Dordt officials
apologize to harassed gay activists
AP from the
DesMoinesRigister.com on the Web, March 9, 2007
Officials with Dordt College in Sioux
Center have apologized to a gay organization that was harassed there earlier
this week.
The group, Soulforce Q, says it is part of a national organization that works to
end political and religious oppression of gays.
Sioux Center was the group's first stop on an Equality Ride 2007, aimed at
bringing a message of equality and inclusion to Christian colleges like Dordt.
The college's faculty and student handbooks say the school ''holds as
uacceptable sexual relations with someone of the same gender.''
''We're prepared to run into things like this, but we didn't expect it on the
first night,'' Soulforce Q spokesman Kyle DeVries said.
Shortly after arriving in Sioux Center from Minneapolis Wednesday night, the
group was harassed by people making lewd comments and gestures. The
group's bus was also vandalized with anti-gay slurs.
College officials were ''saddened'' to learn about the vandalism, said Dordt
spokesman Norlan De Groot. The school apologized to the group and the
incident was reported to police.
''We don't want to see that happen here,'' De Groot said.
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