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A Voice From the Equality Ride
March 31, 2007
by Wick Thomas
Editor’s Note: Wick Thomas, 20, of Kansas City, Mo., is riding the West Bus on the 2007 Soulforce Equality Ride, which stopped at several locations in Kansas City on March 15-16. The 50 people on the ride are traveling the country on two buses, which each have a distinct route. They will visit 32 Christian colleges and universities to promote social justice for LGBT people.
What an exciting few weeks this trip has been. We just arrived in Los Angeles today following our stop at Brigham Young University and a whole lot of driving. The MidAmerica [Nazarene"> stop went very well. It was our first stop in which we were actually allowed on campus. Every Equality Rider was assigned a student host for the day. All of the students were incredibly respectful and were not afraid to ask us honest questions. Of course, it was a testament to how much work we still have to do. There were many times in my own conversations in which I was equated to a murderer, and my ability to love to bestiality. That being said, I think the impact we had there was very real. There were many students who I feel walked away from the experience with a lot to think about. Many of these students had never even met a gay person. One of my good friends from high school goes to MNU, and we finally had the discussion that we had been avoiding all through high school. Even if no other hearts or minds were changed that day, I can find comfort in the fact that at least one was.
Aside from our visit at the school, we also had a few community outreach events while in Kansas City. We were able to volunteer for the wonderful Tulips on Troost project, which we had Camp and the Associated Press come out for. We spent an afternoon in Kansas City Road Park in Olathe, which two MNU students came to. One of them had written a song for us. They got out their guitar, and played it. Tears were brought to my eyes at the experience.
That night, we also hosted an open mic night at Planet Cafe in Kansas City. It was a great outlet for some of our more artistic riders to express themselves, something that can be incredibly hard while driving 10 hours a day.
All in all, the Kansas City stop was amazing. Not only do I firmly believe we made an impact at MNU, but I also think Kansas City made a good impact on many of the Equality Riders.
I would like to thank everyone who helped make our stop in Kansas City successful: Durwin Rice, for allowing us to help with his amazing project, the members of PFLAG, for providing delicious (vegan) food for our stop, the Kansas Equality Coalition, Planet Cafe, Sarah Finken and Maria Williams, Zoe Keppler, Kendall Hanson, David Sokolowski, Camp, KKFI, and everyone else who helped make our stop so successful. Without supportive people like you all over the country, this ride would not be possible.
I hope everyone keeps updated on the ride. http://www.soulforce.org/blogs is where you can see the ride from the riders’ perspectives. We are starting to get a lot of media attention on the ride. Also, I’ve just been asked by lawrence.com to keep up a blog, so pretty soon you will be able to keep updated there as well.
Again, thank you so much for being interested in this ride. We still have a lot of work to do as a nation, and it’s good to know that there are so many people in my town who are ready and willing to help.
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