Six young adults
on an LGBT-awareness campaign were arrested when they
attempted to walk into the DeSantis Family Chapel at
Florida's Palm Beach Atlantic University on Monday.
Six young adults
on an LGBT-awareness campaign were arrested when they
attempted to walk into the DeSantis Family Chapel at Palm
Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Fla., on
Monday.
College
administrators allowed Equality Riders from the religious
tolerance organization Soulforce to visit campus for a
private meeting at 9:30 a.m., but riders said the
conditions were too restrictive. A group of parents
greeted the riders, who were relegated to a part of the
sidewalk on campus near the chapel. Some students later
joined the group, and one female student came
out as a lesbian, according to a press release.
She told the group that the university lacks specific
safeguards for LGBT students.
Six of the 16
riders on the trip attempted to enter 11 a.m. chapel
service, but university police stopped them from entering.
"You are an
unwanted guest," campus security director Terry
Wheeler said to riders, according to the South
Florida Sun-Sentinel. "We have asked the police
department to enforce the trespassing law,"
The arrested
riders were Jarrett Lucas, Enzi Tanner, Nicholas Rocco
DeFinis, Lauren Parke, Zak Rittenhouse, and Danielle Cooper,
ranging in age from 19 to 25. They will face a
magistrate Tuesday morning.
The remaining
Equality Riders held a vigil near the college through
Monday afternoon.
The arrests took
place after the Equality Ride bus was damaged Sunday
night. The windows were smashed in, shattering two panes of
glass, and small portions of the vinyl wrap were also
scratched off. (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)
Click here to follow The Advocate on Twitter.
Page 1 of 1