we understand that it’s very difficult to learn in an environment where you don’t feel safe,” ride co-director Jarrett Lucas said. “And students who face harassment or expulsion can’t always speak up for themselves.
Soulforce Q sends requests for meetings with administrators and students to targeted schools several months in advance of the ride, organizers said. A negative response doesn’t mean the institution will be dropped from the tour list. “The colleges’ responses shape the itinerary,” the release noted. “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[-of-homosexuality] viewpoints.”
“A lot of schools will let students know we are coming,” ride co-director Katie Higgins said in a telephone interview. “And we tend to get a flood of e-mail from students, mostly positive.
“We get contacts from students who say they are not safe,” even at institutions with safety policies in place, Higgins said. “The fact of the matter is that every college in this country could benefit from the Equality Ride.”
Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., likely will be among the institutions that refuse to allow Soulforce Q volunteers on campus. About two dozen participants were arrested for trespassing during the 2006 Equality Ride when they tried to walk onto the Liberty campus March 10 that year.
Liberty — founded by the late Jerry Falwell — is the first stop on this year’s ride. After learning that Liberty’s fall break is set for Oct. 2-3, the tour’s original planned stop, organizers changed the date to Oct. 1. Administrators refused to comment on any planned response.
Palm Beach Atlantic University, a Florida Baptist school, will not meet with ride participants. A “visit by Equality Ride would fail to meaningfully further the mission of either organization,” Palm Beach Atlantic president David Clark said in a prepared statement released to faculty, staff and students.
“As we have explained to them, our campus is already a safe place for all students. The university does not tolerate harassment of any individual. We believe we have a welcoming campus for all students,” he added.
Palm Beach Atlantic does not ban students with same-sex orientation from enrolling, but does require students to follow its behavior policies, which prohibit homosexual behavior.
At least one Baptist school will welcome Equality Ride participants. Student-affairs leaders and administrators at Dallas Baptist University will meet them for lunch when the tour stops there Oct. 24. Dialogue sessions are scheduled for the afternoon.
“We had been aware of what the Equality Ride was,” DBU Dean of Student Life Jay Harley said in a telephone interview. “We anticipated receiving an invitation from them.
“After a lot of prayer and discussion among the administration,” he continued, administrators at Dallas Baptist decided to allow the ride organizers to lead a discussion, “but with the understanding that we disagree with where they stand,” he said.
He continued, “It is a part of higher education to have discussions, even about topics about which we disagree.”
Students had input into the decision as well. University administrators “explained why they wanted to pursue a discussion [with Soulforce Q] and asked how we would respond to that,” Student Government Association president Leigha Caron said. “Our students have a strong commitment to good character and morals. We as Christians … can show the selfless love that Christ would have us show.”
Harley emphasized that Dallas Baptist already has safety policies in place. “We regard the safety of all students — for all students to be safe, to not be discriminated against or to experience hatred from other students … that includes those who may be dealing with homosexual issues or students dealing with other issues or students who are not Christians,” he said.
Administrators at some of the targeted Baptist schools have not yet responded to Soulforce Q.
“We have not yet responded to their request. But we intend to decline to extend an invitation to them based on their pattern over the last few years,” Ouachita Baptist University spokesman Trennis Henderson noted.
Equality Riders are expected at the Arkansas school on Nov. 5.
“We expect that they will unilaterally choose to come. But at this point they have released that information without any acknowledgement or response from us. So we anticipate discussion with them and hope they would honor our request in the spirit of dialogue and fellowship.”
At least one Union University graduate is looking forward to the ride’s scheduled stop at her alma mater Nov. 10-11.
“I originally became interested in Soulforce the first time they visited Union in 2006, because as a closeted lesbian on a Christian campus, they made a stand …for people like me … hiding from the reality of campus policies,” noted Rachel Watson, who graduated from the Tennessee Baptist school in May.
The 2006 ride appearance fell during Union’s spring break.
“I have a lot of faith in seeing change and seeing acceptance by schools that have had these policies for so long. I hope to see us learning from each other … and to start loving each other as God intends.”
Other schools on this year’s Equality Ride itinerary include Columbia International University, Columbia, S.C.; Morehouse College and Spelman College in Atlanta; Heritage Christian University, Florence, Ala.; Mississippi College, Clinton, Miss.; Southwestern Assemblies of God University, Waxahachie, Texas; Central Baptist College, Conway, Ark.; and Simmons College of Kentucky, Louisville, Ky.
Louisiana College, a Baptist school in Pineville, La., also was originally included. But Soulforce Q has canceled the visit because the area is still recovering from Hurricane Gustav, according to college spokesperson Amy Robertson.
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