“I Won’t Play There Again…” Josh Ritter Speaks Out About The Policies Of One College On Facebook

We’re massive fans of Josh Ritter in the Her.ie office and, if anything, his latest Facebook post has made us love him even more.

Josh has made no secret of the fact that he is a musician who believes in community and inclusion, regardless of someone’s gender, religion or sexual orientation. In his post Josh makes reference to a college that he was playing at.

“Today I was [in] Grantham, Pennsylvania, at Messiah College, and as I was doing a little digging about the place I learned something that surprised and disappointed me,” wrote the singer.

“Messiah College requires all students to sign a “Community Covenant” promising to, among other things, “avoid such sinful practice as… homosexual behaviour…” This policy, which I see as exclusionary and bigoted, could not run more counter to my personal beliefs. If I had done my homework, and read about Messiah’s policies ahead of time, I would never have agreed to play there,” he continued.

Josh Ritter: a great musician and an all-around legend

Josh said that while he did play at the college in the end, he decided to use the opportunity to speak to the students there and to “encourage them to see openness and change.”

“I spoke honestly about my personal views – that we should all have the right to love – and to marry freely, no matter what our sexual orientation. Everyone was respectful and kind, and it is my hope that they’ll continue to demand a change to the Community Covenant,” he wrote.

“I hope to have made the best of a difficult situation. I’m donating the fee I received from Messiah College together in its entirety to The Trevor Project (thetrevorproject.org), the leading national organisation providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth,” he added.

Josh finished his post by stating that he won’t play the Messiah College again until they “welcome, in word and deed, all members of their faith regardless of sexuality, and I urge my fellow musicians to do the same.”

We have no words except fair play Josh, fair play. The world needs more people like you!

Will you be catching one of Josh’s gigs this summer? He’s hitting Ireland to perform a variety of dates in July. You can catch him in Limerick, Dublin, Galway and Letterkenny. For more information about his Irish tour, visit his website by clicking here.