Regent University, police block gay-rights group from campus
By STEVEN G. VEGH, The Virginian-Pilot
© March 14, 2006
VIRGINIA BEACH — Proponents for gay rights challenged Regent University’s stance on homosexuality, staying on the sidewalk and off campus Monday in a face-off with dozens of university guards and city police.
Last week, Regent told Soulforce, a Lynchburg-based group supporting gay rights, that anyone entering the grounds would be trespassing on private property.
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“We will arrest you if we have to,” public safety director David Shearman told Soulforce representatives who disembarked from the “Equality Ride” bus at a campus entrance on Monday.
The protest is expected to continue today at Regent. It is part of a tour of 19 faith-based universities and military academies the group will visit to highlight what it says are policies that bar enrollment of nonheterosexual people.
Friday , more than 20 Equality Riders were arrested for trespassing at Liberty University in Lynchburg, which was founded by televangelist Jerry Falwell .
Photos: Soulforce "Equality Ride" turned away at Regent
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Regent has said it has no such enrollment policy. The university’s student handbook prohibits “homosexual conduct” as well as adultery, premarital sex and sexual misconduct.
Regent had offered Soulforce three on-campus forums where the group could share its views. Louis Isakoff, Regent’s chief counsel, said the offer included permission to hand out literature and talk to students .
The university revoked its invitation last week, saying Soulforce had continued online to unjustly accuse Regent of avoiding dialogue.
The school was locked down on Monday for the Equality Ride visit. Barriers blocked some street entrances and students and staff had to wear their university identity cards.
The security cordon worked in both directions, blocking protesters from entering the campus and students from reaching the protesters.
Richard Lindsay , a Soulforce media liaison who held up his cell phone number for spectators, said students called him and said they had been blocked by the university from approaching the protesters.
A handful of students reached the protesters, including first-year law student Tim Spaulding , who said curiosity and the fine weather brought him out during a class break.
When asked about Soulforce, Spaulding said the protesters were “trying to raise awareness and make some positive change about schools who have policies, I guess, against gays and homosexuals. I don’t believe Regent has a policy as such.”
Before Spaulding could say much more, Regent’s Shearman interrupted the interview, saying, “Are you a Regent student? Can I talk with you for a minute?”
He then talked to Spaulding and Zack Hofstad , another law student, out of earshot. Spaulding subsequently would not say what the encounter was about, but Isakoff said city police had advised that Regent keep the protesters and campus community apart to avoid confrontations.
Rene Ball , a Virginia Beach police spokesperson, confirmed that her department had requested limited contact between spectators and protesters “for safety reasons, to maintain the peace.”
Virginia Beach police were out in force. Ball said she was prohibited from saying how many police were deployed, but an on-site tally included six mounted police, two motorcycle officers, an EMS unit, a mix of unmarked vehicles and cruisers, a “Marine Patrol Dive Team” vehicle, at least nine uniformed officers and a police chaplain.
“We got information that demonstrators were arrested Friday at Liberty University, so we were just here to keep the peace, make sure the demonstration was peaceful,” Ball said.
Chad Grandy , a Michigan college student, said he was on the Equality Ride to show students at Regent and elsewhere that “you can be gay and Christian, and it’s OK.”
Grandy was not among the protesters arrested Friday. Nonetheless, “it feels so passionate in my heart and right to attempt to enter these campuses,” he said. “If that results in arrest, that’s really sad.”
Reach Steven G. Vegh at (757) 446-2417 or steven.vegh@pilotonline.co
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