The Soulforce Equality Ride
Impetus for a 21st Century civil rights movement
 This spring, 2006, 30 young equality riders are spending two months traveling to religious and military colleges that discriminate against LGBT students for dialog and nonviolent confrontation.
Photos by Robin Reed, Soulforce Equality Ride
Interview with a 21st Century Freedom Rider
 The Soulforce Equality Ride "puts a face" on the adversary
By JewsOnFirst.org, April 5, 2006
At the half-way point of the 51-day Soul Force Equality Ride, between the tenth and eleventh scheduled visists to Christian and military universities, equality rider Diane Gray pronounces the experience "incredibly rewarding" -- especially the one-on-one encounters at colleges that discriminate against LGBT students. Read the interview
News reports about the Soulforce Equality Ride
Gay Riders Plead Guilty In Falwell Trespassing
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff, May 24, 2006
(Lynchburg, Virginia) Twenty-three people who participated in a gay demonstration at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University each have been fined $200 on trespassing charges.
In addition the leaders of the group Jacob Reitan, 24, and William Carpenter, 53, pleaded guilty to separate charges of instigating trespassing and received six-month suspended jail sentences. Continue
Smiles and conversations dominate Equality Ride visit
Kaitlin Shadle, The Waltonian (Eastern University, St. Davids, Pennsylvania), May 4, 2006
The day started out with a thunderstorm, but the rain quickly subsided and the sun broke through the clouds. Could this have been an omen?
The Soulforce Equality Riders visited Eastern's campus on Monday, April 24. They anticipated that Eastern would be one of the more receptive schools on their two-month route. It was also the last Christian school on their itinerary.
The purpose of their visit was to try to get the words out of the Eastern handbook that define marriage as "between a man and a woman." Continue
Repent America Questions Eastern University's Welcome of Homosexual Activists
By Jim Brown, AgapePress, May 5, 2006
While the Soulforce Equality Ride visited Eastern University, officials barred from campus demonstrators from the religious right group Repent America. Click for the article
BYU won't expel students who joined Equality Ride protest
Advocate.com, May 23, 2006
Five students at Brigham Young University who took part in last month's Equality Ride protests will be reprimanded but not expelled. During the Soulforce Equality Ride's stop in Utah, more than two dozen college-age participants in the cross-country gay Christian protest were arrested, along with the parents of Ride codirector Jacob Reitan. Continue
Equality Riders arrested again at Brigham Young University
by Associated Press, Advocate.com, April 13, 2006
Twenty-four gay demonstrators were arrested during the visit of the Soulforce Equality Ride to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Barred by the university (which also barred reporters), the demonstrators each carried a lily to commemorate gay students who'd committed suicide. Click here for the report.
Dying at BYU
By Haven Herrin, Soulforce Equality Ride co-director, Advocate.com, April 18, 2006
 A symbolic die-in to honor the many gay Mormons who have committed suicide gets two dozen Equality Ride protesters arrested on the campus of Brigham Young University. It also sends an important message. Click here for the report.
Soulforce Visits BYU Campus
By Heather Palmer, BYU NewsNet,11 Apr 2006
While some students were avoiding Brigham Square, others welcomed the Soulforce Equality Riders with dialogue Monday afternoon and took their presence in stride. Continue
Gay Riders Arrested At Air Force Academy
by 365Gay.com, April 14, 2006
(Colorado Springs, Colorado) Ten members of the Soulforce Equality Ride were arrested Friday on the grounds of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
Thirty-five Equality Riders are on a 51 day cross-country trip organized by the nondenominational Soulforce to draw attention to schools that bar gay enrolment.
At the Academy the group was protesting "don't ask, don't tell" the ban on gays serving openly in the military. Continue
Oklahoma Reverses Gay Student Protections, Blames Equality Ride
by 365Gay.com, March 25, 2006
Oklahoma's state school board revoked a policy protecting gays from discrimination. They took this action while the Equality Ride was at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, which just this year dropped its ban on enrollment for straight supporters of gay issues, but still bars LGBT people. exual orientation.
"Just before the vote state Rep.Kevin Calvey (R-Del City) issued a statement saying the recent Equality Ride action at Oral Roberts University in which nine Riders and community members were arrested for trespassing was proof the regulation needed to be changed." Click here for the report.
Soulforce seems to confuse Scripture on homosexuality
Op-ed article by Anita Fish, The Edmond Sun, (Edmond, Oklahoma) March 29, 2006
"Soulforce is a group of homosexual activists, targeting religious schools with the purpose of challenging adversaries to end what Soulforce sees as discrimination. This past week, the gay/lesbian organization visited two of Oklahoma’s privately funded Christian universities." Click here
Soulforce Equality Ride
From the Soulforce website, March 2006
"At military and religious colleges around the nation, bans on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender enrollment force students into closets of fear and self-hate. These bans devalue the life of GLBT people and they slam the door on academic freedom. The Equality Ride empowers young adults to challenge these college bans.
"Scheduled to take place in the spring of 2006, the Soulforce Equality Ride will take 25–30 young adults on a seven-week bus tour to confront numerous religious and/or military colleges that ban the enrollment of GLBT students. At each stop along the journey the members of the Equality Ride will present a powerful case for GLBT equality. Go
A Drive for Understanding
Gays, Colleges Hope Tour Helps Dispel Mutual Stereotypes
By Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post, March 11, 2006
This background report on the Soulforce shows that the colleges on the route plan a variety of responses -- from forums to arrest. It also identifies the director of the Soulforce foundation as Rev. Mel White, a gay man who, in the decades before he came out, taught in a seminary and wrote speeches for religious right figures. Click here to read the report.
Gay Rights Group Targets Christian Colleges
Schools' responses to Soulforce's Equality Ride will vary widely.
by Sarah Pulliam, Christianity Today Magazine, March 9, 2006
"For the next seven weeks, the group Soulforce will test the hospitality of Christian colleges. Some schools have decided withdraw the welcome mat for the national pro-gay activist group, while others are accommodating the protesters with housing and events." Click here for the report.
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