The Equality Ride bus--in the midst of crossing the nation in the name of tolerance and fairness--was defaced by graffiti as a "Fags-mobile" at Tennessee's Lee University on Thursday.

Currently touring the nation's conservative Christian universities and military academies with 35 mostly college-age LGBT advocates in tow, the bus was vandalized outside a hotel in Cleveland, Tenn., with the homophobic message spelled out in pink letters. The Riders were nearby, planning their action at Lee University inside one of the hotel's rooms. The bus's driver reported witnessing a middle-aged woman and a teenager drive away from the scene. Cleveland police are currently investigating the crime.

"The attack on the bus is hate speech, plain and simple, spelled out for everyone to read," said Jacob Reitan, Equality Ride codirector. "But a more subtle form of hate speech happens when students at the schools we are visiting are told they are sick and sinful just for being the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people God made them to be."

The attack on the bus prompted the Riders to organize a Friday prayer vigil in front of the university president's office to bring attention to LGBT discrimination.

Ironically, the trip to Lee marked the first time since the Equality Ride tour began on March 5 that Riders were allowed on a school campus. While they were not permitted to address students in classroom forums or pass out literature, the Riders joined students at a university chapel during the morning worship service and presented a picnic and concert in a nearby park that featured gay Christian pop duo Jason & deMarco. More than 60 students and community members attended the festivities and discussed gay and lesbian issues with the Riders.

The Equality Ride tour was organized by Soulforce, an LGBT rights group that focuses on religion-based discrimination and religious freedom. (The Advocate)