LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY charlayne)

Gays on campus

"Unlike A&M, not all colleges allowed the activists on campus.

Soulforce organizers said they were denied access to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., and Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/3758130.html


March 29, 2006, 10:50PM

A&M welcomes dialogue on gays' place in military
Visit by rights activists appears not to change views held by several cadets
By DAVID ELLISON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

COLLEGE STATION - "Would you serve with me?" The question on their T-shirts Wednesday summed up the reason why Soulforce Equality Ride members visited Texas A&M University, home of the nation's largest uniformed body of students outside the U.S. military academies.

The message, written in bold letters across their T-shirts, was intended for the Corps of Cadets' 1,800 members to open a dialogue on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy that allows gay men and lesbians to serve as long as they keep their sexual orientation private and do not engage in homosexual activity.

"It's a very deep question," Jarrett Lucas, 20, of Philadelphia, said in front of the Sam Houston Sanders Corps of Cadets Center.

"This policy states that the answer to this question is 'no.' Our legislators are speaking for every single individual in this country. ... We are here to ask that question to everyone here: 'Is that the truth?' "

A&M was part of the group's cross-country bus tour, which will include other military institutions — the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point — as well as 16 Christian colleges with policies against homosexuality.

Organizers said the seven-week trip is modeled after the anti-segregation Freedom Rides of 1961.

Retired Lt. Gen. John Van Alstyne, the commandant and head of the School of Military Sciences, welcomed the group to campus. He and other university officials facilitated informal conversations between cadets and Soulforce members in front of the cadets center.

Soulforce members also were treated to lunch at Duncan Dining Center, where the cadets eat, and some sat at tables with students. Later in the evening, they discussed gay and lesbian issues at a forum on campus.

Van Alstyne said he welcomed the Soulforce riders because he believes in a representative form of government.

"If you want to change something, you go out and talk to people and get them to influence their representatives," he said. "So I think it's absolutely part of our freedom when you can, in an appropriate way, attempt to influence others."

Van Alstyne also said he believes it's part of the cadets' education to have an opportunity to talk to people with varied views.

The Soulforce visit didn't appear to change the previously held views of most cadets interviewed by the Houston Chronicle Wednesday. Many said openly gay people should not serve in the military. Most said they believe it would hurt morale and would be counter-productive to the military's teamwork.

Richard Pawlik, a 20-year-old junior, had a brief conversation with Jake Reitan, 24, of Minnesota, co-director of the tour.

Pawlik said he's not prejudice against gay people but he and Reitan would have to agree to disagree.

"When it comes down to it, if we were fighting for our lives, I would be more than willing to see past that to protect him," Pawlik said. "And I'm sure they would be more than willing to see past that to protect me. But that doesn't mean I would be comfortable with the every day-to-day lifestyle."

Matt Simmons, 21, said he believes that knowing a person is gay could be distracting in the battlefield.

"I wouldn't mind serving with a gay person. But I believe it's important for them to keep it confidential ... for the safety of the soldiers that I would be protecting, " he said.

Kimberly Flachsbart, 18, sat at the lunch table with Reitan. "My personal opinion is that I wouldn't honestly mind serving with openly gay and lesbian people," she said. "But I think at one point it could affect getting the work done."

Unlike A&M, not all colleges allowed the activists on campus.

Soulforce organizers said they were denied access to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., and Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.