Dear Friend,

There is just over a month left to submit your application to be a member of the Soulforce Equality Ride.

Scheduled for March and April, 2006, Soulforce's Equality Ride is an exciting cross country bus tour designed to confront college policies that ban the enrollment of openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students.

The problem of GLBT discrimination in college settings is larger than most people think. From Brigham Young University to West Point Military Academy, there are around 200 public and private universities in the United States that ban the enrollment of openly GLBT students. Not only is this real world discrimination dehumanizing to GLBT people, but it slams the door on academic freedom -- the principal that should be the benchmark of every institution of higher learning.

To confront these unjust bans on GLBT enrollment, we are looking for thirty young adults ages 18 to 28 to join us on a historic cross country journey. On each campus, Equality Riders will take a bold stand for truth on behalf of the GLBT community through press conferences, dialogues, debates, vigils, and where necessary, nonviolent direct action. This past year Soulforce's Equality Ride did two test runs, the first to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University and the second to the United States Naval Academy.

The deadline for applications is January 1. Don't miss out on this opportunity to involve yourself in a sustained take-it-to-the streets campaign for equality.

To apply simply go to: www.EqualityRide.com/application_form.php

If you have any questions about the ride or what you can do to help, please feel free to contact me by email at jake@equalityride.com or by phone at 952-212-8311.

Together, we will make history.

Sincerely,

Jacob Reitan
Equality Ride Director

P.S. You can forward this email, or you can Email a Letter to a Potential Equality Rider

Read What People Are Saying About the Soulforce Equality Ride

"The call must go out to all segments of American life, including public and private academic institutions: discrimination against gay people is immoral. There is no denominational or political affiliation, no theology or ideology, no deeply-held conviction that justifies the evil of homophobia. The Equality Ride will bring light to long-standing college policies that have caused countless students to live their college years in closets of fear. The Equality Ride will give a voice to these students who silently suffer. The courageous young adults who travel to these campuses will be taking a stand against this insidious societal evil, and will be working to empower all students to put an end to the oppression perpetrated by repressive, anti-gay academic policies."

- Matt Foreman, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

"The Equality Ride is a unique opportunity for student activism. Much like HRC's Youth College, the Equality Ride empowers young adults to dedicate their time and energy toward the pursuit of GLBT equality. The Human Rights Campaign understands that youth activism is a vital part of every justice movement. With history as our guide, we know that great things can happen when young adults come together to fight passionately for equality and freedom. The Equality Ride follows in those footsteps of history and there is no doubt in my mind that when this group of young adults does justice together great things will happen once again."

- Winnie Stachelberg, Vice President, The Human Rights Campaign

"It is time to end the practice of educational institutions shunning GLBT students. It is time to reverse the inherent lessons embedded in such practices that GLBT people are inferior -- lessons that repeat the mistakes of the past and are implicit in policies of ostracism. Our country is not strengthened nor enlightened when colleges and academies perpetuate myths, lies, and injustices through policies that, in effect, judge and condemn, and deny our nation the full talents and potential of our GLBT family and friends. For these reasons, PFLAG applauds the Equality Ride and celebrates the optimism, enthusiasm, and New Day it represents."

- Jody Huckaby, Executive Director, PFLAG

"Every day, our military fires an average of 2 people simply because they happen to be gay. The United States Armed Forces - the nation's largest employer of young people - also fires more young gay Americans than any other employer, and they do so underfederal sanction. Educational opportunities, such as those presented by the service academies, are not available to young people who are openly gay. The doors of opportunity so many Americans find in our armed forces are closed to the LGBT community. Servicemembers Legal Defense Network salutes the Equality Riders for bringing attention to this un-American injustice and for their courageous stand in support of liberty and opportunity."

- C. Dixon Osburn, Executive Director, Service Members Legal Defense Network

"This is a real opportunity for glbt youth to actively involve themselves in helping to change religious and military colleges. The only way we will change minds is when people meet us as a person and not as a label, and this ride will help do that."

- Rev. Elder Troy D. Perry, Moderator and Founder, Metropolitan Community Church

"There is no better way to end anti-gay prejudice than to give non-gay people a chance to talk directly with us, person to person, and hear the realities of gay lives and needs, not stereotypes or falsehoods. When young people speak, they open hearts and minds and reach the reachable -- and this Equality Ride brings them, their stories, and their personal engagement to centers of hostility toward gay people, places where people most need to hear the truth and have a chance to talk and think it through."

- Evan Wolfson, Executive Director, Freedom to Marry

"History shows us that courageous and principled young people have been critical leaders in every transforming social movement. The Equality Ride provides today's generation of young people an opportunity to realize their moment on the front lines of the struggle to do justice. As was the case with the Freedom Rides of the 1960's, today's Equality Ride empowers young adults to make their bold and powerful statement calling on society to take yet another step toward living out its promises of equality and justice for all."

- Patrick Guerriero, President, Log Cabin Republicans

"I am happy to support the goal of the Equality Ride to better inform Americans, including those at military and religious colleges, of the need to deal honestly with issues of concern to the GLBT community. Dialogue, debate, Scriptural study and the promotion of true academic freedom should make the Equality Ride a powerful educational vehicle."

- The Rev. Barry Lynn, UCC Minister and Civil Liberties Activist

"The Equality Rides offer the opportunity to stigmatize homophobia and American society's acceptance of conservative Christian homophobia based on the Bible. We must vigorously embrace the redemptive power of love and nonviolence used by Gandhi and King. We must follow the guidelines and strategies used by the African American Civil Rights Movement to sustain massive nonviolent resistance and social protest throughout the nation until justice is achieved. We must inspire our fellow Americans who believe in equality and justice to join us and work together to expedite political and social change."

- Dr. Rodney Powell, A gay man who helped to lead
the Freedom Rides during the summer of 1961