From
Soulforce’s Equality Ride: Final Reflections from Kayla

Lesson Two: I basically already knew this lesson but it was doubly affirmed through my experience on this ride. No one’s heart or mind is swayed by arguments or debate, but by the humanity and commonality they discover in those they consider their opponents.

Read more at her blog.

From Soulforce’s website.

Rodney Powell is a gay, African American, who has lived in Hawaii since 1976 with his partner of 30 years. While a … all » medical student at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee during the years 1957-61, as a student protest leader in the African American Civil Rights Movement, Rodney had the privilege and honor to learn and apply the philosophy and strategies of love and nonviolence under the guidance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other dedicated ministers of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In this interview, Rodney shares his thoughts on the Soulforce Equality Ride.

Though, Overflow Mag has experienced a recent revival of attention through it’s coverage of Soulforce’s visit to Wheaton, this site is not just about the Equality Ride.
The mission of Overflow is:

“We are alternative voices seeking to share the overflow of our hearts with the Christian College Community.”

Overflow originally started by students at Wheaton College seeking to make known some Christian views and opinions that where not being given enough thought and attention at their school. We are now seeking to expand the efforts to include all college’s that fall into the category of “Christian.”
Overflow, as a publication, is not seeking to take sides on any of the issues presented. It might occassionally appear as such, in that only one side of an issue is usually the “alternative.” We are interested in posting any view that is not being loudly proclaimed, or assumed by the “Christian community” (and generally speaking we are talking about within the USA).

If you are interested in writing for Overflow, please send your article or proposal to Ariah Fine

From the Soulforce Website:

Eastern University has embraced academic freedom and the importance of the discussion of GLBT issues with commendable enthusiasm. Eastern administrators have worked with Soulforce Equality Ride members to come up with a day of mutually agreed upon activities that are sure to be productive and thought-provoking. Members of the Equality Ride will be housed by Eastern staff and students during their time in St. David’s. The Eastern University campus and the Soulforce Equality Riders will have an excellent learning experience during our visit.

From the Soulforce Website:
******************************************
SOULFORCE PRESS RELEASE: April 21, 2006
For Immediate Release
Contact: Richard Lindsay, 646-258-7193
richard@equalityride.com
******************************************

(WHEATON, IL) - Equality Riders wrapped up two days of dialogue with the students, administration and faculty of Wheaton College today. Riders were welcomed to the campus, where they spoke in classes, presented and shared meals with students.

Wheaton was, in many ways, the inspiration for the ride. While he was an undergraduate at Northwestern University, Equality Ride co-director Jacob Reitan met a closeted gay Wheaton student in Chicago. When the discussion turned to the evangelical school’s policy on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, the student told Reitan if he came out, he could be expelled from the school.

“I told him I thought it was a horrible policy, and it should be changed,” Reitan said. “But then he looked at me and said, ‘Actually, I think it’s a good policy. I think it’s a sin to be gay.’”

Reitan was taken aback, and promised to bring a group of LGBT-affirming Christians to Wheaton to present a different message.

“Coming to Wheaton is the fulfillment of a dream,” Reitan said. “We’re here to keep a promise I made three years ago, that I would bring a group of LGBT people to Wheaton who affirm their sexuality and know God loves them as they are.”

Reitan continued, “We are very thankful to Wheaton College, President Duane Litfin and Provost Stan Jones for welcoming us to campus. They worked with us admirably to plan this visit and the presentations and discussions went smoothly and fairly.”

A highlight of the two days of dialogue was a panel discussion in the school’s gymnasium, which drew around 1500 students, faculty and community members. The college, whose most famous alum is Billy Graham, has a strong academic reputation and the discussion was spirited and wide-ranging. Soul Force panelists Jacob Reitan, Richard Lindsay, and Jay Johnson discussed subjects with the Wheaton panel ranging from biblical exegesis, theology, psychology, sociology, law, politics and Christian ethics.

A central part of the forum was the issue of academic freedom. The school’s administration explained to the Equality Riders that Wheaton’s community covenant, which restricts homosexual behavior, is a statement of faith that applies to all students, straight or gay. Wheaton administrators stated that any students standing in support of the goals of the Equality Ride would be risking disciplinary action.

“It is unacceptable for an institution of higher education with a reputation like Wheaton’s to suggest that a student could not, after study, thought and prayer, come to the conclusion that homosexuality is not a sin without risking expulsion,” Reitan said.

In addition to his academic training in philosophical theology and position at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA, Jay Johnson provided the personal experience of being a Wheaton alum and son of a Wheaton faculty member.

Johnson’s motivation for sitting on the panel with Soulforce was more than academic. Johnson said, “I was thinking about what it was like for me to be a scared, closeted student at this school and how much it would have meant to me to hear someone say I could be gay, I could be Christian, and I could have a wonderful life.”

After the presentations and formal dialogues were over, Wheaton students gathered with Equality Riders and other community members at a local restaurant for dinner and informal discussion. As their time together drew to a close, Equality Riders went through the now-familiar ritual of breaking off the intense conversations that had started over dinner, exchanging hugs and e-mail addresses with students and heading for the bus. Before the bus headed back to the hotel, some Wheaton students took a brief tour of the bus and even donated jars of food for the Equality Ride hamster, Ryder.

“We’ve made so many new friends at every stop,” said Equality Rider David Coleman. “It’s like we’ve planted seeds everywhere we’ve been and we’ll just have to wait to see which ones bear fruit.”

For more information on the Equality Ride stop at Wheaton college, see: www.equalityride.com/wheaton.

The Soulforce Equality Ride is a journey to change the heart and mind of America on the issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. Following in the footsteps of the Freedom Rides of the 1960’s, the Equality Ride uses principles of non-violence to confront military and religious colleges and universities with policies banning enrollment of LGBT students. The Equality Riders reflect on the lessons of history, which have shown past religion-based discrimination against women, people of color, and religious minorities to be an unacceptable abuse of the sanctity of religion. At each of the 19 schools on the 51-day bus tour, the young adult ambassadors of the Equality Ride bring this simple message to students, faculty and administrators: Learn from history; end religion-based discrimination.

Kayla Boswell writes about her time at Wheaton:

I was visibly flustered and to the point of giving up completely after conversing with Wheaton’s president over lunch. His life experience as a pastor counseling gay people has only brought him in contact with drug using, promiscuous, disease ridden, broken individuals. Understandably, this is his idea of what all gay people are like. He did not seem to understand that this reality is a sad product of the environment which their policy creates. When I told him that as an individual in the Christian Gay Community, all we ask is for the privileges that straights receive concerning relationships: straights’ relationships are valued, acknowledged, celebrated, and the Christian community holds its members accountable to the commitments they have made before God and the community. Gay relationships are ignored, thought of as “not real relationships,” our partners are often labeled as our “friend” or “roommate,” and we do not receive the accountability to stay committed, monogamous, and faithful as do our straight counterparts by our Christian communities of faith. I believe this is the main cause for promiscuity and premarital intimacy before marriage or union within the gay community; if no one else is watching or caring about our relationships, it’s that much harder for us to do so as well.

To read more about her experience at Wheaton and other college’s visit her blog.

Overflowmag.com has a hotline number (775-370-6924).
This weekend we are looking for Students, alum, staff, and others who have attend the Soulforce events at Wheaton College to call in and leave a one minute message about your thoughts, opinions and just general impression of how things went.

I’ll be posting an audio compilation of the feedback we get here on the site.

So, PLEASE call in and leave your thoughts:
(775-370-6924)
*remember there is a one minute time limit.

Recently a great many alumni received an email from President Litfin. I’ve noticed a number of responses from people on their blogs, and thought it would be good to consolidate those here and provide a central place for students, faculty and Litfin himself to read the responses.

I write to ask you for your prayers.

On Thursday and Friday of this week we will be visited by a group of homosexual activists traveling on a bus tour across the United States to various Christian college campuses. Their agenda is to draw negative media attention to institutions who maintain an historic biblical stand on the issue of homosexuality. This, of course, Wheaton does. (See Wheaton’s Community Covenant ) Hence our place on their list of targeted institutions.

We did not invite these visitors to our campus. But since they are intent on coming anyway, we decided to make a virtue out of a necessity by turning their coming into a teaching opportunity for our students. Given the ongoing changes in our culture, today’s students are potentially facing a lifetime of confrontations over the issue of homosexuality. What should be their Christian response? We have endeavored to prepare our students to respond to these visitors with the biblical balance captured in the injunction to “speak the truth in love.”

Wheaton’s provost, Dr. Stan Jones, a psychologist who has done extensive work in the area of human sexuality, has prepared a biblical rebuttal to the false teaching of this group. (See “CACE Resources on Homosexuality ”) These and other written materials, along with various scheduled meetings and chapels, have been devoted to helping our students understand the many issues and shape a balanced Christian response. This process has been highly educational for all involved.

After this event is over, we will let you know how it went. In the meantime, please pray for us, asking that God will be glorified, His truth will be upheld with grace and humility, and our Christian witness to a watching world will be an effective one.

Thank you.

Duane Litfin
President
Wheaton College

Please post your response in the comment section below.

This week we bring you another series of post from an alumni of Wheaton College.

Todd Zimmerman writes:

I’m 42 years old, class of 1985 and have only come out (to myself) and others over the past 2-1/2 years. I posted this because I see other people struggling with the reconciliation of their faith and sexuality. I’ve attached a rather verbose letter that I sent to my previous church when I withdrew my membership.

Over the next few days you’ll have the chance to read Todd’s letter to his previous church.

Dear Wheaton College students, staff and faculty:

This memo will give you an overview of events and
issues for the April 20-21, 2006 visit of the
Soulforce Equality Ride to Wheaton College; I hope you
will find this information helpful. I will begin with
a quick summary of the Soulforce schedule, then move
to general information about the visit, and then give
you more information on the scheduling of campus
“events” involving the Soulforce Equality Riders.

The schedule at a glance:
* Thursday afternoon (4/20), 3:30-5:00 PM, Coray
Gym, Equality Rider presentation “Letters to Mel.”
Campus community only.

* Thursday night (4/20), 7:00-9:00 PM, King Arena
(SRC), Equality Riders and Wheaton College Panel
Discussion. Open to public.

* Friday afternoon (4/21), 3:30-5:00 PM, Coray Gym,
Equality Rider presentation “A History of Violence.”
Campus community only.

* Thursday (4/20) and Friday (4/21) afternoons,
1:30-3:30 PM, Beamer Center, Equality Riders
interact informally with interested students.

* Saturday, (4/22), 10:00AM-noon, Barrows
Auditorium, post-event dialogue and debrief.

General Information:

We have been preparing for the Soulforce visit by
carefully watching what has transpired at the other
college campuses that have been visited by the
Equality Ride. We have been encouraged that those
visits have generally been peaceful and not disruptive
of campus life. Soulforce has stated repeatedly that
they will not implement civil disobedience or other
disruptive techniques here on our campus.

Who are our visitors? It has been reported in the
press that about half of the Equality Riders do not
identify themselves as Christians. Some of those
that do identify themselves as Christians do not
articulate their religious faith in ways that
members of our community would recognize as orthodox,
but other Equality Riders do. Students and other
members of our community will have an opportunity to
share and show the love and truth of Jesus Christ with
our visitors (including the Equality Riders, any
media, and other visitors).

We have reports from other colleges of some
meaningful interactions occurring between Equality
Riders and the Christian college students. If you
choose to interact with the Equality Riders, we urge
that you listen to them but that you also not be
afraid to speak. Ask them to share their story, but
do not let the interaction become just one-way. Do
not be afraid of sharing your faith in our Savior, or
why you have confidence in the moral teachings of the
Bible. They will have had similar conversations at
campuses visited earlier in their ride.

Remember also that the Soulforce Equality Riders are
activists. As activists, they want to influence the
College to change its stance on sexual morality. They
would like the College to retreat from its confidence
in the Bible’s explicit teachings on sexual morality.
To accomplish this goal they will ask us-and you-to
suspend moral commitment for the sake of dialogue.
They will also seek to portray Wheaton in the media as
“intolerant” and “oppressive” (two words they often
use) in order to create public pressure for change to
their point of view.

You should not feel compelled to speak to any media
who may be present for this event. We have not given
permission for cameras and recorders to be present on
campus outside of a specific media area (yet to be
determined). If you are approached for a comment on
camera, the media crew is violating our
pre-established agreements with the media. If you do
interact with the media, be aware that what you say
may have an impact far from campus and for some time
to come. Also, the media rarely report in full what
we say, and so comments taken in isolation may appear
out of context in a way that creates misunderstanding
of your meaning. We urge you to use prayerful
discretion if you choose to speak to the media.

On their visits this spring to some other Christian
College campuses, the Equality Riders have broken a
few pre-established agreements about their visit, but
these have not been serious violations. Examples have
included distributing literature when they had been
asked not to do so, or entering buildings or areas of
the campus restricted from their visit. We have asked
the Equality Riders to limit their campus access to
the Beamer Center except when going to pre-arranged
events in other venues.

We hope that the visit by the Equality Riders will be
free of conflictual or unloving interactions. Should
such events occur-whether involving a Wheaton
community member, an Equality Rider or outside
visitor-we urge mature persons present to take action
to calm the situation. Some may seek to provoke
strong reactions with forceful statements. The most
serious act of aggression against the Equality Ride so
far occurred at Lee College, where their bus was
apparently vandalized with spray paint by outside
persons. This act was met with the response of Lee
students cleaning the bus, a gracious act of love.

Remember, the Equality Riders are activists but they
are also fellow human beings made in the image of God
and loved by Him. They, like we, are sinners in need
of God’s mercy and of the message and reality of the
Gospel. May God be glorified and Christ’s Kingdom
advanced by our response to this event.

More information on the “events” we will have on
campus during their visit:

The Equality Riders will be on campus on Thursday
(4/20) from late morning through the evening, and
again on Friday (4/21) from late morning through
about 5PM.

Lunches on both Thursday (4/20) and Friday (4/21)
and dinner on Thursday (4/20) have been pre-arranged
for the Equality Riders and different member of the
College community.

The Equality Riders have been granted permission to
interact informally with interested students in the
Beamer Center between 1:30-3:30 PM on both Thursday
(4/20) and Friday (4/21).

On Thursday afternoon (4/20), 3:30-5:00 PM in Coray
Gym, the Equality Riders will make a presentation
entitled “Letters to Mel [White].” This presentation
has been described as “A reading of letters to Rev.
Dr. Mel White, some from GLBT persons of faith and
some from people who oppose Soulforce views.” The
presentation will last about 45 minutes, followed by a
10 minute response by a Wheaton College faculty
member, and the remainder of the time dedicated to
Q&A. Only Equality Riders and members of the Wheaton
College community will be admitted to this event by
showing proper identification.

On Thursday night (4/20), 7:00-9:00 PM in King Arena
(SRC), the Equality Riders will join Wheaton College
representatives to present a Panel Discussion.
Representatives of Soulforce and of Wheaton College
will make comments for 30 minutes each, and the
remainder of the time will be dedicated to Q&A with
the audience. This event will be open to the public.

On Friday afternoon (4/21), 3:30-5:00 PM in Coray
Gym, the Equality Riders will make a presentation
entitled “A History of Violence.” This presentation
has been described as “Surveys the development of
homophobia and the resultant oppression and violence
against GLBT people.” The presentation will last
about 45 minutes, followed by a 10 minute response by
a Wheaton College faculty member, and the remainder of
the time dedicated to Q&A. Only Equality Riders and
members of the Wheaton College community will be
admitted to this event by showing proper
identification.

After the Equality Riders depart, we will host a
post-event dialogue and debrief for all interested
members of our community. This will take place
Saturday (4/22), from 10:00AM-noon in Barrows
Auditorium. This will be a time to reflect on what
has transpired, discuss lessons learned, critique our
response, and discuss anything the audience wishes
about the Soulforce visit.