News
2007-03-27
Equality
Ride activists arrested at sit-in
Participants in
Equality Ride 2, who are traveling the country in two
buses to have dialogue with students at Christian
Participants in
Equality Ride 2, who are traveling the country in two
buses to have dialogue with students at Christian
colleges that have policies excluding or silencing
gays, were arrested Monday after holding a sit-in
at the office of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
president Albert Mohler. The group traveled to the
Louisville, Ky., campus to protest Mohler’s
recent online article in which he expressed support
for the development of prenatal hormonal therapies to
counteract biological homosexual tendencies in fetuses,
reports The [Louisville] Courier-Journal.
About two dozen gay activists were at his office
to participate in the sit-in Monday morning. After
being warned by police that they would be arrested, 10
left peacefully, and the rest were taken into custody.
According to TheCourier-Journal, protester Kyle DeVries said
that as a well-known Christian leader, Mohler
“has a tremendous influence” and that his
“calls for eugenics for gay, lesbian, bisexual,
and transgender people needed to be answered.... We
decided to come here and demand a rescindment of those
comments and a public apology for them.”
Seminary spokesman Lawrence Smith told TheCourier-Journal that Mohler was not on the
premises during the protest. “They of course have a
right to protest, but they don’t have a right
to break the law, and that’s why they were
arrested,” Smith said. “You have to understand
they are a professional protest group. Their aim is to
create disruption and in some cases be arrested."
Equality Ride 2 is being sponsored by the gay
rights group Soulforce. (The Advocate)
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