After Christian College Posts Anti-Gay ‘Position Statement’ Gay Student Athlete Calls It Quits

A student athlete at a Christian college is calling it quits, after his school’s administration published a controversial anti-gay position statement.

Until recently Erskine, a 176-year old private Christian college in the rural hills of South Carolina, was relatively unknown. But after the school’s administration published a controversial anti-gay policy essentially banning homosexuality, Erskine has come front and center in the media.

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It all started when Outsports, a well-respected news site focusing on athletes who are LGBT, published a profile last year of two of Erskine’s volleyball players, Drew Davis and Juan Varona, who are openly gay. The college then, and some say in response to the article, published a damning statement on homosexuality, labeling it “sin,” and threatening that “institutional decisions will be made in light of this position.” That’s when Outsports reported on the policy, bringing it under the media’s spotlight. Erskine College is insisting on claiming that statement is merely its “position,” not its policy.

Davis and Varona, according to several Outsports articles, their twitter feeds, and other news reports, seemed quite happy at Erskine, and despite the college’s conservative Christian beliefs, felt welcomed by their teachers, coaches, and classmates.

At least, until Erskine’s administration, under the leadership of Dr. Paul Kooistra, Erskine’s president, published the anti-gay statement.

When the school issued a follow up to clarify its “position” on homosexuality, in a stunning move it sent it via Twitter directly to Davis and Varona. That tweet was deleted, but not before both students saw it and responded.

Now, Varona tells The New York Times he is calling it quits.

Varona says he “was shocked,” when the policy was published. “I had never had any hints from the college that they would release a statement like that. I’ve always been treated well. I feel everybody is moving toward equality and getting more accepting. It’s like they’re putting it in bold that they don’t like it.”

The Times, in an extensive article published Wednesday, reports that Varona has quit the volleyball team, although for reasons unrelated to the anti-gay statement. He wants to transfer to another school as well. Regardless, the Times notes that Varona “could not have permitted himself to continue in volleyball anyway at Erskine, he said, after the college took its stand against same-sex relationships.”

“I wouldn’t feel right representing Erskine knowing they don’t represent or support me,” Mr. Varona said.

Yesterday, Varona did offer a very kind and generous statement, via Twitter:

Dr. Kooistra told the Times, “When I came here, I said we were going to be a Christ-centered institution. The only way I know to be Christ-centered is to be biblical.”

As far as we know, the school has not issued any “position” statements, as Outsports suggested, on keeping the sabbath holy by not playing sports on Sundays.

 

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