Love, unity and the acceptance of all people, including those of nontraditional sexual preferences -- that was the message Sunday at an interfaith worship service where gay rights advocacy group Soulforce Equality Ride was the special guest.

Nearly 100 members from several local churches, including the Springville Presbyterian Church, Provo United Church of Christ and the Utah Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship greeted Soulforce at the service held at the Community Congregation Church in Provo.

Though of varying faiths and backgrounds, families, couples and individuals at Sunday's service welcomed the 33 homosexual members of Soulforce Equality Ride, ages 17 to 28, who made a brief presentation and answered questions.

Haven Herrin, Soulforce Equality Ride's co-director, said the group's coast-to-coast mission is to visit 19 to 20 private universities, colleges and military academies to create a dialogue with students about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues.

Brigham Young University is one of the group's stops where Soulforce riders plan to discuss elements of the university's Honor Code that they believe discriminate against homosexual students. A rally is scheduled Monday in Provo's Kiwanis Park and Soulforce riders have planned a peaceful march with lilies in hand from the LDS Church's Provo temple to BYU's campus on Tuesday.

Members told the congregation they had been arrested at other private universities and schools for trying to talk to students or for merely stepping foot on campus.

One Soulforce rider recalled being arrested at Regence University where the campus was flanked by police to prevent them from entering. He said it was his highlight of group's national tour thus far.

"They put on handcuffs, and I considered it an accomplishment," he said.

"We've got a campus map of where we can't go," Herrin said, adding that BYU officials have prohibited the group from setting up a table, handing out literature or holding any kind of demonstration.

Soulforce members say they've experienced similar icy receptions at other institutions including Oral Roberts, Regence University and Liberty University, yet they remain undeterred.

"We intend to go on campus tomorrow and have a really engaging dialogue because people are dying," Herrin said. "Students on that campus need to hear this."

Citing the suffering, suicides and broken families of homosexual students who are being oppressed by religious institutions, she hopes Soulforce Equality Ride's message will get people thinking about where their own hearts are on the matter of homosexuality.

Asked if Soulforce riders will be able to enter BYU's student union building, Herrin said it's in the "white area" on the map, "which means we can go there."

Another Soulforce rider from Maryland said she was formerly a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and said she was verbally and physically abused by church members because she's a lesbian.

"Many don't know the oppression in the church," she said.

A public school teacher in the congregation expressed outrage about when a children's book about family diversity was yanked from the shelves of the Spanish Fork public library after two families objected to it.

"Don't we have freedom of speech in this countryfi" she said. "It's a modern-day book burning."

Herrin responded that to correct societal and cultural injustices, you have to go directly to the source.

"We're fighting the notion that homosexuality is sinful," she said. "I think you can fight it piece by piece."

Kristine Alvarez, a lay leader with Utah Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, said all members of society are worthy of freedom, justice and compassion.

"We are all members of the human family," she said. "God created us the way we are and made no mistakes."

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.