Queer at Patrick Henry College (also known as QueerPHC or QPHC) is a community of LGBTQ and allied students and alumni of Patrick Henry College, a small private Christian fundamentalist college in Northern Virginia. We exist to provide encouragement and a sense of solidarity to those LGBTQ students and alumni in the Patrick Henry College community.
The QueerPHC blog is a collaborative project produced by a number of current and former students of Patrick Henry College. We have varying opinions and beliefs about everything from religion and spirituality to whether coffee or tea (or beer!) is the best beverage invented by humans. However, one thing we share in common is our desire to help and encourage other PHCers in any way we can.
We are not officially affiliated with Patrick Henry College, and Patrick Henry College does not endorse QueerPHC. Patrick Henry College also maintains a requirement of non-advocacy for enrolled students in regards to LGBTQ issues. Since those issues are near and dear to many of us, we created this blog as a means for us to express our opinions and thoughts on LGBTQ-related topics.
This blog has already seen its share of controversy in its short lifetime. After we created QueerPHC, school chancellor Michael Farris threatened to sue us for copyright infringement. After some media attention and a call from an attorney acting on our behalf, he withdrew his threat. A few weeks later, President Graham Walker alluded to a possible LGBTQ conspiracy targeting Christian college and university campuses.
When we started QueerPHC in the summer of 2012, we were all anonymous contributors to this community, some for personal reasons, some for family/friend reasons, some for professional reasons, and some for a combination of the above. While many of us still need to preserve our anonymity at this point in time, we are happy to say that several of us have been able to partially or fully come out of the closet in the last few years.
Our vision for this blog is to tell our own personal stories of what it’s like to be queer at Patrick Henry College, and also to give queer PHC students an opportunity to respond to significant events at the college, in the United States, and around the world.
Patrick Henry College does not offer courses in Queer Studies, Sex Ed, or Gender Equality. However, these are issues that are of pressing importance in our culture today and are of importance to each of us personally. We want to make this blog a resource for students, a place to learn about LGBTQ issues and to get more information about where to reach out for support and guidance. We hope this space will be a refreshing environment for those struggling with accepting themselves.
We also think it’s important to mention briefly what this blog is not intended to be. Queer PHC was not created as a forum for discussion or argument about whether or not queer people ought to be accepted by Christians, or whether gay marriage should be celebrated. We certainly do hope that our blog sparks discussion among others, as we are supporters of open discussion, especially about this topic. And of course, we also hope that some of our readers come to agree with us. However, we did not create the blog for those who might be looking for a debate. We created it to give a voice to a group of PHC students that have long been silenced. We created it so that other PHC students would not have to feel alone or hopeless like we sometimes did while we were students.
Every QueerPHC blogger has attended PHC, and we know the isolation, shame, and fear often associated with being LGBTQ in the PHC environment. The prevailing voice towards queer persons in the PHC community is one of condemnation. But we don’t think anyone should have to be ashamed of who they are or who they love. We don’t think anyone should be forced to choose between their faith and their sexual orientation or gender identity.
We saw the artificial boundary lines that had been set, and we decided to camp out here in the middle and chat with those who walked by. We’re building a community with other wanderers. We all have a story to tell, and we’re only just learning how to tell it.
We welcome all new readers. We moderate our comments, so please keep your comments civil. And if you have a guest post idea that is both relevant and affirming to LGBTQ students and alumni of Patrick Henry College, send it our way at queerphc@gmail.com. We grant complete anonymity to our contributors (unless you wish to have your real name used.)
We hope you’ll stay for awhile!
queerphc 
July 12, 2012 at 3:52 pm
I live in Loudoun. I am straight, but my dear son is gay. I’m very glad to see this site and will be glad to do what I can to lend support to your collective or individual efforts.
July 12, 2012 at 4:30 pm
Thank you, Martha! Because of our collective backgrounds, hearing from a parent who is supportive of their LGBTQ child warms our hearts.
December 1, 2012 at 1:33 am
I don’t know if I know any of you, but I hope I do. After deconverting, I understand a little of what you’re feeling, though for some reason I can’t quite understand many Christians don’t even judge outright apostasy as harshly as they do homosexuality.
You’re doing good work, and you have my support.
December 1, 2012 at 7:19 am
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the support. We appreciate it.
Yes, that and similar things have long puzzled me about many Christians, but then few people are every accused of always making sense.
I can’t say that I really understand your choice to deconvert, but I do respect it and you for examining what you believe and making your own choice rather than just blindly following what you were taught, even if you did come to a different conclusion than I did.
December 4, 2012 at 6:15 pm
I was just curious if you all were going to present some argumentation either theological, legal, or philosophical to back up your claims. Given your target audience, flat assertion or emotional appeals really aren’t going to be that effective.
December 4, 2012 at 6:50 pm
Especially for someone like me who rejects the demonization so often presented by evangelicals, but whose philosophical beliefs (influenced by early church theology), particularly in regards to gnosticism and human nature, make acceptance of queerphc’s message an unloving act on my part.
December 4, 2012 at 7:50 pm
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for reading the blog. We do have limited plans to present “some argumentation” in the future; however, that is not really the purpose of this blog. Contrary to some of the commentary about us that has been going around, we did not create this blog to facilitate discussion or convince people that we are correct. We certainly do hope that our blog sparks discussion among others as we are supporters of open discussion, especially about this topic, and, of course, we hope that people do come to agree with us. We did not create the blog for those who might be looking for a debate or to convince others of the correctness of our position. We created it to give a voice to a group of PHCers that have long been silenced. We created it so that other PHCers would not have to feel alone or hopeless like we sometimes did because of our isolation at PHC.
As we are, hopefully, able to openly identify with the blog in the future, we do plan on telling our own stories, and give our own reasons and arguments for why we believe being LGBTQ is completely compatible with being Christian. In the meantime we do have some limited plans to present some basic arguments on the topic, so keep an eye out for those. There is a lot of literature out there, both on the internet and in books, that present many of the different arguments on the issue, and I’m sure if you are interested, a PHC alumni like yourself could find them without much difficulty.
December 15, 2012 at 4:22 pm
This blog is great. I am middle aged, straight and have friends who are LGBTQ. Everything should be questioned and everyone is valuable. The narrow minds of fundamentalism, in any form or any religious context need to be challenged and opened. This is another way to have that effect.
February 13, 2013 at 1:31 pm
“Patrick Henry College maintains a requirement of non-advocacy for enrolled students in regards to LGBTQ issues, but those issues are near and dear to many of us. This blog has been created as a way for us to express our opinions and thoughts on LGBTQ related topics.”
Do those of your contributors who are current students believe that participating in this blog is, before God, entirely respectful of the campus rules, a lawful authority which (you tell us) they are required to obey as a condition of being a student?
Or is the freedom to express one’s thoughts and opinions more important than the requirement to keep one’s promises?
February 14, 2013 at 4:11 am
It obviously comes down to a matter of conscious. We created the blog to give voice to those that have been silenced and hurt by anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies, and to counter the lies and misconceptions that are spread about LGBTQ people. Should we keep silent when ourselves and others are being hurt? Which is the greater moral obligation: to keep silent and obey the rules, or to speak out for ourselves and others who have been and are falsely maligned?
February 14, 2013 at 9:47 am
What would Jesus do?
“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:23)
I suggest you are pursuing vindication in the eyes of the world, when vindication the eyes of God (which you believe you will get) should be enough. Keeping silent _is_ the right thing in some circumstances – after all, Jesus did it.
Despite what Oprah, Jerry and friends would tell us, the “right to speak our mind” is not absolute. Christians do not believe that “the end justifies the means”. If godliness and holiness is what you are pursuing, and it should be, then you should keep your promises – or not make them in the first place. Once people have left PHC and are no longer bound by that promise, then that’s different. (Other issues do come into play, but let’s not derail this discussion.)
February 14, 2013 at 3:01 pm
Speaking up about injustice is not retaliating. Sometimes silence is the right thing, and sometimes speaking out is the right thing. Jesus spoke out a lot more than He kept silent. If this were simply an issue of personal attack, then I might agree with you, but there are literally kids that kill themselves because of the lies and ignorance that is put forth by so many Christians on this issue. To keep silent is to silently endorse/support that evil. What would Jesus do indeed?
February 14, 2013 at 7:53 pm
That appears to be the “think of the children” argument, which is of course irrefutable in contemporary debate. I have no option but to concede the entire argument and retire defeated.
June 22, 2013 at 11:31 pm
I am genuinely puzzled as to why an advocate for the acceptance of homosexuality and the respective legal privileges/rights would choose PHC when there are hundreds of other schools that would embrace your views and support your causes and give you a platform and a community of like minded people. Given the way verdicts, policies, and popular culture’s views are trending, it is the Christians who take the biblical view of homosexuality who will be regularly denounced, sued, and vilified for their views and punished for faith based business practices. Homosexual advocates are winning the present cultural war. Do you see yourself as a kind of missionary actively trying to persuade Christians to discount their faith in the Bible as God’s word on the topic of sexuality? Perhaps you see yourselves as “spies” in the enemy camp? You went in knowing you were lying about the non-advocacy policy. Doesn’t that bother your conscience? I’m not trying to be pugnacious here — I am truly curious, puzzled, and concerned as a mom. My son is considering PHC, and I’m wondering what it’s really what Ferris claims it is.
Thank you.
September 7, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Why would you choose to go to a school that hates you and believes you are disgusting? Can you please make a post about that?