Brooke C.
(she/her)
Cedarville University
Brooke C. is a pseudonym for a student at Cedarville University. She is “using a pseudonym as I fear for my safety and expect retaliation from my school, including disciplinary action and expulsion, if my true identity were known.” She identifies as demisexual.
She does not feel safe at all being out on campus and is only out to a few trusted friends. This is because Cedarville has a strict adherence to its student handbook, which details many anti-LGBTQ+ policies and positions. Brooke has seen gay students disissed after coming out, and she worries about her own dismissal if someone were to learn that she is a part of the LGBTQ+ community and in a longtime romantic relationship with someone who is non-binary.
“I am taking the risk of sharing my experience in order to protect and honor all of the queer kids that have come before us and who will follow after us,” she said. “We are deserving of safety and freedom and our liberation is worth fighting tooth and nail for.”
Brooke is raising her voice to protect all LGBTQ+ students at Cedarville University and religiously affiliated colleges across the country.
About US
At many religious schools, colleges, and universities, LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized students suffer discrimination, abuse, isolation, and hardship. If this describes you, you are not alone. We are in this together.
REAP fights for the safety, bodily autonomy, justice, and human rights of LGBTQIA+ and other communities marginalized at many predominantly white, taxpayer-funded religious schools and colleges. Using campus organizing, storytelling through podcasting, documentary film, and speaking and preaching on campuses throughout the country, REAP empowers students, faculty, staff and alumni at these institutions to advocate for human rights, while shining a light on the dangers and abuses of a major educational pipeline of white Christian Supremacy.
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