Letters from Liberty Students and Alumni
A letter from a current student at Liberty University
As a Liberty student, I know what it is like to have to suppress or hide a part of who I am. You see others having normal dates. If I were to go on a date, I would have the fear of getting caught and the possibility of being kicked out. Is that really part of the mission of Liberty University? Where is the Christian love in all of this? I only know of a couple gay guys on campus. I’m not sure about girls. The ones I know of are completely afraid of being found out. Of course, a part of who we are must remain a secret for now. I hope and pray that some day issues such as homosexuality won’t matter at a place such as Liberty. I really do love my school and am proud that I can attend such a great university, however, I can’t exactly let anyone know that I am gay. There should not be any fear of hanging out with someone who is gay. The gay guys I know of are totally afraid of meeting on campus or really most places in Lynchburg. They do not want to be associated with someone else whom they know to be gay.
A letter from a current student at Liberty University
I am currently a junior at Liberty University. I am also gay. No one knows. I don’t know if I will ever be able to tell anyone. I know if my family found out they would disown me and defiantly not help me pay for college. I have heard stories about someone at Liberty finding out a student was gay and the school telling the person’s parents. That scares me to death. If anyone at school found out I know I would loose all my friends and I’m sure someone would tell on me. I go to school here because it is the only school my parents will pay for. I don’t know what God thinks about me being gay. Why would He make me like this in the first place? I did not choose it. Regardless of what God thinks I know what everyone else thinks. They would think I’m evil if they knew. I’ve never even been with a guy. I really hope that someone could talk some sense into the school and Christians in general. I’m tired of being all alone. Please don’t use my name!
A letter from an alumni of Liberty University
Dear Friend,
I am a graduate of Liberty University. I know first hand about how Liberty treats our gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning individuals. I have always wanted to go to Liberty since the tenth grade. I felt that Liberty was where God wanted me to go to school. I knew that when I went to Liberty that I was gay. I also knew that I was a Christian because God had been so evident in my life. While I was at Liberty I believed the messages that they were giving about Homosexuality and that it is wrong. It caused me to be in torment because I knew what my heart felt, but I also knew how society and the people at Liberty felt about it. I tried to change myself to become straight but to no avail it did not work. I tried praying, fasting, casting out demons, having others pray for me, but nothing happened. I heard how the speakers who spoke against Homosexuality say that you have to believe that you can change and put your whole heart into it. I tried it and still nothing happened.
I prayed a lot while I was at Liberty but I always felt that God wanted me to be gay. I am one of his gay children. I ended up graduating from Liberty with a heart ready to serve God and also as someone who is gay. However, I still remained quiet about my sexuality because I had a fear of who I really was due to the extreme measures of what was said during my four years at Liberty by the administration and speakers that we had on campus. My life at Liberty was fulfilling because of the friendships that I have. I still have friends from Liberty who know that I am gay and they still love no matter what because they know I am a child of God.
However, being a student at Liberty was not the only traumatic event in my life that was caused by Liberty. I was also working for Liberty at the time. Someone from my church decided to out me to the Human Resources department. The department decided to let me go not based on my job performance but because they could not have someone who was gay on their staff. They were concerned about what the parents would think if they knew that someone who was gay was working at Liberty. I was told that if I sought counseling then I may get my job back. They also told me that they loved me but they couldn’t have someone like me working there.
Until then I agreed with everything that Liberty believed except on with their stance of Homosexuality. God taught me a lot when I there. This event got me to realize that I needed to stop living a lie and start living my life as God intended. Someone from the church tried to make my life a disaster but ended up allowing me to obtain the life that I was supposed to live. Today, I am proud to admit that I am a Gay Christian. God is still number 1 in my life. He has provided my every need now as he has always promised that he would to his children. I pray that my words will help someone to realize what harm religious persecution can do to an individual who is a Christian and gay.
In Him,
Greg Turner