Christian College In Arkansas Blocks Campus Access To Student Authored Gay Zine; Action Occurs On Day Supreme Court Rules Westboro Baptist Church Exercises Free Speech With Anti-Gay Demonstrations

The Arkansas Times reports on current (and some former) lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students at Harding University, a Church of Christ private Christian college in Searcy, Arkansas and the controversy surrounding their attempt to launch an online zine. The coalition who call themselves HU Queer Press, launched the website Wednesday morning, but by 4:00 pm the university blocked access to the site with the campus firewalls. The site, called The State of The Gay at Harding University, contains an open letter that reads in part “We are HU Queer Press and we are presenting our first ever publication,” adding that the creators of the site say it is "intended to bring attention to the lives and issues of demoralized minorities". The opening statement on the site continues saying "writing a zine (think small circulation publication) is an act of social liberation". The statement also addresses the alleged “re-orientation therapy” that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students are “threatened with.” Thursday, during church services, Harding President Doctor David Burke delivered a prepared written statement that said in part “Harding University is a private Christian college whose mission and policies are rooted in biblical principles. All students are given a copy of the handbook and know about our mission and policies before their first day on campus. The student handbook states that the university holds to the biblical principle that sexual relationships are unacceptable to God outside the context of marriage and that sexual immorality in any form will result in suspension from the university. Based on that policy, university administrators felt that having this website available on campus goes against said mission and policies. In addition, the handbook states that any literature distributed on campus must be approved by the Office of Student Life and must state the name of the sponsoring organization. These pamphlets were both printed and distributed anonymously with no prior approval, and the website is an online version of that pamphlet.”