Pride Week gets early test of faith

University of Montana Lambda Alliance President Nicola Perez was having a rough Monday.

First came the reports that Public Safety had found Lambda’s stolen and broken flags for Gay Pride Week discarded on the steps of Main Hall. Then a stranger told her she was going to hell.

“My friends and I were walking by, he saw the pride flags we had and our ribbons and started in with ‘You’re a sinner, you’re going to hell.’ The usual,” Perez said. “He has a right to his opinion.”

Perez’s debater was Eli Brayley, a representative of Open Air Outreach, a New York-based Christian organization that tours college campuses all over the country preaching and debating interpretations of the Bible. When Perez found a Bible and began arguing with Brayley in front of a crowd of students gathered in the Mansfield Mall behind Main Hall, Brayley pulled out all the stops.

“You’re going to hell just like a murderer because you’re choosing sin just like a murderer,” Brayley told Perez and others in the crowd debating him. “God loves you, but he hates your sin.”

Despite his rather cold reception from the crowd, which included calls of “I thank God you won’t be here tomorrow,” and “Why do you think God gave me a penis?” Brayley said he felt his encounter with UM students was successful.

“We see this kind of debate all the time. In fact, when we were in L.A., I got punched,” Brayley said. “This was good. I like to see people ask questions and engage in dialogue because it tests faith and a lot of people don’t question their beliefs.”

Brayley added that his rally was not a direct response to or a protest against Gay Pride Week, which runs April 1-7 on campus.

“We weren’t aware it was Pride Week when we arrived, but we are preaching the Bible, which is against homosexuality,” Brayley said. “We don’t hate homosexuals, we want them to turn away from sin.”

But between the heated debate and heckling from the crowd, it seemed as if Brayley’s message fell on deaf ears.

Erin Lenci is a junior studying psychology, Japanese and media arts. She is also a self-proclaimed spiritualist.

“It’s great that they want to help people, but I wonder how much is conditioned into their heads and how much they actually believe,” Lenci said. “Just from watching, I wonder which Bible he’s referencing.”

Bryan Rogers, a former UM student who was on his way to the UC, said Brayley’s demonstration wasn’t about religion, but personal rights.

“I agree with his right to talk here,” Rogers said. “But sometimes I think personal rights get in the way of people’s lives and business. Just condemning people to a fiery hell strikes me as more of a nuisance.”

Some of Brayley’s strongest criticism came from other Christians, like Jesse Potter, 21.

“This guy says you’re a Christian if you stop sinning. I sin every day,” Potter said. “You have to relate to people on their level. We try to spread the good news to everybody, but this guy is spreading bad news.”

Others, like Lambda public outreach coordinator Tess Raunig, said they felt that the premise of the presentation was contradictory.

“He’s saying he’s not judging but God is,” Raunig said. “He’s judging us when the Bible says don’t judge.”

Brayley said his intention wasn’t to judge anyone, only to spread his truth.

“We do this because we love people and Jesus is the only way to salvation,” Brayley said. “When opposing views get up and stand against the Bible, the Bible is always right.”