Even on Religious Campuses, Students Fight for Gay Identity

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Gay Rights at Christian Colleges Face Suppression - NYTimes.com

The money quote: "They arrive at school, as one of the Harding Web authors put it, 'hoping that college would turn us straight, and then once we realized that this wasn’t happening, there was nothing you could do about it.'"

Even on Religious Campuses, Students Fight for Gay Identity

By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: April 18, 2011

WACO, Tex. — Battles for acceptance by gay and lesbian students have erupted in the places that expect it the least: the scores of Bible colleges and evangelical Christian universities that, in their founding beliefs, see homosexuality as a sin.

Decades after the gay rights movement swept the country’s secular schools, more gays and lesbians at Christian colleges are starting to come out of the closet, demanding a right to proclaim their identities and form campus clubs, and rejecting suggestions to seek help in suppressing homosexual desires.

Many of the newly assertive students grew up as Christians and developed a sense of their sexual identities only after starting college, and after years of inner torment. They spring from a new generation of evangelical youths that, over all, holds far less harsh views of homosexuality than its elders.
....

Gay students say they are often asked why they are attending Christian colleges at all. But the question, students say, is unfair. Many were raised in intensely Christian homes with an expectation of attending a religious college and long fought their homosexuality. They arrive at school, as one of the Harding Web authors put it, “hoping that college would turn us straight, and then once we realized that this wasn’t happening, there was nothing you could do about it.”

[xchrom]

1. i feel bad for these kids. nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. I find it heart-wrenching that people feel the need to belong to entities that hate them. -nt

[Zorra]

5. +1

[white_wolf]

3. I feel sorry for them that they haven't left those schools, but

I do admire them for their struggle in the belly of the beast.

[RKP5637]

4. I hope they can learn to dump the institutions that embrace and promote hatred and bigotry! n/t

[KamaAina]

6. One of my best gay friends went to BYU-Hawaii (!!)

That's why I was so stonkered when he mentioned he was gay. :wow:

And the beauty part of it is, he still considers himself a practicing Mormon! :wow: Why not? The Catholics (almost as homophobic) have Dignity.

[cap]

7. Maybe if we're lucky these kids will turn them

These kids are fighting inside the belly of the beast. Once you turn these institutions and attack the religious basis for prejudice, the big rationale for homophobia crumbles. These kids are showing their room mates, classmates, and teachers that their is nothing to fear. Plus they are cram full of biblical knowledge that they can use against their persecutors. You know, the whole God is Love thing.

There are some weak links to exploit in the evangelical movement.

[alp227]

8. This is going to be on A1 of Wednesday's Times

interesting, but not surprising enough to be called "news" - of course religious institutions are going to fight homosexuality even more than they already fight reason/science/reality