Via the Hairpin’s sister site The Awl this time: Queer students at the very Christian Harding University have published a ‘zine trying to explain themselves to the rest of the student body. It’s pretty damn’ hard to read, although maybe just because it sounds pretty damn’ familiar to me:

Our voices are muted, our stories go unheard, and we are forced into hiding. We are threatened with re-orientation therapy, social isolation, and expulsion. We are told stories and lies that we are disgusting sinnners who are dammed [sic] to hell, that we are broken individuals and child abusers. We are told we will live miserable lives and are responsible for the collapse of civilization. …. We are good people who are finished being treated as second-class citizens at Harding. We have done nothing wrong and we did not choose this suppression.

From the vantage point of someone for whom it got better, it’s hard not to see a certain amount of cognitive dissonance underlying the attempts to engage the intended audience with Biblical exegesis. But you know what, Harding University queers? Whether or not God hears your “cries for liberation from harsh oppression,” the rest of us do.

Naturally, Harding University has blocked access to the ‘zine website on its campus.