What we know about Bob Jones University is that it is one of the scariest evangelical Christian colleges out there. Located in Greenville, South Carolina, it’s had an inordinate political influence over the decades and, in 1980, former chancellor Bob Jone III wished publicly we’d return to stoning homosexuals, like in the Bible.
He made that claim on the steps of the White House, FYI.
What we’re not sure of, is whether the press release we got from a new nonprofit group comprised of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning and straight affirming alumni and students is on the level.
It’s not that we don’t think such a group exists—most Christian colleges have unofficial gay groups, that meet in secret like the Underground Railroad.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
But the group at Bob Jones, allegedly formed in January, is called BJUnity (pronounced “B.J. Unity” we were informed in an email.)
Seriously? We know you guys are Protestants, but you didn’t pick up on that?
Well assuming it is legit, a contingent of LGBT and allied BJU alumni will walk in the New York Pride March on Sunday.
Um, so you stayed in the closet in South Carolina but you’re out and proud in New York?
The goal is to raise awareness about a petition asking the chancellor to apologize for his mean-old stoning comment and “subsequent extreme rhetoric and the systematic mistreatment by university administrators of LGBT+ students and alumni,” according to a statement we received from BJUnity’s Jeffrey Hoffman:
On the steps of the White House, the current chancellor of the school, Bob Jones III, notoriously proclaimed ‘I’m sure this will be greatly misquoted but it would not be a bad idea to bring the swift justice today that was brought in Israel’s day against murder and rape and homosexuality. I guarantee it would solve the problem post-haste if homosexuals were stoned, if murderers were immediately killed as the Bible commands.’
He has never apologized nor disavowed that statement and the university continues a long-standing tradition of anti-gay rhetoric and policies, including expelling gay students and banning gay alumni from its campus.
You know what? Just walk away.
BJUnity, and LGBT groups at Brigham Young and other oppressive schools, should spend their time and resources helping students start a new life somewhere else. Sure, it’s hard to walk away from your community and family, especially if they’re paying for school. But 18, 19 and 20-year-olds start lives of their own every day.
Because the days of nicely asking our abusers to apologize are gone. And that’s what is it—abuse.
Mike Rogers
You seriously think a 19-year old should walk away from a paid education in order to leave an environment with even underground support? If a teenager is being harassed or abused, I get it… but to say ‘just get up and walk away from a paid for education,” is pretty crappy advice.
acutepbos
A long time ago the university I was working for sent me here on business. Not knowing what Bob Jones Univ was about, I went, and even accepted an offer of a campus tour and free lunch. During the tour they made no bones of their piety and devotion, but also their fervor against not just LGBTs but other innocuous things like inter-racial dating (they refused to allow it on campus and lost their tax-exempt status at one time over the issue).
So tell me… WHY are they giving away free education? And just what kind of education do you think that is? Is it any use for a budding 19 y/o queer? The suggestion to walk away isn’t advice it’s common sense.
Funny… these prosletyzers are the ones that say gay men are pedophiles because we have to “convert” more to our side.
Jeffrey Hoffman
Thanks so much for the mention.
I assure you we are on the level. We have been blogging for six months at LGBT-BJU.org (which now redirects to our brand new site on BJUnity.org). And, yes, we get the joke. We didn’t have the opportunity to name BJU. 🙂 Many of us did leave years ago, but there are many, many people in the BJU environment who need our help.
Unfortunately, what many people think they know about BJU, and your own misunderstanding of the fundamentalist subculture, do not really reflect an accurate picture of the school. Firstly, BJU is not an evangelical school. It doesn’t use that word and never has. It is a fundamentalist school. Extreme, separatist, isolating. Secondly, BJU exercises control through a vast network of Independent Fundamental churches (independent of denominational control, but not independent of the influence of the BJU franchise that in many cases paid for their establishment and demands unwavering loyalty through financial covenants).
The upshot of this culture of secrecy and control is that many young people from those IFB feeder churches are either homeschooled (using BJU-published curriculum and support services) or come from Christian schools where BJU-trained teachers and BJU-published curriculum are the norm. To grow up queer in that sort of environment is unbelievably difficult, and it is a culture that is beyond traumatic to escape. Most young people who attend BJU do so because their parents have made the choice for them, and they are unaware of other viable choices. Our “who we are” section of our new site details many stories of those for whom that was the case. I myself was born on the BJU campus and spent the first eighteen years of my life as a student there. Leaving was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I risked losing everything: parents, siblings, friends, my entire social framework. My experience was typical for students in that environment.
We are here to change the conversation, to confront the hate speech from a group of people that wields tremendous political power and controls a large religious subculture throughout the USA. We all saw and heard the shocking extremist rhetoric from IFB preachers in North Carolina last month. The stakes are too high to just walk away.
Jeffrey Hoffman
This is what needs to change:
http://bjunity.org/confronting-hatred/of-electric-fences-and-burning-crosses-jeffrey-hoffman/
Dave.
I went to one of the feeder schools in Wilmington, NC. The environment there is oppressive to say the least. I was forced to stay by my family through senior year. I’m glad I didn’t go to one of their colleges. It damaged everyone. Half my class had to get professional counseling after graduating. The other half are truly into it and always will be, more than likely. It’s a mindset, a schema, a way of looking at the universe and ordering your life that could be great if it wasn’t wrapped up with the lies, distortions, willful ignorance, guilt, manipulation and control that fearful people in power over children and young adults feel the need to exercise to make themselves feel better. That’s a lot of crap to realise you’ve grown up into and learn to shed. It’s difficult to parse through the experiences and be willing to sacrifice them all because the few good moments were so hard to find. I could say much, much more, but that suffices as a basic intro of what people go through trying to stay or leave.
LarryG
As a former student at this “University” and member of BJUnity, I can tell you a few things about this place from and “outsider” perspective. I chose to go there. I didn’t want to be gay and I has hoped that by choosing the most fundamentalist place on earth I could, that God would see my desire and make me straight. Obviously that didn’t happen. I could only stand one semester then my hormones and the realization of who I really was became to crushing and I left. I later found out that it was the best thing I have ever done. The “degrees” this place cranks out are worthless in the real world. They are good for little more than working in the organizations that Jeffrey mentions above. About the only degrees worth more than the paper they are printed on are the Accounting degrees. Arthur Anderson used to recruit very heavily from the place.
So we see it as our job to 1) Protect the LGBTQ kids that are there against their will and 2) Yes! Be there for them when they are outted. A recent example is our dear friend who was kicked out for watching Glee off campus. Yes he is one of us, and we are supportive of him and will be for the 10 to 20 who are “shipped” every year for nothing more than being who they are against the policy of the University.
It is human nature to attack what we do not understand and I think that is what you are doing in this article. Rather than attack us and belittle us, you should have found out what we stand for and why we are doing what we do FIRST, then wrote your little article.
Bill
Former BJU alum here (85)
Dave said in his comment ” It’s a mindset, a schema, a way of looking at the universe and ordering your life that could be great if it wasn’t wrapped up with the lies, distortions, willful ignorance, guilt, manipulation and control that fearful people in power over children and young adults feel the need to exercise to make themselves feel better.”
In other words, it’s a CULT. I had always resisted using that word to describe what happens on that campus, but after reconnecting with so many others, some who had it better than me, but far more who had downright frightening experiences, there is no other word that accurately describes what happens there.
Because it is cult, that is why so many young people cannot simply “walk away”, and need the support network (and confidentiality) that BJUnity provides.
Dave.
Bill, I didn’t really want to use the C-word, but yes, that’s right on. In the (little c)atholic sense of the word, it is a cult of Christianity, almost on par with Mormonism or the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Steve Shamblin
I am one of the founding board members of this group. At 36 I came out after being at the university as a student for 4 years and a faculty/staff member for 14 years. I was scared to death to come out even at my age. Coming out is hard enough, but coming out in fundamentalism means that you not only face the usual hurt and sadness as some don’t understand, but you face ostracism from a realm that we had known all of our lives–all the friends, all the family.
There are young adults on that campus who if they come out, they will be thrown out of their house. This group is a support group and yes, an underground railroad, if need be, to help these young ones get a foothold on life outside of the gates of Bob Jones University and fundamentalism.
I lived through those years of secrecy, fearful someone would find out. I don’t want anyone in that culture to live 36 years of their life in fear just because of hate-filled preachers and a university.
For an online rag that purports to support gay issues, this editorial smacks of what we would expect from our long-ago educational institution.
Michael Thomas Ford
Unfortunately, this is the typical ignorant, knee-jerk response from the majority of the queer community that has no experience with Bible-based institutions and therefore can’t understand the reality behind the lives of students who end up at them. Dan Avery would do well to listen to the people trying to educate him.
John Pigate
It’s clear to me from reading your article that you did not do your homework–otherwise you would not have published such a snarky, ill-conceived and callous response to what is a truly authentic movement of BJU alumni and former staff. This is just the kind of close-mindedness I despise about sites such as Queerty.com.
TWF
I expected unrational attacks from the Fundamentallists because that’s who they are and what they do. I didn’t expect to be maligned from my own kind. Thanks for the support.
Kev C
Apollo is the only true god.
LarryG
I want to clarify my comment from above, since I cannot edit it. In no way am I implying that everyone who belongs to BJUnity is LGBT, neither am I making any implication as to the above referenced person’s sexuality. MANY hundreds of people get “shipped” from BJU annually for MANY different reasons. We know from personal experience that a person can be expelled for a declared reason but the behind the scenes reasons are usually different and motivated by a perceived infraction by the staff.
Pygar
Kev C: NO, Dionysus! (I feel a tragedy in the making.)
LadyL
Snark is what Queerty usually does, both in its articles and the comments they provoke, and to be honest is the main reason I visit the site. Sometimes though the tone doesn’t do the subject proper justice and this is clearly one of those times. On the other hand, Dan Avery’s post has brought out the best in the illuminating replies and that is also a reason I come here. Thanks all of you, for the education.
LadyL
And btw, how timid is the mainstream press in its coverage of BJU? I’ve seen news stories about the place before but until now never understood just how deeply, dangerously, regressive this “university” truly is! (BJUnity, you do the Lord’s work.)
Derek
“Get your degree THEN start a new life.” – says Captain Obvious to Mr. Avery
Ronalld Goetz
Every broad-based movement will generate a wide variety of participation. Remember the saying: “All politics is local.” The fact that different approaches to religious institutions will be taken by different people is just a fact.
The fact is that many gays and lesbians have “just walked away” from their churches, which is fine. For many, walking away from a situation is exactly what they need to do. There is nothing that requires anyone to stay in a situation that is toxic for them in order to “work for change from within.”
For other, staying involved (inside or outside the institution) and trying to make a change is exactly what they need to do.
Some people will be unable to accept a diversity of responses to conservative churches. That’s understandable, too. Even though we have “diversity” as a watchword, we aren’t necessarily able to accept diversity in all its forms.
And that’s just a fact, too.
connor rowe
@Mike Rogers: yes, i do.
Jacob Oblak
It’s sad that the comments under the article contain far more truth and honesty than the article itself. Also, I wasn’t really expecting such fundamentalist closed-mindedness from Queerty. Perhaps I’ve missed the irrational side of this website, but I guess there’s a first time for everything. Thanks a lot, author.
Red Assault
It kinda kills me a bit on the inside to say this because I’m a huge fan of Michael Thomas Ford and his book “Path of the Green Man” was part of my own personal reinvention.
But I don’t honestly see the snark in the article. Frankly, many of us are very mistrusting of any extreme religious “University” that suddenly has a gay group. The BYU video that was presented as a clip shot by students but was very obviously a professional production and released as a sort of “image repair” phony “grass roots” campaign was one. And sorry, but a group named “BJ Unity” sounds like a parody. We all know it.
I get it that kids who grew up in horrible, oppressive and downright hateful environments are fucked up with a capital F,U,C,K,E,D, U, and P. And that sucks.
But being all nicey nice and wasting your time asking someone to apologize for something that we all know they’re (a) not sorry for and (b) will get brownie points for refusing and doubling-down? That’s just asinine.
Ronalld Goetz
Let me suggest something. If you are skeptical about BJUNITY, visit their website and read the coming out stories there. Read the stories about being kicked out of the school. Educate yourself with the experience of other people.
And realize one thing. BJUNITY is making an appeal to the simple conscience and humanity of their Christian audience. If that audience is one you’ve given up on, that’s okay. That’s understandable. It takes certain kind of people to really work with people who are really different from yourself. Some people have that ability, and some people don’t.
Ronalld Goetz
@Ronalld Goetz: Do you really think BJUNITY expects an apology? Use your heads. There are excellent reasons for couching their approach as a request for an apology, not least of which has to do with getting reasonable people to sign on.
hunnylvr
I grew up in a church/school that would definitely be a “feeder” school for BJU in a suburb of Chicago. My parents had the brilliant idea of listening to some lunatic going door to door and doing his duty of “witnessing” to try and save the lost souls of the ‘burbs. He told them about the school, and lucky me, heading into first grade, it’s where I went. 85% of the staff, plus the superintendent (also the pastor of the church) were BJU grads. When I was in grade school, I didn’t realize what was going on. But by 7th grade or so, I knew I was in trouble. The older I got, and the more they pumped up the staff with more recent BJU grads (installing a “youth pastor” who was fresh and fiery from the cult of piety he just graduated from), the more tortured I felt. I struggled SO MUCH when I realized that my biggest crush, my object of lust was another woman. I kept trying to pray to make it go away. I knew I was on my way to hell. This led me to an escalating level of rebellious teenager stage which got me kicked out of the school twice… even though my mother was a secretary on staff at the time (yes further insult to injury, I was a “staff kid” which magnified everything). Going to that school was pure, unadulterated HELL. It took me decades of therapy to heal from the mind-fuck and accept who I am. When I came out, many of the friends I grew up with simply abandoned me. They treated me as though I were diseased. This included the girl I was so in love with who was one of my closest friends since the 4th grade.
Looking back now, I’m happy I got away, but I’m grateful for the strong person I became for having endured that. Others aren’t so lucky. And yes, it is 100% a CULT. Talk about “recruiting”!! I can’t tell you how many times throughout high school, we had to listen to them try and convince us that the only option for college was BJU. I even took a trip there with the rest of my classmates as a junior. Makes me shudder to think I was almost sent off to the slaughter. Thank god (haha), I was such a “bad kid” and got tossed out of school before my senior year and got to experience a nice, normal public school. It saved my life.
Oh, and if anyone actually thinks that the higher-ups at BJU would EVER apologize for condemning homos, you are living in a dream world. Better off to tell them all to go fuck themselves and get on with your lives. Trust me, it’ll be more satisfying.
Justin VanLeeuwen
As a gay alumnus of Bob Jones University, I take umbrage with Dan Avery’s article on BJUnity. It was dismissive in tone and painfully obvious that he had made little to no effort to educate himself.
To deal with the least significant grievance first, the joke regarding the name of BJUnity is both pointed and vapid. I personally never caught the joke until I was twenty-three and my then-boyfriend had to explain to me with great bemusement why he was laughing. Yes, it is funny that I could be so unaware, but (though I may not be representative in this particular case) it also illustrates the tragic reality of repression that exists at BJU. On the other hand, the school suffers the same unfortunate, albeit humorous, fate as Furman University (FU) located only ten minutes from the Bob Jones campus. The irony is only greater in BJU’s case because of its intractable religious stance. To mock us for these realities, however, seems somewhat ungenerous.
In regard to the author’s obvious, if understandable, ignorance regarding Christian fundamentalist institutions, I think Jeffrey Hoffman, Executive Director of BJUnity, distilled the issue well in his comment on the article: “BJU is not an evangelical school. It doesn’t use that word and never has. It is a fundamentalist school. Extreme, separatist, isolating.” I might add that it looks on evangelical Christianity with the greatest suspicion. He went on to explain that Bob Jones is not merely a school but an embodiment of a culture that insulates its members from outside influences in an attempt to move children fluidly from cradle to college in the tight grasp of the fundamental Christian atmosphere. I myself was born on the campus and worked at and attended the school (and its approved churches) until I graduated with my B.A. Everyone I knew was associated either with the school or my church. In three of the four houses I called home during my childhood, my immediate next door neighbors (among others) went to my church or worked at and sent their children to Bob Jones. To suggest that escape is possible implies that there is something to escape to. For so many of us, outside of the culture in which we were raised nothing existed.
In this light, the difference between living in South Carolina (not that most of us still live there anyway, but of those who do, most are actually “out and proud”) and a large urban center like New York City with its network of gay friendly entities and individuals may shine more starkly and perhaps elicit a little more sympathy and understanding.
The final substantive issue regarding how we address “our tormentors and abusers” is more complex, I think. On the one hand, to simply walk away sounds so right. Why should we care what they say about us? They can’t touch us anymore. And even if Bob Jones III did make an apology for the barbarity of his statement, he would surely bookend it with reassurances that homosexuality is still sinful and depraved, so what would be gained? He would merely have moved his brand of homophobia back into the mainstream.
On the other hand, as the author points out, there are students still in the school who need our help. They need to hear positive voices of validation counteracting those of condemnation. And we are trying to be that voice. Because though Bob Jones University can’t touch me anymore, and it would be so easy to walk away and leave it all behind me, there are those who don’t have that option, and they aren’t all eighteen and nineteen years old. They’re fifteen, twelve, nine. And they can’t walk away.
Georgiatrumpet
First off let me start by saying that I am a straight man. I am an evangelical minister who holds three SACS fully accredited graduate degrees, including an M.Div. from the largest private four year college in the world. I am Southern Baptist. I am also completely disabled with muscular dystrophy. I live on Social Security disability.
In MY opinion I am very displeased with Jeffrey Hoffman and or other members of BJ Unity. In my opinion Jeffrey Hoffman has been very verbally abusive towards me. I tried to take the high road with him and a few of his friends, perhaps some of them are also a part of BJ Unity, but in my opinion Jeffrey Hoffman cyber bullied me on a fb page called Bob Jones University Survivors FB page. In my opinion BJ Unity founder Jeffrey Hoffman also created a hate facebook page with the intent of harassing and mocking me, that allegedly was so offensive that Facebook removed it within about an hour of when he allegedly created it. In my opinion Jeffrey Hoffman was very rude and narrow minded, unwilling to accept any other points of views except his own that the homosexual lifestyle is an acceptable lifestyle. In my opinion BJ Unity founder Jeffrey Hoffman becomes very rude, disrespectful and combative to anyone who does not believe that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle. Hoffman in my opinion mocked me, as in he made fun of me, my musical abilities , and my family home. Allegedly the hate facebook page that BJ Unity founder Jeffrey Hoffman made mocked me , allegedly making fun of me for living in a doublewide trailer. BJ Unity founder Jeffrey Hoffman allegeldy posted a picture of a doublewide trailer that is not my home, and he alleged that it was my house. In my opinion he and some of his friends ( I think some may also be BJ Unity members, but not all of them) continued to cyber bully me after I asked them not to. The above is just my opinion of what happened.
Personally I think that Jeffrey Hoffman and or BJ Unity is harming the cause of the LGBT community. In my opinion the LGBT community will not improve relations with those who are not LGBT by acting with the kind of behavior that has been shown by Jeffrey Hoffman and or BJ Unity.
Rich
@Georgiatrumpet:
Writing “in my opinion” before every statement does not automatically release someone from liability for defamation if the statement is one that would reasonably be understood as factual, assuming that the other elements of defamation are present (statement is false, objectionable, etc.) A court is likely to find that several of your statements above meet that test. You would be wise to remove these potentially defamatory statements before Mr. Hoffman is compelled to seek legal redress against you.
Richard Merritt, Esq.
Georgiatrumpet
Here is the proof untouched from Facebook where BJ Unity founder Jeffrey Hoffman created a hate facebook page, in direct violation of Facebook rules, with the intention to mock me, a disabled person.
______________________________
“Jeffrey Hoffman Here you go, Michael Schmidt. I made i t JUST FOR YOU.
Yesterday at 19:22
”
Jeffrey Hoffman https://www.facebook.com/groups/390052594413481/members/
Yesterday at 19:22
Michael Schmidt “This is a place for Michael Schmidt to discuss all things Southern Baptist, BoJo, double-wide and trumpet without any homos around.” Re: Jeffrey Hoffman please do not associate my name with that kind of hate. Thank you.
Yesterday at 19:26
Jeffrey Hoffman It’s your group. Join it, I’ll make you an admin, and then you can have it all to yourself.
Yesterday at 19:27
Jeffrey Hoffman They’re already clamoring to join, Michael Schmidt.”
Georgiatrumpet
You would be wise to remove these potentially defamatory statements before Mr. Hoffman is compelled to seek legal redress against you.
Richard Merritt, Esq.
Re: If you only say the TRUTH, you really have nothing to hide now do you Mister Richard Merritt, Esq.
Is that mister J.D. Esq., or just Mister Richard Merritt Esq. no JD?
If you have a JD where did you go to law school? What state do you practice law in?
Are you gay , straight, bi, transgender, transvestite , curious or any other I did not mention?
Take a look at the untouched proof above copied from the BJU Survivors Fb page which is proof that BJ Unity founder Jeffrey Hoffman created a Facebook page to allegedly harass, mock and cyber bully me.
Georgiatrumpet
Here is just one example of an untouched post from BJ Unity Founder Jeffrey Hoffman:
“Jeffrey Hoffman When you tell someone who is gay “I love you but I hate your sin,” you are not declaring the gospel to him or her. You are telling that person that you hate who they are. “I love you, but I hate your trumpet playing” isn’t even remotely close to the same kind of remark, but you know how that makes you feel if I say it “
Georgiatrumpet
Here is a FB Picture that BJ Unity founder Jeffrey Hoffman founder created just to make fun of me for being adult enough to take the high road:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200242628447870&set=o.401750793197107&type=1&theater
Georgiatrumpet
Can you edit your posts? I did not mean to say founder twice on that last post.
Georgiatrumpet
Firstly, BJU is not an evangelical school.
Re: I would disagree with that statement. However legalistic and Independent Baptist , Bob Jones University is nevertheless a school that is evangelical.
Georgiatrumpet
“to confront the hate speech” – Jeffrey Hoffman founder BJ Unity
Re: But one has to ask, is Mr. Jeffrey Hoffman of BJ Unity around to confront the hate speech, or to make hate speech?
If Mr. Jeffrey Hoffman founder of BJ Unity comes to end hate speech, instead of making hate speech, why did he allegedly post this hate on Facebook?
_____________________________
”
Jeffrey Hoffman https://www.facebook.com/groups/390052594413481/members/
Yesterday at 19:22
Michael Schmidt “This is a place for Michael Schmidt to discuss all things Southern Baptist, BoJo, double-wide and trumpet without any homos around.”
”
Full story here: http://www.queerty.com/okay-seriously-the-lgbt-group-at-bob-jones-university-is-called-bj-unity-20120618/#ixzz2Ff4Eq0bt
Read more at http://www.queerty.com/okay-seriously-the-lgbt-group-at-bob-jones-university-is-called-bj-unity-20120618/#FSx37dA67gje0JvA.99
Georgiatrumpet
Here is some more of BJ Unity founder Jeffrey Hoffman’s alleged hate speech:
Jeffrey Hoffman: “It’s your double wide, trumpet “playing,” SBC apologism, your alleged doctorate, your BoJo “connections” and your inability to listen to others that we find amusing.”
Georgiatrumpet
Here is some more of BJ Unity founder Jeffrey Hoffman’s alleged hate speech:
” Jeffrey Hoffman: Where is your high road taking you, Michael? Or are you just high?”
Georgiatrumpet
Here is some more of BJ Unity founder Jeffrey Hoffman’s alleged hate speech:
” Jeffrey Hoffman: What’s the matter, Michael, don’t like being trolled? ”
Here is an example of BJ Unity founder Jeffrey Hoffman allegedly making several false allegations and also alleging to call local law enforcement and, cough, the Federal Bureau of Investigation:
”
Jeffrey Hoffman: Abusing members of this group with threatening FB messages is not going to get you reinstated, Michael. It is going to get you reported to local law enforcement and quite possibly the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
How dare you threaten a disabled person? How dare you cyber stalk him? This is not acceptable behavior.
5 hours ago via mobile · 2 “
Georgiatrumpet
Here are some more of BJ Unity founder Jeffrey Hoffman’s bizarre unfounded allegations:
“Jeffrey Hoffman: Called him up on an unlisted PRIVATE telephone number. Cyber-stalking.”
Georgiatrumpet
Just in case any of you believe that I am just making all of this stuff up, unless it gets erased, you can read the entire thread for yourself here (please note that you may have to join this group in order to see this) :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/BobJonesUniversitySurvivors/?ref=ts&fref=ts
volleytx
Georgiatrumpet,
Dude. Get a hobby or a cat…. or better yet a prescription. I’ve never seen someone obsess so much about someone they don’t even like.
Bear100
So a cursory Google search finds this about “Georgiatrumpet”:
http://rlrr.drum-corps.net/religion/251
Apparently Georgiatrumpet aka Michael Schmidt, is a regular internet troll and has been for a very, very long time.
He is apparently also on parole for a felony right now.
Michael, isn’t threatening someone via phone a violation of your parole?
Georgiatrumpet
Volleytx I have plenty of hobbies, prescriptions and cats. This is not an obsession, I really do not care about Jeffrey Hoffman, BJ Unity, or the Bob Jones University Survivors FB page. I do not hate anyone. I am just presenting the facts.
Georgiatrumpet
I want nothing else to do with Jeffrey Hoffman , BJ Unity , or any of Hoffman’s friends. I am going to take the high road. I want to stop talking about him. I do not want to have anything else to do with him.
Georgiatrumpet
So a cursory Google search finds this about “Georgiatrumpet”:
http://rlrr.drum-corps.net/religion/251
Apparently Georgiatrumpet aka Michael Schmidt, is a regular internet troll and has been for a very, very long time.
He is apparently also on parole for a felony right now.
Michael, isn’t threatening someone via phone a violation of your parole?
Re: Again I am going to take the high road and not even comment about that dated silliness over on James A. Chapppell’s website. I have nothing to say about him at all.
Who is and who is not a troll is the question? Again I am going to take the high road , you can call me a troll if you want to, so many people branding each other as trolls these days…just don’t call me late for dinner.
As far as allegations that I am on parole, I am not on parole, and I have never been on parole. I am not a felon, and I have never even been charged with a felony.
I am not on probation. Jim and I are professionals, and we have resolved this conflict.
netcop
@Georgiatrumpet:
“Dr.” Schmidt taking the high road: http://www.voy.com/129615/988.html
netcop
@netcop:
Another example of “Dr.” Schmidt taking the high road: http://goo.gl/nX8Jr
Georgiatrumpet
Correction. I was under the impression that Jeffrey Hoffman was the founder of BJ Unity. Although Jeffrey Hoffman is the current Executive Director of BJ Unity, he was not the founder of BJ Unity. I am sorry for any confusion that this error may have caused.
Be blessed.
Jeffrey Hoffman
I am writing because this blog post’s comment section is being referenced by a group of homophobic Christian fundamentalists to “prove” that BJUnity is not in fact a bona-fide not-for-profit organization incorporated in the State of New York (the Secretary of State of New York can verify this information) whose 501(c)(3) application is in-process at present.
Since this hate group’s page (https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=273360432795398&id=257596704371771) is referencing the comments of “Georgiatrumpet” above, let us be very clear that “Georgiatrumpet” is in fact “Dr.” Michael Schmidt, a Southern Baptist trumpet player whose homophobic rants may be found in several locations on the internet as other comments above have noted.
“Dr.” Schmidt was banned from an open Facebook Group called Bob Jones University Survivors (https://www.facebook.com/groups/BobJonesUniversitySurvivors/) for continuing hate speech against the LGBT+ members of that group despite repeated warnings. He decided to retaliate by resorting to the litany of posts above, which we have until now ignored.
BJUnity’s board of directors is committed to confronting homophobia in compassion, dignity and love, with the objective to promote dialogue and change.
We have published numerous personal stories of the struggles that LGBT+ people face within the fundamentalist environment at http://bjunity.org/who-we-are/
It is difficult sometimes to show love and compassion when faced with the malicious and slanderous lies with which the anonymous proprietor(s) of the “C.A.F.E.” Facebook page have attacked us. We are determined to remain the voice for change within the fundamentalist Christian community and, as far as is humanly possible, to respond with dignity and kindness.
netcop
As far as allegations that I am on parole, I am not on parole, and I have never been on parole.
While technically true, “Dr.” Michael E Schmidt was convicted and sentenced to probation:
http://www.gwinnettcourts.com/home.asp#casedetail/case:01%2dd%2d01199%2ds2/