Posted on 03/11/2006 2:58:06 PM PST by Tim Long
51-day Equality Ride targeting Christian colleges, military schools over no-'gay' admission policies
On the first stop of a 51-day "gay-rights" bus tour aimed at bringing media attention to the non-admission policies for gays at 20 Christian colleges and military schools, 24 members of the Soulforce Equality Ride found themselves sitting in the Lynchburg, Virginia, jail, arrested for trespassing at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University and facing possible $2,500 fines and a year in jail.
The group of 35 gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and straight 18- to 28-year-olds had been warned ahead of their arrival they would not be welcome on campus.
"It is now our firm belief that Soulforce is not acting in good faith and is simply trying to use such encounters on Christian college campuses as a media attraction and for their ultimate purpose of fundraising," Chancellor Falwell said in a written statement.
Liberty had been targeted by an earlier version of the Equality Ride last year and has a long history of dealings with Soulforce, the homosexual group started by Mel White, a writer who once worked for Falwell.
Equality Ride is modeled after the "freedom rides" of the 1960's civil rights movement and the group, many wearing buttons reading "Learn from history," says its cause is the same as ending racial discrimination was a generation ago.
"It just so happens that now the other and the outcast are [gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered] people," Monica Carmean, 20, a self-described Christian, straight ally from Northwestern University told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "We want to come to the school today to say, 'Learn from history,'" Equality Ride's co-director, Jacob Reitan, 23, of Eden Prairie, Minn., told the crowd. "We have a right to be here, because this school teaches that being gay is being sick and sinful. We have a right to question and to show how we are children of God."
Their ranks swelled by local supporters, the 80 homosexual-rights demonstrators were met by a wall of campus police as they walked onto campus in single file, each reading from written statements. When they ignored Liberty campus police warnings to leave private property, 24 were handcuffed and arrested without incident. Two face additional charges of inciting to trespass.
Soulforce members told the Advocate, a homosexual newspaper, they had not intended to be arrested and had simply hoped to talk to Liberty students.
With 19 schools yet to go, Equality Ride may find the cost of putting up bail and paying fines a strain on the project's budget. Equality Ride's founder, Reitan expressed pride over those who confronted Liberty University and were arrested, but says he's hoping for "productive dialogue" at the remaining stops.
"I hope that schools down the road won't make the same choice that Liberty made," Reitan said.
And your point is????
The left is truly amazing in their upside down logic... They claim they want "inclusion," they want "all sides represented," they want "open minds."
EXCEPT when it comes to evangelicals. They want evangelicals to SHUT UP.
"We have a right to be here"...
... not on private property you don't. Unfortunately for these perverts, the right to own property has not been entirely erased by liberal activist judges.
Except they're not "sinning no more."
Hey schmucko - learn from history yourself - read the Constitution and try to grasp the concepts of religious liberty, freedom of association and oh, year...private freaking property!
No it dont, the Biblical abomonation of homosexuality is unequival and Jesus never contramanded it.
Lock them up and throw away the key.
They will love jail when they come out they will need a spring on their rectum to shut it.
Fred Phelps, is that you? : )
When that bus is rockin', I sure as hell ain't gonna come knockin'.
I always got a little pissed, because I'm no sodomite.
I thot I had just read somewhere where Liberty was denied publik funds. If that is the case, then truly they made a BIG BOBO by intruding on totally Private Property. I wish more honest religious entitys whould forgo tax advantages and also clean their act up like Liberty U.
The Gay Agenda is not about equality. It is about the destruction of symbols and organizations that don't embrace them.
The problem with gay marriage isn't that Christians want to deny homosexuals legal recognition of their relationships, but the insistence of homosexuals on access to the institution of marriage, which would provide them the legal standing to challenge the exclusion of homosexual ceremonies from Christian churches. The move to legalize gay marriage is an attempt by homosexuals to force their intrusion into our churches and into our homes. It is not and has never been about legal recognition of spousal privileges, taxes, or inheritance. All of these benefits are available in some form or another, and in the case of taxes, filing as individuals avoids the higher taxes levied on two income, married, heterosexual households.
That's the truth. Give homosexuals "marriage" and within hours they'll be suing Christian churches for access to hold their ceremonies on our private properties. The homosexual activists are extremists who do not represent the long term interests of the gay community and cannot be trusted to take a stand against morally offensive behavior such as those taken by gay organizations such as NAMBLA.
Ultimately, homosexual activists want the power to dictate to religions what they can and cannot believe in. This, in their world, will make the world a more "tolerant" place to live in; a place where everyone agrees with them because to disagree is punishable by law.
dripping sarcasm.... yecch. ;^)
Oh well burn if you must.
These gays should not be included in anything and should not have the right to speak.I refuse to stand up for their "made up"rights!Anyone who defends them is weak and contributing to the downfall of America.
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