Preparing for the Ride of My Life

2012 Equality Riders, including three riders who grew up LDS: Jason Conner (floor, far left) and Robert Moore (couch, far right). Photo: Cole Parke

Robert Moore

A Passion for Equality: A Conversation with Robert Moore  2012 Equality Ride Robert’s Rider Page “Do As I’m Doing” (Primary Song)

Affirmation Calendar  January 20-22 Mormon Stories Conference in Houston January 25-29 Creating Change Conference in Baltimore October 19-21 Affirmation Conference in Seattle

by Robert Moore, Affirmation Vice President

What an amazing week and a half it has been. On January 3 at 12:55am I flew to Miami, Florida, for a week-long training. The training was for Soulforce’s 2012 Equality Ride. The Equality Ride is a bus of seventeen young adults who travel across the country visiting colleges with unfriendly policies or practices towards LGBTQ students, staff, and faculty. We are from all across the country, from Philadelphia to Portland, and from all different faith backgrounds, three (including myself) being raised LDS.

Each morning kicked off at 8:30am with an ice breaker. One morning the three LDS riders taught the rest the song “Do as I’m Doing.” We ended each night around 9:00 pm, with only a few five-minute breaks and an hour for meals. We dove into conversations most people avoid. On the lighter side of the topics were a communications seminar, Bible boot camp, and media training complete with recording mock interviews. On the more difficult side were intense conversations on classism and race. At the end of February, we will have our second week-long training right before we jump on the bus. This training will include a civil disobedience training and Mormonism 101.

The Equality Ride takes off from Philadelphia on March 3. We will be visiting Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake City, Portland, and San Francisco between March 3 and May 2. I look forward to meeting students all across the country and having some great but difficult conversations and seeing many of you at our community events on our stops. If you would like to support the 2012 Equality Ride, you can make a donation at my Rider Page. Contributors will receive personalized updates from the road via emails and postcards addressed by myself and my fellow riders. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have regarding the 2012 Equality Ride.

Much Love,

Robert Moore
Vice President
Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
Robert.moore (at) affirmation.org