Soulforce Equality Riders to Visit Oakwood and Union

Soulforce, which engages in relentless nonviolent resistance against political and religious oppression of LGBTQ people, will be visiting Oakwood University on Monday, March 15, and Union College on Thursday, April 21.

Soulforce Equality Rides are based on the nonviolent direct action work of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi to increase equality and engage in dialogue over issues of human sexuality and gender identity. Equality Riders commit to a credo which starts out:

I believe that my adversary is also a child of the Creator, that we are both members of the same human family, that we are sisters and brothers in need of reconciliation.

Oakwood University’s president has issued some guidelines for students during Monday’s visit.

For the purposes of the visit day, any person who comes to campus in support of the Equality Ride (other than its internal members) will be considered trespassing and so will not be permitted to enter university property.

Other guidelines include:

• Members of the OU community are requested to avoid interactions with Equality Riders
• The riders are well versed in their rhetoric; debate is unlikely to be productive

A 2007 visit to Brigham Young University, a private institution run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints led to a clarification regarding sexual orientation among students.

Here is video starting out their 2010 Equality Ride season

Here is video from a visit to Morehouse and Spelman.

For more information on the Oakwood visit, click here.

For more information on the Union visit, click here.