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SPECIAL FEATURE
ACTIVIST OF THE MONTH |
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Riding the Bus for Equality
Rachel Powell, 19
Louisiana
Rachel Powell
The first thing I ever remember wanting to be when I grew up was an astronaut. In junior high, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer beyond a doubt. My senior year of high school, I listed psychology as my focus on my college applications. When I went to college to register for classes, my advisor conned me into taking his American Politics class, and I knew I was going to hate it. Sure, I was already interested in gay rights, having come out my senior year, but elections? National debt? Congress?—who cared?
Turns out, I did. I became intrigued with—and terribly enraged by—politics. That year, I was active in several GLBT* support and advocacy groups, but knew I wasn't doing enough to save the world. My sociology teacher knew I wanted more and she told me about the Soulforce Equality Ride—30 or so young adults hopping on a bus for two solid months, traveling around the country to end religion-based oppression of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students.
I was accepted to the Ride in August 2005, a few days before my sophomore year of college began. We worked on the Ride throughout that semester, and it finally began five months later in March 2006. The 33 Equality Riders met in Washington, D.C. for our nonviolence training. We figured we might encounter some physical violence as did the Freedom Riders of the Civil Rights era, and we needed to learn how to protect ourselves as best as possible without reciprocating the violence. We hit the road March 9, planning to visit 15 religious colleges and 3 military academies—all of whom ban the enrollment of LGBT students—and one conference. We were going to these schools to discuss their policies and also our humanity—we wanted them to meet LGBT people face to face and hear about our lives. We wanted them to know that it is not a sin to be gay, and that we are fit to serve in the military.
Rachel Powell with the Equality Ride 2006
Over the next 51 days, we had conversations day in and day out with gay students, college administrators, straight allies, and straight people who were virulently anti-gay. Some schools rolled out the red carpet and allowed us on campus for dialogue and to show our presentations—Abilene Christian, Azusa Pacific, and Biola Universities. Others swore not to let the gays in and had us arrested the minute we set foot onto campus—Oral Roberts University, Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, Pat Robertson's Regent University. Arrested or welcomed, we had meaningful and powerful conversations with students and administrators at each and every stop. Gay students came out of the closet, straight students became our allies, and some schools, including Lee University in Tennessee and Oklahoma Baptist University, changed their policies. In two months, our big gay bus swept over America and changed the lives of more people than we could ever imagine—three months later, we are still receiving e-mails.
I called myself a gay rights activist before the Ride, but I guess I had no idea what that meant. Spending two months on a bus with 32 other people taught me a deeper meaning of activism. To be an activist is to bleed and sacrifice more for your cause than probably anything else, to be selfless.
My project now is the Soulforce Right to Serve Campaign, which several of the other Riders are working on as well. Beginning August 1st, 2006 in 30-40 cities across the country, openly gay people are going to try to enlist in the military to challenge the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, a law that bans openly gay people from serving their country. There are currently an estimated 65,000 closeted gay, lesbian, and bisexual people serving in the military, some of whom I met on the Equality Ride, and we are seeking to end the oppression those soldiers live under daily. The Right to Serve Campaign will be grand in scope and high in importance, and I'm proud to be bringing it to conservative Shreveport, Louisiana on September 6. My friend Eddie and I will both be trying to enlist, and we will show America and Shreveport what happens when fit, competent young adults are turned down through government-sanctioned discrimination.
I want all of you to join our effort and come out to the recruitment center in your city on the day that a person in your area tries to enlist to show your support for GLBT equality. We need as many faces and voices as we can get out there, and I want to see and hear yours. If you are interested in being a part of this awesome action, gay or straight, young or old, visit www.righttoserve.org to find an action in your state.
*GLBT: stands for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender.*
*Transgender: a person who feels that the body into which they were born doesn't represent their true gender. This person may simply dress as their opposite gender and live their life as the opposite gender that way; or this person might get an operation to change their sex organs.
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Soulforce and the Right to Serve Campaign
Soulforce, a non-profit organization in Lynchburg, Virginia, fights for "freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance." It was started by Reverend Dr. Mel White and his partner, Gary Nixon, in 1993. This fall, openly gay young adults of Soulforce will try to enlist in the United States military in cities all over the country, in order to challenge the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy that bans openly gay people from serving their country. For more information, or to get involved in the Right to Serve Campaign, go to www.soulforce.org, or www.righttoserve.org.
Past Activists
of the Month
November 2005:
Stephanie Nyombaire
December 2005:
Kaley Rosinski
January 2006:
Kyla Carpenter & Erika Chase
March 2006:
Shelby Knox
April 2006:
Cisnell Baez & Ashley Cotton
May 2006:
Makalay Tarawally
June 2006:
Becky Marks
July 2006:
Geneva Johnson
August 2006:
Rachel Powell
September 2006:
Liz Funk
October 2006:
May Lan Dong
November 2006:
Karoline Evin McMullen
December 2006:
Maggie Astor
January 2007:
E. Jane Handel
February 2007:
Ana Slavin
March 2007:
Shaina Patel
April 2007:
Amity Paye
May 2007:
Evelyn Eng-Nol
June 2007:
Ava Lowery
July 2007:
Chela Élan Counts
August 2007:
Alexandra Pates
September 2007:
Alexandra Abend
Are you a teen activist or do you know any teen activists? Contact
Teen Voices and share your story.
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