Equality Riders campaign for social justice

By Jocelyn Wright     2/4/10 6:00pm

Nearly 50 years after the Freedom Riders took to the road to end racial segregation, a new group is riding to campaign for another form of social justice: rights for LGBT students. This diverse group of 22 young men and women, the 2010 Soulforce Equality Riders, come from various religious and cultural backgrounds across the country but are united in their desire for change. Since the Equality Rides began in 2006, the riders have visited and advocated for change at over 50 of the approximately 200 schools in the United States whose policies actively discriminate against LGBT students.

"The Equality Ride is basically a traveling forum," Equality Ride Director Caitlin MacIntyre said. "What they're trying to do is form a dialogue on these campuses, offer support to those already there and provide an affirming viewpoint to students who may not otherwise hear one."

The journey begins

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Beginning March 4, the Equality Riders will spend two months traveling across the eastern United States to visit 16 schools. The Equality Riders are collaborating with college administrators to set up an agenda at each stop that will encourage discussion about the discriminatory policies at each school.

"It'd be easier for us to just go and tell the school that they're wrong and have a picket or hold signs, but we try as much as possible to speak with students and form relationships," MacIntyre, a former Brown College student who left Rice at the beginning of this academic year, said. "That's where change comes from."

Equality Riders will spend at least three days in each community, focusing on building lasting relationships with individuals to inspire movements that will continue after the riders leave.

MacIntyre took a semester off from Rice last year to go on an Equality Ride. Talking with MacIntyre and watching the 2006 documentary "Equality," which was made on the first Equality Ride, inspired Wiess College junior Darren Arquero to apply for the Equality Ride.

"It's the only type of current grassroots activism for LGBT people like this," Arquero said.

Arquero has had an interest in activism since before Rice, when he spent the summer studying abroad in Germany through the U.S. Department of State before entering Rice.

"As far as becoming a [Women and Gender Studies] major, I think a lot of it had to do with when I came back from Germany, I made a promise to myself as far as my sexuality goes to be honest with my family and friends," Arquero said. "Also, I grew up in a broken home - my mother was assaulted, and so women's issues mean a lot to me."

He plans to use his experiences on the Equality Ride as background for a senior honors thesis.

Arquero hopes that his participation in the ride will give a voice to the LGBT communities in schools.

"I want to change the policies and views on homosexuality so that students on these campuses won't feel afraid to just be themselves," Arquero said.

This will not be Arquero's first time campaigning for LGBT rights. He has worked extensively with Equality Texas, which lobbies the Texas legislature on LGBT issues, and he has written a research paper on LGBT history in Houston. Last year, he looked at the Houston Independent School District's policies on anti-homophobia and discrimination against its LGBT students.

As someone who dedicates much of his time to causes beyond Rice, Arquero also hopes his Equality Ride will inspire other Rice students to look beyond the hedges.

Preparing for the ride

Although the Equality Riders do not depart until next month, Arquero has been keeping busy. The group met for the first time in Austin at the beginning of January for a week of workshops and training. Each of the riders will help plan one of the 18 stops along the way, so one goal of the week was to help them decide what they wanted to do at each stop by studying policies at the school and contacting school administrators.

Arquero chose to plan the stop at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, a private religious university with an enrollment of 5,000. Students questioning their sexuality at ACU are sent to Exodus Metropolitan Community Church in Abilene, which views homosexuality as a disorder.

"[The policy] sucks because it's so outdated," Arquero said. "The American Psychological Association said homosexuality wasn't a disorder in 1973."

Arquero has several friends who have told him about their experiences in anti-homosexual counseling.

"They'd have to watch films on masculinity or what activities are right for you," Arquero said. "It sounds really, really archaic."

To prepare for the stop, Arquero has been in contact with Abilene's LGBT alumni through a Facebook group. He has also been going through the Bible to find challenges to biblical passages used to support the claim that homosexuality goes against biblical teachings. One of the goals of the Equality Ride is to explain to students how homosexuality can be compatible with Christian faith.

One popular anti-homosexual passage is Leviticus 18:22, which condemns sodomy. Arquero said that when people use these passages, they ignore the fact that many other laws from Leviticus, such as not being able to wear different materials in the same piece of clothing, are no longer followed.

"When people use those against us, they don't realize that the Bible was written for a time that's specific to its period," Arquero said. "How can you only specifically state this is against the Bible or Christianity when there are other Leviticus laws that you don't follow in everyday life?"

In mid-February, the group will have a week of Bible boot camp, where they will roleplay to learn how to use the Bible to their advantage.

When he is not brushing up his biblical knowledge or talking to Abilene alumni, Arquero is fundraising. Each Equality Rider is also responsible for raising $3,500 to help cover the costs of the journey. To make a donation to Arquero's Equality Ride, go to www.soulforce.org/darren_arquero.

Getting on the bus

Arquero described his feelings towards the upcoming ride as a combination of nervousness and excitement. Along the ride, though, Arquero knows that he will face many challenges.

"I've never really faced any type of adversity growing up, and as far as being made fun of I've always had a huge support system of family and friends in high school," Arquero said. "It's going to be really difficult for me when someone's screaming in my face that I'm going to go to hell and they judge everything about me and my character based on one aspect of my life."

MacIntyre described her last Equality Ride as an amazing experience.

"It completely changed the way I looked at oppression and the way I view organizing in the LGBT community," MacIntyre said.

Though she was initially extremely reluctant to leave school after finishing the Equality Ride, MacIntyre said she was so moved by what she did that she left Rice and took on the position of director.

"In high school I got good grades, and then I went to the best school I could go to - I thought this is what was done," MacIntyre said. "With the Equality Ride, I felt like I was being called away from that. After the ride I missed the activism and I knew that organization needed to be central in my life."

Looking ahead, both Arquero and MacIntyre see themselves continuing activist work.

"Right now I think I'm going to graduate school for women's studies, but my future's going to lead me into non-profit and social work," Arquero said. "And I'm O.K. with that."

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