Christian college's 1st out, queer student body president sparks a reckoning

It’s the same paper that, a month prior, had run a letter to the editor by a Calvin professor who wrote of his traditional views of marriage backed up, he said, by Scripture and God (in response to a local church appointing a deacon who is in a same-sex marriage).https://www.instagram.com/p/CGaDly1AcHYMurashima’s op-ed was titled “I am Calvin University’s first openly LGBTQ student body president,” and in it, she came out as bisexual, saying she was sharing her story because of the importance of representation.“When I was younger, I saw very few examples of people who love like me in the church and other leadership positions I aspired to,” she wrote. When the demographics of our university’s administrators and professors doesn’t match the diversity of our world, we are not reflecting the Kingdom of God.”The reception to the op-ed varied.“There were people who wished I’d been more like, ‘Speak truth to power!’ and people who wished I’d respected the wishes of the institution more,” Murashima said.People outside of Calvin, she added, reached out to her and told her about their conflicts around their sexuality and their beliefs and about coming out to their parents.She said there was some tension, both with other students and with the school administrators, but it got better. We want all of our students to know that they are loved.” He also wrote that Calvin affirms “sexual intimacy is a gift from God to be celebrated in marriage between a man and a woman.”Murashima graduated in May. She said the conversations that were sparked on campus were inspiring to her.“Not every queer person should be — or wants to be — changing the institution that oppresses them, but that’s just who I am,” she said.