Question: Why are you anonymous?
Answer: While some of our writers are able to live openly as queer, many of us are not. Each of us has different reasons for remaining anonymous at this time. Some of us are in the process of coming out to our friends and family and will soon be out. Some would lose friendships and family relationships. Some would lose their job and/or be expelled. Every person in the closet has their own set of reasons for being so. We do not yet live in a world where we can all be open about who we are without facing serious repercussions, especially for those of us from very conservative backgrounds and with ties to Patrick Henry College.
Question: How do we know that you are who you say you are, and not someone pretending to be from PHC, or a member of the PHC Admin trying to lure LGBTQ students into identifying themselves?
Answer: This is a question we used to get a lot, but now that some of our writers are actually out, hopefully this issue won’t come up as much. In the past, one of our contributors met with David Weintraub from Equality Loudoun, so that he could vouch for our legitimacy as students who attended Patrick Henry. For those worried that this is a scheme of the PHC administration, Sydney Roe is both a graduate of Patrick Henry and is writing on this blog under her own name, and she is happy to vouch for the rest of us.
Question: Is QueerPHC affiliated with or endorsed by Patrick Henry College?
Answer: We are not affiliated with Patrick Henry College, and Patrick Henry College does not endorse QueerPHC. We exist to encourage other LGBTQ+ students and to critique the ideas and message of the college on LGBTQ+ related topics, both in accordance with our faith beliefs and as culturally engaged members of society exercising our First Amendment rights, as we were so often encouraged to do by our professors.
Question: Is it safe to access this blog from the PHC campus?
Answer: At one point, the PHC administration had blocked our site from the school’s servers, but due to external and internal pressure, the site was unblocked some time ago. Currently it remains unblocked and it is unlikely that students reading the blog would encounter any issues with the administration. However, if you are a student and are not comfortable accessing our blog from PHC’s network, we recommend that you either view the blog while off campus or else use a smartphone with a data connection.
Question: I want to submit a post, but I’m not ready to come out yet. How can I keep my identity private?
Answer: We respect your decisions regarding your coming out timeline, and will not divulge your identity without express permission from you. If you email us with a post submission, and request anonymity, we will honor that. If you have another reason for remaining anonymous, let us know, and we’ll try to work something out. If, for ethical reasons or for some other reason, we feel that we cannot publish a particular post anonymously, we will simply not publish the post at all. Your privacy is of paramount importance to us.
Question: I want to contact you to ask a question or submit a post, but I don’t want you to know who I am. How do I do that?
Answer: We recommend creating or using an email address that does not identify you in any way, and emailing us from that address. Again, we respect your privacy, and will not attempt to coerce or manipulate you into divulging your identity to us. We will never expose the identity of a commenter, contributor, questioner, or someone just saying hi, without first obtaining their express permission. QPHC should be a safe space for our readers.
Question: Are comments open to anyone?
Answer: Yes. We do not require those who comment to submit a name or email address. We want anyone to feel comfortable letting us know what they think.
Question: Can I submit a guest post or ask that you address a specific issue?
Answer: You certainly can. We welcome both guest posts and requests for us to cover specific issues. You can remain completely anonymous, use a pseudonym, or use your real name in submitting a guest post.
Question: What kind of posts are you looking for?
Answer: We’re looking for queer-positive posts that would be relevant to LGBTQ students and alumni at PHC. Commentary on LGBTQ news, encouragement for closeted students, analysis of queer theory or theology, or personal stories of your interactions with PHC staff and students are all potentially great post material. We also welcome posts from those outside of the LGBTQ and/or PHC communities. If you’re unsure whether your post would fit on QPHC, just ask us.
If you have a good question that we did not address in this FAQ page, email it to queerphc[at]gmail[dot]com, and we will add it.
queerphc 
August 6, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Thank you for posting this.
November 30, 2012 at 3:43 am
I also recommend CLEARING CACHE before returning to campus. If it’s not a good idea to post from the site at PHC, it’s also not a good idea to accidentally log into the site from PHC — or to access it at all at PHC.
To make sure nothing accidental happens, try using the “INCOGNITO MODE” on Chrome. This will leave no footprints for the duration of your blogging and surfing.
December 12, 2012 at 5:07 pm
Just an FYI that “programs” like Covenant Eyes still keep a record of every site even in “incognito/private” mode 🙂
April 9, 2013 at 2:38 am
In The Loudon County Times article Alan Scott says, “I look forward to when it is possible to have mature, open, honest and loving conversation about LGBTQ issues at PHC without students or alumni experiencing fear of reprisal, rejection, or shaming.” I hope that can happen too. But it all depends on what is meant by “rejection” and what is included in “shaming.” It is hardly a loving thing or Christ-like to reject people because they are perceive as wrong or sinful or make anyone feel ashamed. But I am confused. If students do not agree with you that LGBTQ orientations are in-born, unchangeable, or morally neutral, even if they express this in the most calm and loving way, will you feel rejected or ashamed? If so, then by definition such conversation is impossible: it seems you can’t approach disagreements unless everyone agrees with you first. So could you clarify what you mean by that?
Such a conversation is not going to happen on this blog, either, since you write you are going only to publish “queer-positive” material.
I am writing from a PHC faculty computer, BTW, so perhaps some of the speculations about your blog being blocked at PHC is unfounded.
April 10, 2013 at 10:40 pm
By “rejection” I meant social rejection such as shunning and friends turning their backs and breaking off the former friendship. By “shaming” I meant others, whether it be students, alumni, faculty, or admin, intentionally trying to cause shame, guilt, embarrassment, unworthiness, disgrace, or condemnation. It gladdens my heart to hear you say, “It is hardly a loving thing or Christ-like to reject people because they are perceive as wrong or sinful or make anyone feel ashamed.” But that is the exactly the fear that I was referring to. Such rejection and shaming are far too common as responses from conservative Christians. I know there are many at PHC who would never react in such ways, but I know others that most certainly would. And though it is changing, historical precedent confirms that fear.
No, simple disagreement expressed “in the most calm and loving way” would not make us feel rejected or ashamed.However, such responses are rare. When people, especially conservative Christians, disagree with us about our orientations being in-born and unchangeable it almost always, at least in my experience, comes across as an attack and a condemnation because it carries the underlying, though often expressly stated, assumption that this was a choice in some way and that we can change to become straight. That we can “be fixed.” The assumption comes across as that they know better than we do what is in our hearts, that we are broken or in rebellion, and just need to be fixed or set straight. This so very often happens because people just listen to talking points and try to formulate the proper response to bring what they think is correction and accountability, but do not actually take the time to understand what we are saying and why we are saying it. I do not need to be told what the Bible or tradition says about this. I already know what they say and have almost certainly done a lot more studying about those things than the person who brings them up. I do not need someone to preach at me, I need them to listen to me. To take James’ advice and be “quick to listen and slow to speak.”
True. We have never intended for such a conversation to happen here on the blog. These are the kinds of discussion and conversations that need to happen in person. We started the blog with the hope of encouraging others who might be in similar positions to ourselves and to possibly spark discussion in the PHC community about LGBTQ issue.
The blog was unblocked some time ago if I remember correctly, not long after the controversy with Mr. Farris and the news attention we received.
October 28, 2013 at 12:29 am
I have never believed that same gender orientation/desire is morally wrong (in and of itself) In fact, I think it probably IS inborn. – of course, ALL of us are born with various propensities which predispose us to behave contrary to God’s requirements. New genetic predispositions are being postulated all the time whether the disposition is same gender orientation, overeating, violence, addictive personalities, promiscuity, etc. None of these new postulated genetic predispositions are news to me because the doctrine of Original Sin has long been an orthodox Christian tenet I’ve held. We are all bent on disobeying God in many and various ways. Sounds like the scientists are finally catching up…
But I think that same sex behavior IS morally wrong just as opposite sex behavior is morally wrong when pursued and done outside of God’s boundaries. I would welcome the fellowship of anyone struggling to do things Gods way when that struggle requires the denial of oneself- people engaged in this fight are cool and worthy of great respect. A sexually tempted unmarried person, a married person tempted by someone other than their spouse, a recovering alcoholic, workaholic, rage-aholic, porn addict, gossip or someone tempted to indulge in same gender sexual behavior are all examples of people required to take up their cross- whatever their particular cross is and deny that part of themselves EVEN IF they were “born that way”. In summary, I’ve got no problem with a gay or lesbian orientation/attraction/desire- I do have a problem with gay or lesbian sexual behavior.
Would this position as I’ve articulated it be considered a LGBT positive position? Or must I acquiesce to same gender sexual behavior as morally OK in God’s sight in order to be viewed as positive and welcoming to homosexuals?