Soulforce announces its 2008 Equality Ride route

by: Pam Spaulding

Tue Sep 09, 2008 at 20:00:00 PM EDT

Today Soulforce Q announced the route for Equality Ride 2008, a youth-organized bus tour to faith-based colleges. This fall, 17 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and straight young adults will bring a message of inclusion and safety to 15 schools throughout the South.

"As young people and students ourselves, we understand that it's very difficult to learn in an environment where you don't feel safe," said 22-year-old Jarrett Lucas, Co-director of the Equality Ride. "And students who face harassment or expulsion can't always speak up for themselves. That's where we come in. We can speak up for a community where everyone can learn without fear."

...The bus will visit more seminaries this year, including a planned stop at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. The Equality Ride will visit historically black colleges for the first time this year, with stops planned at Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Simmons College. And this year the Equality Riders will reach out to students and community members by organizing opportunities to come together in community service.

On the opening day of Equality Ride 2007, the 50 young Riders faced grim reminders of why they are on 2 buses, headed for 32 Christian colleges with policies that silence or exclude lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students. Last night the eastbound bus made its first stop in Sioux Center, IA, where Riders were harassed at their hotel.  This morning they awoke to find their bus defaced by graphic anti-gay graffiti.

The Equality Ride traveled to Sioux Center to visit Dordt College, a school that counts "sexual activity with someone of the same gender" as possible grounds for "an employee's discharge or a student's dismissal." The Equality Ride's mission is to open a dialogue about the painful consequences of discrimination and the religion-based prejudice that sustains it.

2008 Equality Ride Route