GenQ - For the not so straight individual

Driving down Route 7 in Virginia yesterday was purplish on one side and orange sunset on the other. In huge letters it said "Social Justice for Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People." On the highway, fellow drivers either honked and waved or threw Coke cans. In Sioux City, Iowa, someone spray-painted the bus with "Fag, God doesn't love you."

Angel Collie, who always sits halfway back in the bus, keeps the route taped above his window, right over the plastic Jesus and souvenir napkin from Whataburger. (Angel prefers to be referred to as "he," although his mother sometimes forgets and reverts to "she," but "I'm patient," Angel says.) The 25 "equality riders" from a group called Soulforce have roughly followed certain routes of the Freedom Riders who battled Southern segregation in the 1960s.

Instead of bus stations and restaurants, they stop at conservative evangelical colleges they say discriminate against homosexuals. Last week it was Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C. Yesterday it was Patrick Henry College, a seven-year-old evangelical institution in Purcellville, Va., with grand political ambitions. It was founded by Michael Farris, a leader in the home-schooling movement.

A Patrick Henry press release announcing the visit called them a "traveling group of homosexual activists" and "false teachers." Many of the riders come from evangelical families and attended colleges like the ones they visit. At some point they decided that, despite what their church told them, they could be Christian and gay.

At the colleges they try to get this message across to the students. Sometimes they are allowed on campus and sometimes not. When they do meet up with students the conversations proceed awkwardly. One question: Were you abused as a child? Another: How exactly does gay attraction work? Angel answers a lot of questions about which bathroom he uses and what physical "parts" he has.

"Listen up, folks," said Robin Reynolds, who organized the Patrick Henry stop and had gathered everyone for a briefing. This was the night before, and the riders were crowded into a room at the Super 8 Motel. One boy was knitting and two girls were hugging. The boys ranged from a cute, clean-cut paralegal at the Federal Trade Commission to a couple of college students with faux hawks. Gender was referred to as "perceived gender." One girl snacked on an avocado.

"All Patrick Henry faculty and students must adhere to a worldview that says the Earth was created in six days," Reynolds began. "The Bush administration loves them so much. As a tiny school they've had as many White House interns as Georgetown. Janet Ashcroft [wife of former Attorney General John Ashcroft] is on the board. That tells you so much right there."

Next, the riders sat around and read Patrick Henry's student handbook: "The practice of homosexual conduct or other extramarital relations is inconsistent with our faith position," it says. It also condemns legal structures that condone "inappropriate sexual activity or lust, heterosexual or homosexual."

Some Christian colleges list homosexuality along with rape and harassment, so the riders see this handbook as an improvement, but it's not enough for Reynolds. "What's scary is that these people are going straight to Capitol Hill and the White House without ever talking to people of different views," she said.

As Joey Heath of Soulforce says in his blog "We are hopeful for the future. The past few weeks have been mixed with good and bad experience, but every experience has been worth it, because everywhere we have gone we have seen people that have changed and been empowered by our presence. As long as we have truth and love on our side, nothing we do will be in vain, because truth and love always win in the end."

Amen to that!

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Visit Soulforce to read about their adventures.