Patrick Henry College, Homeschool Bastion, Has LGBT Group

Last updated on: December 7, 2012 at 8:38 am by Libby Anne

Patrick Henry College, Homeschool Bastion, Has LGBT Group 2012-12-07T08:38:26-04:00 Libby Anne

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Now this is interesting. I have just recently learned that Patrick Henry College, founded by Home School Legal Defense Association founder Michael Farris as part of his plan to filter homeschool graduates into government and politics, has a group called Queer at Patrick Henry College.

We are Queer at Patrick Henry College. This is a collaborative blog produced by several Patrick Henry College (PHC) students, current and former. We have varying opinions and beliefs, but one thing we share in common is our desire to help and encourage other Patrick Henry College students, current and former, in any way that we can.

…

As of the start of this blog we are all anonymous contributors to this community, some for personal reasons, some for family/friend reasons, some for professional reasons, and some for a combination of the above.

Patrick Henry College maintains a requirement of non-advocacy for enrolled students in regards to LGBTQ issues, but those issues are near and dear to many of us. This blog has been created as a way for us to express our opinions and thoughts on LGBTQ related topics.

Patrick Henry College has blocked this Queer at PHC blog from their servers so as to keep students from viewing it. Exercising this sort of censorship over students it is simultaneously both praising as the nation’s only hope for the future and working to launch into government and politics through the gateway of prestigious internships seems bizarre. Of course, it’s important to remember that this is a university that originally required male students to get written permission from female students fathers’ before being allowed to date and still requires every couple to always have a chaperon. What you see here is the quintessential Christian homeschool problem. We grew up being told that we were members of the smartest, most mature, most intelligent, most promising group of young people in the country, but also being extremely sheltered from “the world” and existing in highly-controlled environments.

More than this, though, Patrick Henry College chancellor Michael Farris has already threatened to use legal means to shut down Queer at PHC’s facebook page. The group called his bluff and he backed down. The entire incident actually feels very typical of Farris. I spent a week at an educational camp at Patrick Henry College one summer while I was in high school, and at one point I approached Farris to talk to him. Mostly I just wanted to meet him, face to face, to say that I had. I had been raised to idolize him as the savior of homeschooling and a sort of visionary, and I held him in high respect. Much to my surprise, he brushed me off and acted like he was too important, too busy, to have anything to do with me. The entire experience left a very bad taste in my mouth. The way Farris comes off in the article about his threats of legal action against Queer at PHC is exactly how I remember him.

Anyway, I’m encouraged and a bit astounded that Patrick Henry College has an LGBT group. The reason I’m astounded is that I don’t know why anyone who is queer would choose voluntarily to go to Patrick Henry College. I mean, the entire point of the school is to train homeschool graduates in government so that they can go into politics and “take back the country for Christ.” At a talk during the educational camp I attended, Farris praised Bowers v. Hardwick, the Supreme Court decision that upheld bans on sodomy. He told us he very much feared that this decision would be overturned by the upcoming Lawrence v. Texas decision, which it was, but that he thought Bowers was good law. In other words, in Farris’s ideal world, homosexuality would be a crime.

Regardless of why the students of Queer at PHC are there – and it may be that some have little choice – I see this as a very good development. The LGBT groups that have been springing up in Christian schools from Grove City College to Bob Jones University in recent months are a sign of the forward march of equal rights in this country.

Edit: one of the co-founders of Queer at PHC emailed me to explain why she attended PHC, and what she says is the incredibly obvious point I was apparently too tired last night to see:

I would agree that it’s unlikely that someone who knows they are queer would voluntarily attend Patrick Henry College. But in my case, I didn’t begin to come to grips with my orientation until a few months before I graduated from PHC. I knew I liked girls, but I persuaded myself that it was just “this thing” that would go away after awhile. I didn’t even know the word “bisexual” until I was about 19. I was just that ignorant about the world and about myself. In addition, I didn’t have very many options for where I could attend college. As a female-bodied person raised in the Q/CP environment, my parents told me that it was important to get a college education so that I could raise well-educated children. But I had to go to a Christian school, and I had to find a college that would pay nearly full tuition in scholarships, because they would not cosign on a loan for me. In the end, Patrick Henry College was the school that fit the bill. I was unhappy with the school leadership within the first semester, but I stayed because I didn’t want to return to my life as a jobless stay-at-home child. I made some of my best friends at PHC, but I often wonder how my life would be different now had I gone to a school with a more affirming environment.

These are just my experiences, so other queer students and alumni at the school might have very different reasons for why they went to PHC and stayed there.

Uncategorized

LGBT

Michael Farris

Patrick Henry College

Previous Post

December 6, 2012

Creationists Embrace "Truth in Education" in Indiana

Next Post

December 7, 2012 CTBHHM: Contentment Is All That Matters

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atheism Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Family Feminism Homeschool Meta Parenting Patriarchy Politics Purity Quiverfull Social Justice Uncategorized Worthwhile reads

Select a Month February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the correct chronological order of Paul's travels mentioned in his letters to the Corinthians?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Macedonia, Corinth, Jerusalem, Asia Corinth, Jerusalem, Macedonia, Asia Jerusalem, Macedonia, Corinth, Asia Asia, Jerusalem, Corinth, Macedonia