Spiritual Trip Is Off for Gay Man

Joining groups that promote understanding has always appealed to Pepperdine University student Justin Emerick.

He never imagined that one group would punish him for being a member of another.

This spring, Emerick said, he was barred from participating in a summer mission to Japan organized by a Christian group after group officials learned of his membership in the church-affiliated campus’ fledgling Gay Lesbian Straight Alliance.

The 20-year-old was appointed secretary of the alliance in January, the same month he was accepted into Let’s Start Talking, a ministry that sends college students overseas on missions to teach English and spread Christianity. In April, he was asked to leave the ministry.

“I joined the [alliance] because I think people struggling with homosexuality should have a place to deal with it, so I feel like it’s a disservice not to talk about this,” said Emerick, a junior majoring in international affairs.

“To censor a discussion on gays and lesbians--or anything that doesn’t mesh with traditional Christian values--denies their existence and denies people’s struggles,” he said.

Student Feels That School Let Him Down

Emerick said his school has let him down. Although Pepperdine has no official affiliation with Let’s Start Talking, it has many informal ties. For example, the West Coast coordinator of the Christian group is married to a campus minister and lives on university grounds. Also, the group operates under the auspices of a Church of Christ congregation in Texas, and the Church of Christ in Malibu has a strong presence on campus.

The president of the university and a majority of the Board of Regents are required under university bylaws to be members of the conservative Churches of Christ.

“We want to underscore that students should feel welcome and that they can belong here,” said Jerry Derloshon, director of public information for Pepperdine. “We really do encourage freedom to discuss different ideas. But we reserve the right to be sensitive to who we are in our tradition and heritage.”

No other university official, including Provost Darryl Tippens, would comment for this story. Mark Woodward, Let’s Start Talking’s co-director, did not return repeated calls for comment.

Emerick said he was determined to do right by both groups. During the same months he helped the student group organize talks on homosexuality by a campus minister and a pastor who marries gay couples, he also raised $2,000 from friends and family for the trip.

But in mid-April, Emerick said, after the ministry’s West Coast coordinator, Kim Lambert, learned of Emerick’s involvement with the alliance, she summoned him to her Pepperdine home and told him he would not be going on the six-week trip to Osaka.

Lambert said being in the gay alliance conflicted with the ministry’s message, Emerick recalled.

“Being involved in GLSA has this other implication for them that I run around advocating some immoral lifestyle,” Emerick said. “It’s so demeaning and degrading to bring sexuality into a place where it shouldn’t even be a factor. I see the conflict, but I don’t agree that it should exist or that it’s right.”

Lambert, who is leading a mission in the Netherlands, did not reply to e-mails.

Two weeks ago, Emerick met with David Baird, dean of Pepperdine’s liberal arts college and a church elder, and Tippens to discuss the situation.

He said they told him that they agreed with the Christian group’s decision, although they did not like the way the issue had been handled.

Emerick, who has known he was gay since high school, said he chose to attend Pepperdine because of its scenic location, small class size and spiritual atmosphere, despite its reputation as a strict school. Dancing on campus wasn’t allowed until 1988, and drinking is still forbidden.

“Being gay and being Christian are both parts of my identity,” said Emerick, who lives with his parents in the northern San Diego County city of Vista during school breaks. “It never crossed my mind that being at Pepperdine would make me feel guilty for who I am.”

At least one Pepperdine professor said the Christian program is within its rights.

“Given that I think homosexual conduct is inconsistent with a Christian mission, I don’t have a problem with the local church saying that isn’t what they want to support in a missionary,” said Marilyn Misch, an accounting professor.

Pepperdine student Shalen Bishop agreed that the ministry’s position was fair. “The Let’s Start Talking program is about spreading the Christian values and views throughout the world,” Bishop said. “Although I don’t necessarily feel his lifestyle is bad, it doesn’t fit with Christian morals.”

Many Pepperdine students learned of the controversy when Gay Lesbian Straight Alliance Co-Chairman Jim Albarano, who just completed his junior year, sent an e-mail to 200 supporters telling them to protest the decision to church elders and Pepperdine officials.

“They picked the wrong person to persecute with Justin,” he said. “He’s the sweetest kid. Nobody could think this situation was anything but blatant discrimination.”

Albarano said Pepperdine officials misunderstand the alliance’s purpose. “Everyone who comes to these meetings is not necessarily embracing the [gay] lifestyle,” Albarano said. “We’re just embracing conversation on the topic.”

The 20-member alliance has not been recognized by Pepperdine--which translates into university funding--because officials believe it conflicts with the school’s mission, he said.

Many Colleges Recognize Gay Groups

Gay student groups, such as those at Yeshiva, Southern Methodist and Georgetown universities, are recognized at dozens of other religious colleges around the country.

Still, gay students at other schools run into opposition.

Loyola Marymount’s Gay and Lesbian Awareness group is listed on the university Web site along with other social groups. But it remains unrecognized--unfunded by the university--after losing a 1990 lawsuit requesting that status, said Frankie Parra Camacho, co-chairman of the group.

“It’s very stressful because we’re constantly fighting to stay alive,” Parra Camacho said. “But every time we think it’s bad here, we look at Pepperdine and are grateful that at least we have as much as we do.”

Visiting other colleges, both religiously affiliated and not, has shown Emerick a whole other world, he said. At USC, for example, one dormitory section has been set aside as a special-interest “Rainbow Floor” for gay students and their supporters.

“It’s almost unreal to think that Pepperdine can be so closed-minded when there’s such a diverse world on other Los Angeles campuses,” Emerick said. “And while I don’t regret going to Pepperdine, things like this really make me not want to be there sometimes.”