By Mitch Holt, Staff Writer
Equality Ride, an activist group’s upcoming bus tour to challenge religious and military institutions across the country that “ban the enrollment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students” will be on campus March 27.
According to SoulForce, the organization behind Equality Ride, the group will visit 19 religious and military institutions to challenge policies regarding homosexuality with which they disagree.
Section 2-15 of the university’s Student Guide restricts “cohabitation and/or sexual immorality, including both heterosexual and homosexual behavior.” Section 3-07 ultimately states the same policy. Both of these sections are the only crystal clear mention of sexuality in the student guide.
As mentioned, the purpose of Equality Ride is to confront universities about their rules banning homosexual behavior. An inconsistency in SoulForce’s qualm with ACU is that the university does not restrict homosexual students from enrolling and being accepted into the institution. The university’s policy does, however, prohibit pre-marital sex for any sexual preference, heterosexual or homosexual.
The university does not frown more upon homosexual promiscuity over heterosexual promiscuity. As a Christian university that tries to uphold Christian standards and doctrine, any form of sexual intercourse outside of marriage between a man and a woman is prohibited_-_not just homosexual intercourse.
Even if one disagrees with these policies, he or she must admit that they are consistent.
Ultimately, SoulForce is not refuting ACU’s policy on homosexuality, but rather the university’s entire policy on any kind of sexuality. SoulForce just doesn’t realize it. The organization sees the university’s incorporation of Christianity into its rules and automatically assumes the administration is biased against homosexual students.
If one reads the student guide carefully, he or she will realize this is simply not true. The university does a solid job of keeping all sexual misconduct on the same level.
One thing that draws many in-state and out-of-state students to Abilene, including myself, is the open-minded approach the university takes to handling such issues, especially compared to other Church of Christ universities in the United States.
The administration does not create an atmosphere in which students dealing with same sex attraction should feel neglected or inferior.
The student body, however, probably does.
Commonly used words like “fag,” “queer” and “homo” make light of the struggles of many students on campus. These degrading and carelessly used words make students who are attracted to the same sex feel like they can’t be honest, ultimately isolating them even more.
Compassion should be our first priority, especially when interacting with the equality ride members in March, as well as those dealing with same-sex attraction.
When March 27 arrives, engage in constructive conversation with those in Equality Ride; steer clear of heated debate. Stand strong in your beliefs, but don’t attempt to force them upon someone else.
This is the student body’s chance to give a good impression of Christianity; this is the best way to show campus visitors what we are about.
It’s important for students to realize that ACU does not prohibit the admission of homosexual students, but it does ask them to abide by the same sexual ethics as heterosexual students while they are here.
Students must exercise the same compassion on these issues, even if one doesn’t agree with someone’s sexual leanings or his opinions on the matter.
