Gay-Straight Alliance at Seattle Pacific

I don't know how long this has been around, but thanks to Beth Van Dam's Facebook groups, I am pleased to show love for the GSA at Seattle Pacific. Change continues to ripple through the schools and communities. I am so proud of the students and administration of SPU and excited to follow the group.

If you are on Facebook, the group can be found here.

Progress at Pepperdine

I had the opportunity to catchup with outgoing Malibu GLEE president Jamaal Crowley yesterday. He informed me that progress towards making Malibu GLEE into Pepperdine GLEE, complete with school recognition, is going slowly at best. Pepperdine administrators have vowed to keep the conversation going but are uncertain whether GLEE can be recognized. I believe that as this conversation continues, the school will begin to understand that they cannot truly love and support their GLBT students without giving them voice and venue. With official sanction for their group withheld, GLBT Pepeprdine students continue to be second-class students... and even worse, GLBT Christians continue to be second-rate believers.

I was however excited to learn that Jamaal received dozens of emails from queer students--many of them closeted--after our visit. They had seen Jamaal speaking at one of our on-campus events and were so encouraged by his presence and his outreach. This is another way in which Equality Ride has fulfilled its goal of giving GLBT students at schools a voice. The closeted GLBT students who contacted Jamaal now have a person to turn to, a ear who will listen, and a heart who will love and support. It also reinforced the gravity of our present situation. I count myself blessed to have interacted with so many beautiful, faithful, gifted, and passionate individuals at the schools we visited.

At every school I met GLBT students, straight allies, and students willing to honestly consider the issues we presented. But what I often lost sight of were the closeted students, observing from a distance. In a very vague way, I knew they were there. I remember being in the closet myself. I knew that a big part of my personal reason for joining the ride was to witness to them. But they were always that--vague. When Jamaal told me of the outpouring of response he had received it made it all very real. There are closeted GLBT students at these schools and their lives are being changed by our mere presence. I hope that they continue to follow Soulforce and Equality Ride even after we've left. I hope they continue to seek out positive and affirming Christian voices. I hope they continue to draw strength from the LORD who created them--fearfully and wonderfully.

And if they ever decide to step out of the closet, I hope they know they can always talk to us.

Equality Ride Update

A press release went out this morning recapping what has happened at the 24 schools that the west bus and east bus visited during March and April. Here are some excerpts:

Negotiations with prospective schools began last October. Some schools welcomed the Riders' diverse perspectives, some set narrow limitations on the Riders' campus access, and others went so far as to ban them from campus.

In the end, the Riders suffered more than 100 trespassing arrests in order to bring a message of hope and justice to every school on both routes.

But while arrests provide one indicator of the Riders' commitment, the Ride's lasting impact at the schools can be measured in other ways:

• Six of the schools on this year's route have new gay-straight alliances.
• An unofficial LGBT support group at Pepperdine University has been granted a new hearing on achieving official group status.
• At Baylor University, students have started a petition asking the institution to review its policy on "homosexual behavior."
• At University of Notre Dame, the gay and lesbian alumni network has called for a boycott on giving to their alma mater.
• Seattle and New York City proclaimed April 11 and April 14, respectively, as the official Soulforce Equality Ride 2007 Day.
• Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, changed its policy during the course of the Equality Ride. The revised policy clarifies that the university will respond to "homosexual behavior rather than to feelings or orientation." The previous policy had proscribed "homosexual behavior, whether implicit or explicit."

Impacts on individual hearts and minds will continue to develop long after the Equality Riders have returned home. Student newspapers continue to cover students who have come out in the wake of the Equality Ride. And, in cities across America, hundreds of people have now engaged in conversations about sexuality and faith because their churches, student groups, and equality organizations joined Riders for meals, community service, and public presentations.

At the Riders' "Welcome Home" service in Mankato, Minnesota, the mother of a straight student from Bethany Lutheran College approached Herrin. "As she cried, she told me that she was so disappointed in how they responded by arresting 10 Equality Riders. Her son came home from school that day to tell her he was transferring because he was so disgusted."

"As long as these schools, like Bethany Lutheran, continue to discriminate, they will have to face the consequences. Financially, spiritually and socially, they cannot turn away from the suffering they create," affirmed Herrin.

Thinking for the first time

I sit in my own apartment, in Los Angeles, California. I am no longer in a crowded room of people. I no longer call a bus my home. Tonight I will sleep completely alone, tomorrow I will not have any responsibilities.

I remember the day I first read the Equality Ride website: I sat in my parent's house, on my childhood bed and thought "I could do this." I wasn't sure if I would or if I should... but I did. And it has made all the difference. I look back at that person and it is just a dull reflection of who I am today. 53 amazing individuals have shaped and reformed me into something more brilluant than I could have ever planned. I look back at the past two months, remembering all that has happened, and I know that I have not even begun to fully process the experience.

I remember being barred from University of Notre Dame property for life
I remember being told "Get thee behind me Satan" by a pastor
I remember suicides ignored
I remember students silenced
I remember long days
I remember fruitful conversations
I remember presentations and class visits
I remember hot meals
I remember cold faces
I remember standing ovations
I remember accusations of "disordered"
I remember "abuse" "pedophile" "drug addict" "alcoholism" "addictions" "promiscuity" "depression"
I remember many "thank-yous"
I remember too many goodbyes
I remember "The opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality, the opposite of homosexuality is holiness"
I remember late night, early mornings, and the desire to do it all over again
I remember fences
I remember "Keep out" signs
I remember the wind and the rain and the cold
I remember God

I remember living.