Hitting the Road for Equality: Rider Joey Heath hits the press in good ole’ Georgia

Equality Rider, Georgia boy Joey Heath, 23, hit the press today in the Savannah Morning News (Joey, picture right in the middle, with me on the left and West Bus Rider Aaron Lauer).

It wasn’t until his freshman year at Valdosta State University that Heath began taking a serious look at his beliefs.

He discovered a deeper commitment to his Christian faith. He was baptized as a 19-year-old and became a member of the campus Methodist group.

It was also during that period of self-discovery Heath realized he is gay.

“Finding my faith allowed me to really get to who I was as person,” he said.

Reconciling his identity as a “gay evangelical” has taken years of prayer and study, said Heath, now 23.

Now he is committing his spring semester to encouraging other students that it’s OK to be homosexual and Christian.

Heath is one of 56 youth preparing to tour the nation seeking an audience at Christian colleges that restrict homosexual students.

…

Heath heard about Equality Ride from a friend who participated last year.

Now a graduate student studying political science at Valdosta State, Heath has taken the semester off to join this year’s Equality Ride starting in March.

“Maybe it’s young naiveté, but I believe in changing the world and making things better. And I see this as a way to do that,” he said.

After praying for his homosexuality to go away, Heath said he sank into depression when change didn’t come.

“One night I said, ‘God, I can’t do this anymore,’ and I heard God say, ‘That’s OK. I still love you anyway’,” said Heath. “That’s the night when I said, ‘OK, I’m gay.’ ”

Heath remained active in his campus ministry and church youth group, even though “this wasn’t something they were very happy about,” he said.

Though he sometimes feels he’s a victim of discrimination, Heath believes students attending the schools along Equality Ride’s tour live under constant oppression.

…

“Since I’m an out, gay, Christian man, I feel it’s my duty to stand up and say ‘This is wrong.’ There’s definitely a problem here so we have to ask ‘How can we fix it?’ “

Go read the full article.

Both Joey and I will be on the Eastern Bus, which will head down along the Mississippi River from Minneapolis, through the Deep South and then up the Eastern seaboard, through March and April.

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