With
the
afternoon
sun
blaring
down
and
armed
only
with
a
message,
Adam
Britt
took
10
steps
across
an
invisible
threshold
on
April
2
and
up
to
the
front
lines
of
a
culture
war.
He
was
immediately
taken
prisoner.
“If
I
have
to
suffer
for
other
people
to
be
happy,
it’s
not
such
a
big
deal
compared
to
what
other
people
are
doing
and
going
through,”
he
said.
Minutes
later,
20
police
officers
surrounded
him
and
three
others,
bound
them
with
handcuffs,
and
loaded
them
into
a
paddy
wagon.
Just
hours
before,
Britt,
20,
and
a
couple
dozen
of
his
contemporaries
boarded
a
tour
bus
from
a
Days
Inn
in
Ringgold,
Ga.,
a
tiny
community
situated
at
the
midway
point
of
the
foothills
that
mark
the
Georgia-Tennessee
state
line.
Britt
is
a
member
of
the
Soulforce
2007
Equality
Ride,
a
bus
tour
of
U.S.
Christian
colleges
with
anti-gay
curricula,
admission
and
disciplinary
policies.
The
two
Soulforce
buses,
which
split
their
terrain
by
the
Mississippi
River,
are
loaded
down
with
young
men
and
women
who
span
the
diversity
of
gender,
sexuality,
race
and
religion.
For
most,
they
are
linked
only
by
the
power
of
their
mission,
which
is
as
much
about
quelling
anti-gay
discrimination
as
it
is
about
staking
a
claim
for
gay
men
and
lesbians
in
mainline
religious
denominations.
Their
efforts
haven’t
exactly
been
well
received.
With
the
bus
and
passengers
loaded
up,
the
riders
leave
Ringgold
en
route
to
Lookout
Mountain,
Ga.,
and
Covenant
College,
the
10th
school
and
the
halfway
point
of
the
group’s
two-month
journey.
Despite
months
of
conversations
and
pleas
with
school
administrators,
Soulforce
and
its
activists
were
barred
from
the
campus
without
exception.
Covenant
College
representatives
did
not
return
calls
for
comment
and
would
not
speak
to
Southern
Voice
at
the
site
of
the
protest.
Since
nearly
every
moment
of
the
Equality
Ride
is
planned,
riders
who
are
aren’t
aware
of
their
status
as
interlopers
at
their
destinations
are
unfazed
when
they
find
out.
They’ve
been
through
this
before.
“The
Louisville
court
date
on
the
18th
has
been
canceled
for
now,”
East
Bus
co-director
Katie
Higgins
told
her
group,
which
applauds
lightly
at
the
news.
In
Louisville,
12
riders
were
arrested
for
a
sit-in
protest
at
Southern
Baptist
Theological
Seminary.
The
next
day,
three
were
arrested
for
a
sidewalk
demonstration
at
the
University
of
the
Cumberlands
in
Williamsburg,
Ky.
And
before
the
riders
made
their
way
to
the
eastern
seaboard,
they
dealt
with
arrests
in
Oklahoma,
Texas
and
Mississippi.
The
bus,
which
is
emblazoned
with
Soulforce
insignias
and
gay-positive
messages,
pulls
up
a
long,
winding
road
to
the
Covenant
College
entrance.
Police
officers
met
the
group
at
the
edge
of
Lookout
Mountain
to
offer
a
guided
escort
through
the
tiny
hamlet.
Ten
deputies
with
the
Dade
County
Sheriff’s
Department
are
on
hand
to
apparently
guard
the
school
and
its
students
from
the
Soulforce
riders.
After
disembarking
onto
the
street
in
front
of
the
school,
a
Covenant
employee
and
the
cops
warn
the
students
not
to
set
foot
on
the
school’s
property.
“If
you
step
on
the
grass,
you
will
be
taken
to
jail,”
a
uniformed
police
officer
said.
The
riders
immediately
spring
into
Plan
B
—
forming
a
line
and
staring
steadfastly
ahead
at
the
growing
crowd
of
cops
in
front
of
them.
Bram
Wispelway,
a
23-year
old
rider
and
recent
Princeton
graduate,
opens
his
pocket
Bible
to
the
third
chapter
of
John.
“It’s
a
passage
about
welcoming
the
brothers
in
Christ
who
may
seem
like
strangers
to
you,”
he
explained.
More
officers
arrive,
followed
by
newspaper
and
television
crews.
Gradually,
a
curious
—
or
brave
—
few
Covenant
College
students
trickle
down
the
hillside
campus
to
meet
their
would-be
guests.
Conversations
between
the
two
sides
are
pleasant,
but
most
quickly
make
the
turn
to
what
both
sides
consider
a
very
important
question,
whether
or
not
being
gay
is
a
sin.
“I
still
think
it’s
a
sin,
but
by
all
means
it’s
ridiculous
to
think
it’s
outside
the
grace
of
God,”
said
freshman
Chris
Canche.
Canche
was
happy
to
meet
the
riders,
but
said
he
thought
the
administration
was
wise
to
prevent
the
demonstration
from
entering
the
campus.
The
day
winds
through
cheerfully.
Students
and
riders
form
the
type
of
connections
that
young
people
who
are
sandwiched
together
form.
A
welcome
wagon
troupe
from
the
school
brings
down
box
lunches
and
water.
A
Metropolitan
Community
Church
from
nearby
Chattanooga
brings
in
more
food
for
the
kids,
who
are
...
