Is Berea College gay-friendly?

Northstarmom
Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:57:40 +0000

When I googled “Berea college” and “gay”, I found this info about Berea in an article about gay students at religious colleges.

" Alvin Dale Green, a recent graduate of Berea College, said the school’s philosophies of Christian love gave him the confidence to come out…

Green, 25, knew he was different, even in kindergarten, he said, because he “never wanted to be a daddy.” He learned the word gay as a pre-teen, but didn’t accept it until after he was baptized as a teenager.

He went into the water believing it would wash away his sins.

“But I came out of the water and I was still gay,” Green said. “I had a constant prayer vigil before then to erase it … but I didn’t feel any different.”

He decided that God must have made him gay for a reason, but he soon stopped attending church. Still a shy, “invisible” teen at Rockcastle County High School, he chose to go to Berea College because it was familiar, affordable, small and close to home. And as a freshman, he learned that the Christian values the school mentioned in its mission statement were meant to include everyone. That’s when he stopped being invisible, he said, and dove into the spotlight.

“People say I blew the closet door apart,” said Green, who now performs as a drag queen and works at Eastern Kentucky University. "There were a whole lot more gay people on campus than I imagined. It seemed like the natural progression.

Green joined groups for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. He organized dances. He met his first boyfriend.

Sometimes, he was taunted by students about his sexual orientation.

Still, Green said Berea was the best place for him to come out. If he’d gone to Eastern Kentucky University, his other choice, he would have commuted from home to class, never building the confidence he needed to come out, he said.

“You, as a Berea College student, are safe, because someone else there shares your story,” Green said. “There are people who are not the most accepting, but you get that everywhere. It’s not a place where you’re afraid to come out. You feel the fellowship. You’re free to soul search.”…"
[Orientation Vs. Affiliation: Gay Students, Religious Colleges: A Student’s Expulsion This Year for Being Openly Gay Brought to Light the Struggle Many Have Long Faced on Campuses - Education News - redOrbit](http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/549485/orientation_vs_affiliation_gay_students_religious_colleges_a_students_expulsion/index.html)