Check out Tim Miller’s related story on LGBT rights and hate crime legislation.

Faith In America’s “Call to Courage” campaign aims to raise awareness of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the religious barriers they face in church.

Faith In America is a nonprofit organization seeking to educate the country on religious-based bigotry.

The group began its campaign May 6 in Ames, and on May 31, a city council meeting will be held to discuss the mission of Faith In America and what its “Call to Courage” campaign will be doing over the next few months across the nation.

Faith In America was founded in 2005 by Mitchell Gold. Its mission statement claims its campaign focuses on liberating gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people from all types of religious bigotry they face because of their sexual orientation.

According to its Web site, the organization believes the barriers associated with sexual orientation and the barriers once shown toward people of color, to women, and to people of minority religions in the church are comparable. The organization is confident that after bigotry toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community is exposed, the public will dismiss the religious teachings about these issues found in the Bible just as it dismissed racial and sexist teachings in the past. They also hope to gain ground in churches nationwide by allowing LGBT people to be members of the church or possibly even ordained as pastors.

Hector Avalos, associate professor of religious studies, said groups campaigning for the emancipation of LGBT individuals are fairly new, coming to the forefront only within the last 10 years or so.

Avalos also said groups such as Faith in America have taken huge strides in educating people and are gaining ground.

“Faith in America shows how far gay rights have come within the Christian religion,” he said.

However, some religious groups are trying to break the stride of campaigns like that of Faith in America. Groups and churches around the country accepting the LGBT community are strongly ostracized by other groups and churches seeking to strictly adhere to biblical teachings.

The Westboro Baptist Church, which was founded by Pastor Fred Phelps in 1955, has been known for its rage and anger toward the gay community. The church runs the Web site www.godhatesfags.com. According to the Web site, the church engages in “daily, peaceful sidewalk demonstrations opposing the homosexual lifestyle of soul-damning, nation-destroying filth” with signs reading “God Hates Fags,” and “Fags Burn in Hell,” among others.

The Web site gives a list of churches that are accepting of the gay community under the title “Fag Churches” and references the Bible’s derogatory sections often.

The United Church of Christ is one denomination that is on the other side of the argument. UCC churches across the country are open to a variety of people, including the gay community.

According to the Web site of Ames United Church of Christ Congregational, 217 Sixth Street, the church “welcomes all people of any age, gender, race, culture, ability or sexual orientation into our community of faith and affirms the worth of all people as unique individuals made in God’s image.”

Stephen McDuff, pastor of the Ames United Church of Christ Congregational, said he finds the mission of the Westboro Baptist Church to be upsetting.

“It just makes me sad because there is so much more to life,” McDuff said.

The LGBTAA’s mission at Iowa State seeks also to break down homophobia barriers and educate the campus community on issues concerning LGBT individuals, according to the Web site.

Part of its mission is to “educate the community on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and ally issues; to support members of the community who are coming to accept their sexual orientation and/or sexuality . and to provide information and moral support to persons wishing to become involved in the community.”

Matthew Fender, public relations chairman for the LGBTAA and senior in Spanish, said the LGBTAA at Iowa State has been successful in the past year with its mission.

“In the last year we have had our act together and have put on a large assortment of events,” he said.

Cyclone Bible Fellowship, in alliance with Campus Baptist Church, 57011 U.S. Highway 30, is one practicing religious group available for students at Iowa State.

Jason Hamrick, president of Cyclone Bible Fellowship and senior in operations and supply chain management, said during their fellowship, students involved in the group gather for a fun group activity and then congregate afterward for biblical study and a short church service.

“Instead of going to the bars, we get together and have fun in other ways,” Hamrick said.

Hamrick said he knew of no members of the group who were openly gay.

He did say gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals would be welcome to join the group for fellowship, although he didn’t know if it would be right for them to partake in the actual church because of their sexual orientation and the teachings in the Bible against homosexuality.

Fender said religious groups on campus are not frequented by members of the LGBTAA.

“A lot of the groups stemming from other than open and affirming churches are protecting their rights to be unsupportive,” he said.

On April 18 and 25 of 2007, members of the LGBT student community and the Evangelical Christian student community gathered to exchange their views on religion in combination with sexual orientation, hoping to build cohesive communities across campus. The event was called the ISU Intergroup Dialogues on Diversity Campus Series.

Fender said the sessions were successful in helping both sides come to an understanding of opposing views, even if they didn’t necessarily agree.