 "Photo: Sarah Hardy")
 "Photo: Allyson Riggs")
 "Photo: Allyson Riggs")
In a frenzy of buttons, handmade signs, and typed fliers, students hastily distributed material less than two hours after the arrival of Matt Bourgault and his controversial message.
The Quad, normally a place for music and bake sales, became the epicenter for Bourgault and his words this past Monday and Tuesday. Ashton Powers came to tears after repeatedly hearing that she must repent or risk eternal damnation. “You are here using God as an excuse to hate,” Powers, a freshman music major, told the preacher.
Bourgault, better known as Brother Matt, held a large sign that read, “God Abhors Homosexuality. Repent or Perish Sodomites” on the front, and “God is angry with the wicked everyday,” on the back.
Bourgault, A full-time, self-proclaimed “campus avenger,” has spent the last 10 years spreading his message from one college campus to the next. He tells students to accept his lord, or be lost eternally to Hell. “I’m trying to pull others out and bring them to the cross of Christ,” he told The Lumberjack. “Leave sin and live a life under God.”
Nearly 50 students quickly rallied against Bourgault as he preached from a rock, his King James Bible in hand on Monday. For hours, Bourgault read various scriptures from his Bible as proof of his beliefs. Some of his messages: Masturbation is evil. Students are fornicators. Gays are going to Hell. The anus is only meant as an exit. Women have a duty to submit to their husbands.
“I think he is afraid of homosexuality and I think he is afraid of women having rights,” Powers said. “He needs to get his stupid ass off my campus. I think it’s appalling that someone should be allowed on campus to spread such hate and oppression.”
During the same week as Dialogue on Race and the Qross Qultural Queer Fest, Bourgault’s message received backlash from students. Some same-gendered student pairs began kissing in front of him earning cheers from the crowd. Others just yelled. Some questioned the police why Bourgault wasn’t removed from the campus.
Officers from the University Police Department stood by to make sure the area remained safe. “This is your First Amendment freedom, to express your ideas,” said University Police Chief Thomas Dewey. “He isn’t in violation of anything now.”
The police did have to step in when a student tried to take Bourgault’s sign on Monday. Another student spat in his face, and another grabbed Bourgault from behind to try and pull him off the rock until police intervened. “The verbal exchanges, as long as they don’t directly threaten, aren’t crimes,” said Dewey. The only time that a verbal exchange would be considered threatening is if someone were to challenge Bourgault to a fight.
Clark Kelly, a senior majoring in art and business, tried to talk to Bourgault about the rationale behind his logic, but it went no where. “I asked him if everyone was a creation of God, then God made gay people the way they were. He shut up after that.”
Before traveling as a preacher, Bourgault graduated college with a degree in environmental science and served in the U.S. Military. Bourgault said he was “born again” into the Pentecostal church in 1997 at Unity College in Maine when he had a “divine visit from God.” He told the crowd he was inspired to spread his message because he was once a “pervert” and a drunkard who lived in a whorehouse; a fornicator turned good.
Most recently, Bourgault visited Chico State University, and his next stop is Berkeley. Bourgault said he preferred the Chico crowd because they desired a dialogue with him and came with thoughtful questions. He said student behavior at HSU was likely a cause of, “Smoking too much dope, or meth.”
During his time on campus, students walked by and yelled remarks, while others approached him to start conversations. Some even brought flowers and hugs. Freshman Sabre Ethridge, an environmental resource engineering major, responded to the preacher by asking for a hug. “As much as you hate me for being a sinner,” he told Bourgault, “I still love you as a human being.”
Away from the commotion, Ethridge said he could accept different beliefs from his own. He did, however, draw the line at hate.
“I’d like to reconcile with the guy,” he said. “A lot of hateful things have been passed. I’m afraid that the world is going to turn out like this; hating everyone for who they are.”
Yura Simonar, a freshman majoring in cultural and anthropology studies, believes there isn’t anything wrong with Bourgault presenting his opinions, but said he doesn’t have any justification for calling people sinners. “It is part of a box of hate, with people wanting to hate.”
The university quad is no stranger to being used as a place to voice opinions. But with people like Bourgault, Dewey said that typically they are non-locals who stop by to spread religious perspectives. “I’d be surprised if he is here next week,” Dewey said.
Bourgault stood on the quad again on Tuesday afternoon with an even larger sign. Though there were some familiar faces from the day before, the crowd doubled with onlookers.
Students were prepared with their impromptu signs turning the quad into picket sign city in opposition of Bourgault. “This guy is a fucking idiot” read one sign, and, “This is what hate looks like” read another. Students passed out pins with pink hearts and messages that said “God loves not only Adam and Eve, but Adam and Steve.”
Senior Kim Kumada, a women’s studies major, said she was first excited to see the rainbow flags that students were holding up. But when she reached the quad and saw the sign that Bourgault was holding, she was shocked.
“It is a cool way to exercise freedom of speech,” she said, adding that she felt he was wrong. “I hope that people see that the Queer Fest is spreading love, while he is spreading hate.”
As the clock tower neared four, the crowd slowly dispersed. For the second day in a row, Bourgault rolled up his sign beneath his arm and closed his King James Bible.
He sat down for the first time in hours, and a few lingering students eagerly approached hoping to get a word in. He left in a hurry after urging a few to accept Christ as their savior, and only a handful of students followed him down the stairs away from the quad.
Kelly called Bourgault’s message a beautiful experiment with the First Amendment, but added that he was hurting his own cause. “We are responding,” she said. “We are strengthening our views against people like him.”
16 comments
As for whether or not God hates mylifestyle--I was born this way. Does that imply that God made a mistake? And again, please don't say that I can choose to be anything other than what I am. That does not work. Period.
why does everyone have to tap the fish tank
if nobody paid any attention to him he would've left in like 10 minutes
(and sorry in advance if I don't recall the exact chapter or verse--it's been a while)
1. He really doesn't have the right to judge (judge NOT lest ye be judged)
2. Just on observation, he was wearing two types of fabric, which isn't really OK.
3. He was also wearing glasses. Isn't there some kind of issue with that? He can't approach the altar of God with a defect in his sight. Oh nuts. I've got that problem too. Oh well...
4. He was also cussing something fierce. Kept using that H-word especially in front of ladies!!! How crude!
5. He had short hair AND was clean-shaven! The nerve! That Heathen! Oh wait. That was insulting to perfectly respectable heathens everywhere. Sorry.. If Mr. Bourgault is really interested in saving souls, maybe he should do a little soul-searching on his own, especially considering that the faith he follows has been used to endorse everything from child abuse to the objectification of women, slavery to outright genocide.