CEDARVILLE — A gay Christian rights group brings its national bus tour to Cedarville University today to protest the Baptist college's policy that expels students for homosexual behavior.

The nonprofit group, Soulforce, is based in Lynchburg, Va. It protests homophobic doctrine and "spiritual violence — the misuse of religion to sanction the condemnation and rejection of any of God's children," according to its Web site.

The two buses on the "Equality Ride" are stopping at 40 Christian colleges throughout the country. The protesters are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered rights activists, many of whom grew up in evangelical churches and attended some of the same schools they're protesting.

Cedarville University has a longstanding discipline policy against what it considers immoral acts.

Students at Cedarville commit to a community covenant that requires "correction and confrontation" among the members to discipline students in support of their spiritual development, according to the student handbook.

Cedarville defends its faith-based policy, and said it did not invite the bus tour to its campus. "In fact, we asked them not to come," said Cedarville spokesman John Davis. "We encouraged them to spend their energies elsewhere but they made it clear they were coming anyway."

While Soulforce's campus stops elsewhere have often resulted in arrests, Cedarville came to an agreement with Soulforce that allows the group on campus, albeit supervised, to keep it peaceful.

"We decided to use this as an opportunity to reaffirm for our students what the boundaries of sexuality are," Davis said.

The two sides came to a mutual agreement: Soulforce can come to the campus, but Cedarville must be able to present its point of view.

Cedarville has been preparing about 200 students for the visit with workshops, and only students who participated in those are permitted to talk to Soulforce members.

Soulforce said it plans to adhere to the protocol it agreed to.

"We've had great communication with them so far, they've been cooperative and we've had good discussions," said Brandy Daniels, Soulforce spokeswoman.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7404 or sirwin@DaytonDailyNews.com.