Gay and lesbian students on the Belmont University campus are continuing their struggle to form a campus-wide, university-sponsored support group after the private Christian university denied their request for a second time.

The university blocked the group for a second time in September, saying it recognizes the need for a discussion about the intersection of sexual orientation and Christianity, but that it did not want the discussion to be led by a student organization.

The group, called Belmont Bridge Builders, started in the summer of 2009 as a student’s idea on Facebook for a student support group at the university.

‘Before the Facebook group, I knew no one who was gay, lesbian or bisexual on campus, ironically enough,’ said Robbie Maris, the founder of Bridge Builders. ‘Facebook has become a way of organizing for our generation.’

Maris, a junior music business major, said he felt personally marginalized because of the lack of acceptance of homosexuality at the Belmont campus and in society in general.

The group aims to examine the intersection of Christian faith and LGBT-related issues, as well as to promote a healthy dialogue between the Christian and LGBT communities, according to the Bridge Builders rationale.

The group maintains that Christian and LGBT communities are not mutually exclusive and aims to encourage an active learning environment that may challenge, but never demand change of, anyone’s social and personal beliefs, according to the rationale.

The group has turned in paperwork to implement the group twice so far, the first time in February and then again this September, Maris said.

In February, the Student Life Committee at the university recommended approval of the group with a vote of 8-1, Maris said. After approval by the committee, the decision fell on the offices of the provost and student affairs whether to instate the group or not, but chose in February not to approve the group.

When the group resubmitted its proposal in September, it was stopped at the first level of implementation at the student affairs level, Maris said.

‘The administration shot Bridge Builders down because of its views and beliefs that homosexuality is immoral,’ Maris said.

The administration gave a different reason for its decision.

The administration said it recognizes the importance of mutual respect and diverse opinions from the Christian perspective and decided to create a university-led opportunity for discussion instead of allowing the student group to form, according to a news release from Andrew Johnston, the associate dean and provost of students at the university.

The university-sponsored discussions began last spring after the first proposal of Bridge Builders and have been convened twice monthly since then, according to the news release.

‘While we didn’t want to charter an organization or to have a campus-wide conversation on that run by just a student organization, we did recognize that the conversation was important, and we wanted to give that a place to occur,’ Johnston said in an article published April 30 by the university’s student newspaper, Belmont Vision.

Johnston could not be reached for comment by The Daily Orange.

Maris said he had mixed emotions about the university-led discussions, which are led by the dean of students.

‘The discussion group is good because it shows the university that gay people exist at this campus,’ Maris said. ‘But it hurts us because only GLBT students and allies show up, and we have one-sided conversations. We talk about things that we already know, and the opposition isn’t there. And it’s only twice a month for an hour.’

Andrea Stover, the director of writing at the university and an informal adviser to Bridge Builders, said she thinks the problem with the university-led discussions is the lack of unity in the objective of the discussion.

‘I don’t think there is a common goal between the members of the dialogue groups, and I think that lack is a source of confusion and frustration for people,’ Stover said.

Although having been denied for a second time by the university, the students are not giving up, Maris said.

‘The students will continue confronting the administration about the issue. Students may have to create an alternate group under a different department or as a diversity group, something to that nature,’ Maris said.

For now, Bridge Builders is currently circulating a petition to gain support for the group.

‘We have 1,000 students, staff and alumni who have signed our petition in favor for the creation of an LGBT group at Belmont,’ Maris said. ‘We are not done with our efforts, either.’

medelane@syr.edu

Published on November 30, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Meghin: medelane@syr.edu | @meghinwithani