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DarrenArquero
Darren Arquero

Houston college student joins Soulforce excursion. Plus Unhinged Productions, stories from the streets, and more.
by Josef Molnar

When this year’s Soulforce Equality Ride bus pulls out of the station, it will carry one Houston representative: Darren Arquero.

The Rice University junior is taking a semester off from his double-major studies (Political Science, as well as Women, Gender, and Sexuality) to visit conservative college campuses around the country.

“People expect us to go in and cause a ruckus, but our goal is to go in and educate people in teaching institutions about the gay community,” Arquero said.

His training began in Austin at the beginning of the year, where he learned about the LGBT community and the systems of bigotry that exist; however, his real education begins in March during a two-month adventure in Baltimore.

“We’re basically going to be studying scripture” in order to better debate and discuss issues with the leadership at college campuses, Arquero said.

“I’m not that religious, so I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I was raised Catholic, but I consider myself a ‘grocery store’ Catholic: I pick and choose what I want to take from my religion.”

Soulforce has set up a donation page to help cover the cost of Arquero’s trip (soulforce.org/darren_arquero). He invites donations of all sizes, no matter how small. Even if someone isn’t able to contribute much, he hopes that visitors to his page will take the time to learn about the Equality Ride.

“I don’t feel like a lot of people know about the ride, and I want to let people know about it through what I’m doing,” he said. “It’s important to the gay community that I do this.” —Josef Molnar

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