Soulforce Q on the Bus for Equality

By Miranda Elliot, 19, Contributor

Originally Published: Sep 28, 2007

Revised: Jun 19, 2008

Imagine riding on a bus from one Christian college or university to another. At each school, you speak to people about how harmful homophobia or the fear and disapproval of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people is. Imagine learning about other people’s lives while they learn about yours, even if you don’t believe the same thing when it comes to LGBT issues. Imagine standing up for what you believe in, every day. Riders do just that while on the Soulforce Equality Ride.

Photo by Adam Britt

Jarrett Lucas, 21

Soulforce’s mission is to promote freedom from religious and political oppression for LGBT people. Soulforce Q, the youth division of Soulforce, takes this mission on the road through the Soulforce Equality Ride. The 50 young people on the East and West Buses visit schools with policies that exclude openly LGBT young people from enrolling. They work to encourage dialogue and understanding between LGBT people and students, faculty and administration at Christian colleges and universities.

A Normal Day on the Bus

“If we’re allowed on campus, which we work for months and months to achieve, it’s similar to a conference essentially,” explains Haven Herrin, 25, West Bus codirector. “We make classroom visits, sit on panels, visit chapel services, screen films, hand out literature. If we’re not allowed on campus, we find creative ways to assert our presence off-campus, like at vigils and gatherings....This often leads to arrest.” Soulforce promotes political and social change by using civil disobedience—the refusal to obey certain laws or demands without using violence.

Jarret at a Philadelphia sit-in

Beyond being arrested for their nonviolent protests, the riders have had to deal with their bus being defaced with obscenities like “God doesn’t love gays” and pictures of female and male genitalia. Jarrett Lucas, 21, director of outreach for Soulforce Q and codirector of the East Bus, says that the Soulforce Q members who have never experienced discrimination get to see what they are fighting firsthand.

The Results

I started wondering what all their hard work gets Soulforce. It gets them a lot! Six of the schools they visited now have Gay-Straight Alliances—college or high school clubs of gay and straight young people who work to end homophobia and provide a safe place for students to talk about sexual orientation.

Students at Baylor University have started a petition asking their school to review Baylor’s policy on “homosexual behavior.” Seattle and New York City proclaimed official Soulforce Equality Ride Days on April 11^th and April 14^threspectively.

Soulforce Q director and East Bus codirector Katie Higgins, 25, says some of the most important changes on the Equality Ride happen with individuals.

“Rather than looking to a lot of the people who are policymakers and elected officials, Soulforce really works person to person,” Katie says. “Soulforce goes into the community and brings a human face [to what it is to be LGBT] rather than having an abstract idea of what gay people are. We go into the community and say, ‘I am a gay person. This is how we talk. This is who we are.’”

Young People Confront Their Religious Pasts

I grew up going to church every weekend. I’d pray about whether being gay was wrong. But as I grew up, I met plenty of gay people who were living happy lives. By the time I came out at 14, I had pretty much left behind that religious lifestyle. So the idea of going back to conservative Christian communities is scary to me.

This is a fear for many of the riders, says Jarrett. He grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness in a very conservative, fundamentalist home.

“I thought that being gay was sinful, wrong before God. It took a lot of courage, a lot of reflection, a lot of conversation before I was able to be out about my sexuality,” explains Jarrett.

By the time he joined Soulforce, Jarrett had already come to terms with being a gay Christian. But the Soulforce ride helped him strengthen his faith. How, you ask? Soulforce Equality Riders spend a lot of time attending church services and have plenty of opportunities to deepen their own faith and come to terms with what being gay and Christian means to them.

The Soulforce Equality Ride really encourages understanding between LGBT youth and the Christians they meet. At the same time, riders who didn’t grow up with religion as a significant part of their lives get to better understand where some religious people are coming from. So everybody gains something.

For more information about the Soulforce Equality Ride and how to get involved, check out their Web site at Soulforce.org/equalityride.