Today was the first day we were on campus. It was an incredibly wonderful day that did not start as such.
Last night we were all downstairs in the lobby with windows all around and we noticed a few trucks were circling the hotel. After a few rounds, two young men jumped out of the car and gave us an obscene gesture. We all felt it was best to go back to our rooms and we all went to sleep. We awoke to find that during the night, our bus had been painted. On the windows was painted “God doesn Love gay feary f*cks” (my censorship, their spelling and grammar). Various pictures were also painted on the windows. A picture of the bus can be found here. We also received a sign by our bus with some colorful language on it. I was not sure how to feel about the painting and sign at first. My first reaction was to confusion about what would drive people to do this. This was then pushed out by a feeling of empowerment. It got me ready for my day at Dordt and pushed out any sort of doubts I had.
The day at Dordt, was absolutely amazing. I would be here for hours if I tried to say everything I want to, so this will be brief.
The students were wonderful, at Dordt. My experience was that they just wanted to hear our stories and realize that their are real people that these policies effect. I didn’t get out my Bible once and I never talked about the Bible. This wasn’t what the students were concerned with, that I approached. They were worried about the human side of the issue and that was very comforting. I spoke to many wonderful people and my guides Nathan and Andrew were amazing people, I am very glad that they were my guides.
Today I saw the presentation “Loving Like Jesus” for the first time in it’s completion and I was very impressed. Everyone told their stories and I think that was really good for the students to hear, in a more formal setting. After the presentation we had our Panel discussion, which was 3 Dordt representatives and 3 Equality Ride representatives talking and answering questions from the audience. I think that the questions that were answered were very good and constructive questions that needed to be asked; I only wish that we could have answered more.
Both of our lunch and dinners with students, faculty and staff were very productive in having the discussions that we seek. Much of the day was spent talking to students and this was a very good time to connect with the students better and hear their stories and share ours.
Overall, the day was an amazing day and I don’t think it could have gone better. We will be meeting at the Butlers cafe and Casey’s bakery tomorrow at 3-? to talk to students and community members about anything or whatever they want to. I am very excited about it.
Love,
Adam
