July 30, 2006

The Equality Ride

by Kayla Bonewell

Kayla Bonewell is a student at Pacific School of Religion who hopes to work in campus ministry. Last spring she participated in the SoulForce LGBT Equality bus ride across the country, visiting universities where gay/lesbian were not allowed.
(you can read about the ride at www.equalityride.com).

"Sunday May 14, 1961, was not a date widely celebrated in the civil rights movement...it was the day on which the orbital thrust of the Freedom Rides, so innocently conceived a few months earlier, took these vulnerable men and women to Alabama, and the great violent confrontation between integrationists and the angry white mobs in the Deep South that everyone had been expecting for so long finally took place....As they drove into the city limits, the town was eerily quiet. No one seemed to be about. The streets were deserted. It reminded Hank Thomas, 19 year old Howard college student, of Western movies he had seen where a showdown was about to take place between the good guys and the bad guys, and where most of the local people were staying home watching from behind closed windows with drawn shades. As the Greyhound pulled into the bus station, Hank Thomas, seated two seats from the front, saw his first signs of life-a mob of people waiting with clubs and iron pipes and baseball bats. There were perhaps 150 people. He did not have time to count...He remembered the driver yelling to the mob outside with a certain heartiness and pleasure: "Well, boys, here they are. I brought you some niggers and nigger-lovers." Then the mob surged at the bus and started beating on it, trying to smash the windows and slashing the tires....it was a strange sight, for these white people were surprisingly well, dressed...wearing jackets and ties, as if they had all just come from church. It struck him that it was both a lynching and a picnic-people in their best clothes, men with their little children perched on their shoulders so they could get a better view, something for the children to remember when they got older. Someone threw a firebomb inside. Almost instantaneously the smoke inside the bus was thick and terrible. Because the upholstery was made of some kind of artificial material, it burned with a dreadful, toxic smell. "Let's roast the niggers!" someone shouted, and others took up the cry. "Roast them!" "Burn them alive!"...one of the gas tanks on the bus exploded, driving the mob back and scattering it...Hank Thomas stumbled off the bus...a white man came up to him and asked, "Are you all okay?"..at which point the man took a baseball bat, which was hidden behind him, and swung at Thomas as hard as he could. Later, a plainclothes official of the Alabama state police who had been planted on the bus stepped forward with gun in hand and had drove the mob back...eventually an ambulance pulled up but the white driver said he would not take the black people in it, so the white Freedom Riders who had already boarded it got off and said they would not go without their black partners. Finally the ambulance was integrated...but the people running the hospital said they would not treat the Freedom Riders, which was keeping with what Governor John Patterson had said over the radio, that no medical help would be given to outside agitators...a mob began to gather outside, it's leaders telling the hospital authorities that they would have to turn over the Freedom Riders, or else they would burn the hospital down." (taken from David Halberstam's The Children)

The problem was that in the South segregation was alive and well. There were separate and highly unequal restrooms and waiting rooms at each bus stop. Instead of waiting around for "time" to magically change everyday norms, or for lawyers or the government to get involved or pass legislation, ordinary young people turned extraordinary by stepping forward with their voice and their body. They said, "I'm gonna do something today about this." They boarded a bus, black and white together, and traveled to the most dangerous southern cities in 1961.

Those separate but unequal facilities however, were not the root of the problem. The root of the problem was religion-based oppression.

Good and decent caring Christians had been taught by their religion that slavery was ordained by God. This was backed by misinterpretations of their Bible, preached from their pulpits, and practiced against human bodies until the true gospel of Christ's Inclusive community converted the masses so that slavery was no longer understood as a loving way to live with one another.

Good and decent caring Christians had been taught by their religion that segregation was ordained by God. This was backed by misinterpretations of their Bible, preached from their pulpits, and practiced against human bodies until the true gospel of Christ's Inclusive community converted the masses so that segregation was no longer understood as a loving way to live with one another.

Good and decent caring Christians had been taught by their religion that oppression of women and people of other faiths was ordained by God. This was backed by misinterpretations their Bible, preached from their pulpits, and practiced against human bodies until now in some places the true gospel of Christ's Inclusive community has converted the masses so that oppression of women and people of other faiths is no longer understood as a loving way to live with one another.

Two years ago a 22 year-old man named Jake Reitan...(story of how Jake got the idea for the Equality Ride while talking to a young man in a Chicago gay bar.)

He knew the gay rights movement does a decent job at grass roots initiatives, lobbying congress, judicial advocacy...but there had to be a place for the everyday young person to join in, to stand up, to take it to the streets.

In March of this year a going away party was thrown for me as I left to join the first ever, Equality Ride tour which took 34 young people between the ages of 17-28 to 19 of the most conservative Christian schools in our nation which release tomorrows world leaders sending them forth with the teaching that GayLesbianBisexualTransgender people are sick, sinful, dangerous, perverted, unwelcome and undeserving in our society. In fact these schools were a few among hundreds which through their rules and guidelines expel, kick out, torture, and destroy LGBT students and their lives. My seminary community had purchased an ipod nano for me to listen to on the 57 day bus trip; it was given to me so that I could listen to music as a form of daily ritual and also so that I could be recharged and reminded that people at home love me very much. On the back of the ipod Matthew 10:16-20, today's gospel lesson, was engraved.

"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

"Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."

We met in Washington D.C. for non-violence training, as we were following in the footsteps of Ghandi and MLK. Phil Lawson, the brother of Jim Lawson who had trained the Freedom Riders of the 60's facilitated our meetings along with Mel White, the founder of SoulForce, the organization which sponsored the ride. We were sent forth from Congressman John Lewis' office on Capital Hill. He was one of the young person's almost beaten to death in the excerpt I read at the beginning of this sermon. Forty plus years later, this elected official told us that his mother always told him to stay out of trouble. But sometimes you have to get in the way, to get into necessary trouble, good trouble. He said he was so glad he got in trouble and he wanted us to do the same.

The mission of our journey was to go to good, decent caring Christian administrators and students at places of higher education, which promise to provide their students with a well-rounded education, and bring to the table a dialogue which is not heard from a single mouth, book, professor, or lecture at these schools; namely that LGBT people are not sick, that our love is not sin, and that God loves us too without reservation. Two-way conversation is all that we asked for; the beginning of a dialogue that we hoped would plant seeds in people's minds which if nothing else would put them in contact with those whom they have labeled "other."

Can you imagine it? 34 bright and shining faces, dressed in nicely pressed slacks and button up shirts, standing vigil outside of private property, singing "we shall overcome" and "this little light of mine." At Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson's schools we were arrested the minute we stepped on campus, students in the distance walking toward us, deeply desiring to have the conversation their administrators had forbidden them from. Daily our publicly printed e-mail addresses were bombarded with letters from university students, graduated alumna, and fans and critics from around the world. Some thanked us for standing up for them, as they cannot stand up for themselves in fear of expulsion or physical danger. Some were skeptical but desired to "hear the other side out." Of course there was more than enough hate mail and physical threats on our lives to make one afraid to leave the hotel, but there was also letter after tear-jerking letter of support and excitement that finally somebody was doing something which might actually work.

Throughout and after the ride people would ask, "How was it?" What they were really asking, I believe, was "Did it work?"

I don't know, but I can say that at Pat Robertson's Regent University, where we were surrounded by 40 plus armed police officers on foot, on horse, in a tank, in helicopter, and with dogs, students called our cell phone #'s we'd written and held up when their own school refused to allow them off campus invited us to bible study, went to dinner and shared meals with us, and in the end got down on their knees with tears in their eyes asking for forgiveness on behalf of all Christians for what had been done to LGBT people.

Did it work? I don't know, but I can say that on more than one occasion Christian students left our presence saying they had come out to meet us to show us Christ, but left having been shown the face of Christ.

Did it work? I don't know, but I can say that at Bethel University a newly formed GSA, Gay-Straight Alliance, will start their first full year as a campus organization this fall.

Did it work? I don't know, but I can say that across this nation Christian student's mouths hung open wide when on our guitars we played "Open the eyes of my Heart Lord," and "Trading my Sorrows," popular Christian praise songs to them which helped them to see that LGBT people can be and also are Christian; that we speak the same language, live the same "lifestyle," sing the same songs, wear the same clothes, and worship the same Lord.

Another question, besides, "How was it?" or "Did it work?" that I was often asked was, "Why are YOU doing this?" There is an easy, yet seemingly dramatic answer to that question. Because people are dying. Each day for one month before the Equality Ride began I read a suicide note from an LGBT person. I put that person's story on my altar and promised them that I was going to do something to make this world a better place for people like us. At Brigham Young University, we were not allowed back on campus for dialogue the second day we were there. It was the middle of holy week and each of us held an Easter Lily as we silently processed from the Mormon temple along the sidewalks to BYU. One by one an LGBT Latter-Day-Saint's story was told who had suicided. One by one we walked onto campus, fell down to the ground, and left our lily's behind as the police officers arrested us. At the end of our memorial procession the entire lawn was filled with flowers; a visible representation of a phenomenon that goes unseen to many in society. BYU students we spoke with had no idea of the literal mile-long list of LGBT people in their community who could no longer live in exclusion from their loved ones.

When we stopped at Oklahoma Baptist University, my home state, I met a young women named Ryan Rolston. Several years ago she entered OBU as a freshman. She was a missions major and wanted to devote her life to helping others. On Saturdays she would spend her afternoons in the park playing ball with neighborhood kids; at the end of the day she would tell them, "Okay, everyone meet me here tomorrow morning cuz I'm taking you to church with me!" Ryan had a girlfriend her 1st year at OBU and was turned in for kissing her on the cheek off campus. With 20 days left in the semester OBU removed Ryan from her dormroom, placed her in another building which was secluded from everyone else; she was not allowed to have contact with her friends or girlfriend, was not allowed to go to the gym or dorm buildings, and was told that she must obey all of these rules if she wished to keep her credits for that semester. Within those 20 days Ryan lost 30 pounds. Not one person, including the campus minister, came to visit Ryan. Ryan was on full scholarship and was told that if she returned next year she would have to compete with the incoming freshman and her scholarship was no longer available. She finished her credits at OBU and transferred to Arkansas, but because of the way she was treated, she doubted if God really loved her and called her. All of God's people deserted her and she turned to a life of drugs and alcohol. Just recently, Ryan was in a facility to get herself clean and sober; she roomed with another woman whom Ryan shared her witness with; she helped bring this woman hope for the future and in that moment Ryan realized she had been called; that God did love her and could use her life even in the midst of an alcohol rehabilitation center. She got sober and is now finishing her degree. I asked Ryan to travel from Arkansas to OBU to tell her story at a rally which we organized. She did so, and it was the first time she had been back since she had been asked to leave. No one there really believed the policies which schools enforce could have any real effect on student's lives, but Ryan is living proof that 4 years have been stolen from her due to Christian Universities "not-so-Christian" actions.

The other reason I went on the Equality Ride, besides the fact that people are dying, is because people are being shoved or left out of their religious communities. A great number of the Equality Rider's themselves had issues with Christians' because they had been asked to leave their spiritual communities. Our Old Testament lesson today reads,

"Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: "Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done," declares the LORD. "I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the LORD.

"The days are coming," declares the LORD,

"when I will raise up to David [a] a righteous Branch,

a King who will reign wisely

and do what is just and right in the land.

In his days Judah will be saved

and Israel will live in safety.

This is the name by which he will be called:

The LORD Our Righteousness."

I have a lot of hope for the future of this movement and our society. Currently five Equality Riders have moved to Oklahoma and are focusing their energy on change there. The Ride was such a success that we've decided to do another one next year, with two busses, mainly focusing on the South. Right now in my own life I am focusing on finishing seminary; I have two years left due to taking a semester off for the ride. I am not able to be there in Oklahoma on the front lines, but I wanted to do what I could to get the word out about what God is doing among us. I don't want this time around to be as David Halberstam described the original freedom rides, "where most of the local people were staying home watching from behind closed windows with drawn shades." I am very grateful for your very own Pastor Julianne Stokstad's invitation to share my experience with you today. I believe this is not by chance. What calling has God placed on your heart today?

Good and decent caring Christians have been taught by their religion that same-gendered committed relationships are condemned by God. This has been backed by misinterpretations of their Bible, preached from their pulpits, and practiced against human bodies until one day soon, I am sure, the true gospel of Christ's Inclusive community will convert the masses so that excluding, condemning, and afflicting the LGBT community will no longer be understood as a loving way to live with one another.

In you God we put our trust, our hopes, our prayers. Amen.