LYNCHBURG, Va. — Styling themselves after the famous Freedom Riders of the civil-rights era, a group of gay-rights activists is targeting Baptist and other Christian colleges with a cross-country bus trip that is part teach-in, part protest. The “Equality Ride,” organized by the religious gay-rights group Soulforce, began March 10. That day, about two dozen participants were arrested for trespassing after they tried to walk onto the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
According to Soulforce, there are about 30 young adults participating in the trip. The group is protesting Christian colleges, a Mormon school, two military academies and the ROTC program at a state school — all of which have policies the group considers anti-gay. The group’s statement said it would attempt to educate students and school administrators by engaging in dialogue at each stop on the seven-week tour, although the tour’s first stops have apparently provided little opportunity for such dialogue.
After the March 10 arrests at Liberty, the group ran into similar opposition March 13–14 at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. On March 14, six protesters reportedly were arrested after attempting to enter the Regent campus. Beforehand the group met at a restaurant across the street with Regent students who oppose the school’s policy.
Other planned stops include Union University in Jackson, Tenn.; Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Okla.; Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn.; California Baptist University in Riverside, Calif.; and Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa. The ride is scheduled to end with an April 26 trip to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. (TAB)
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