InterstateQ.com

Sorta Southern: Oklahoman on the Equality Ride

Wow… I guess this is when the media circus begins.

I’ve posted news pieces on my fellow Southern boys, Georgian Joey Heath and Arkansas kids Adam Britt and Jeremy Gabbard. Entering stage right… Greg Johnson, from Oklahoma State University:

The ride will have an Oklahoma representative onboard with Oklahoma State University student Greg Johnson.

“I became interested in the ride when I saw what they were doing and what they were able to accomplish last year,” Johnson said. “I believe that religious equality and understanding is key in the struggle for societal equality, because I think a lot of the injustices in our society are based on beliefs that are either directly or indirectly sanctioned by churches.”

Johnson, a senior philosophy major, is active in OSU’s LGBT campus group, Sexual Orientation Diversity Association, and said his religious upbringing was an obstacle to his coming-out process.

“I accepted the conservative Christian view and a literal translation of the Bible, so I pretty much accepted that homosexuality was a sin, and I was trying to suppress my desires for the same sex,” said Johnson. “The internalization of that oppression and what it did to my personal life is what pushed me into activism. The religious focus of Soulforce appeals to me greatly because I belive so many people are being misled by their denominations, preachers and spiritual leaders to think that they are doing something good by speaking out against homosexuality. They accept that position without knowing it produces harmful effects.”

Ride organizers agree.

“Again, we are trying to start and continue a conversation about faith and homosexuality. We want to let young adults be the leaders in creating that conversation in a new way that is not divisive,” said Haven Herrin, co-director of the ride. “It is very important to have that conversation in places where institutional policies are involved in LGBT oppression.”

Read the full article at HNOKC.com.