by Robin Reed
A group of riders attended Jerry Falwell’s Thomas Road Baptist Church on
Sunday. We entered quietly into the sanctuary and centered ourselves for
worship. We sang along with the hymns and songs as the members of Reverend
Falwell’s church gathered for worship. It was a surreal moment for me,
standing in the presence of a man who only a couple of days before had
arrested a number of my friends, and listening to him speak about faith.
Although he made no specific mention of the Soulforce Equality Ride or our
action at his Liberty campus, I felt that he was nonetheless aware of our
presence at his place of worship. I firmly believe that our silent presence
made a difference in that place. We were standing as a silent witness to the
humanity of LGBT people and to our experiences of pain and wounding by
fundamentalist religion.