One of my Personal Heros: Jacob Reitan

[pegkerr]

I have always admired Jacob Reitan. He writes a column for Lavender, a local gay periodical, called Faith in Action, which is about the struggle for gays to carve out a spiritual life in a world where their religions often reject them. I sent him an autographed copy of The Wild Swans, along with a letter of appreciation, care of the magazine; those of who have read my book know that one of the things I explored in Swans is the needless agony that gays have to endure when they feel that they don't have a spiritual home. I was sorry that I never got a reply from him.

Jacob has spent the last two years organizing the Soulforce Equality Ride, which is modeled after the Freedom Rides which took place in the 60s in the heyday of the Civil Rights movement. Equality Ride's mission is to take riders to Christian colleges, to organize informational exchanges and conversations. See an article here. He has just been arrested yet again, for daring to bring gays onto "private property," i.e., Christian college campuses.

Jacob Reitain, you rock. Good luck with your mission. Here's a young man whose career I will be following with a great deal in interest. It is great to learn from the column that he has a supportive family.

Comments

[qwyneth.livejournal.com]

Actually, one of my best friends is doing the Equality Ride. She's Di Gray. She has had an interesting life, and while I don't want to give out personal information on her, has an interesting perspective on the relationship between religion and homosexuality.

They knew Liberty was going to be one of the tough ones. They met with Falwell before the ride, and he said that he would prefer to see Liberty College burned to the ground than accept gay students. (I think I have that right.) The local law enforcement also said they would prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.

Not sure yet if Di was arrested. But as a friend of a rider, I really appreciate your post bringing attention to what they are doing.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Yes!

A couple of weeks ago my 12-step sponsor asked me who my gay heros were. I immediately thought of Harvey Milk, and a few others (whose names escape me -- I blame the drugs). After reading the article about Jacob I decided, "Him, as well."

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

I forgot to mention earlier that I signed up for the Soulforce newsletter. You may already have this info, but here's they're url:

http://www.soulforce.org/