The gay-rights advocacy group - which saw 29 of its members peacefully arrested last year at BYU - plans to return to Provo onMarch 21-22 and make an additional stop April 16-17 at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg.

The two stops are part of a beefed-up two-month, two-bus nationwide tour during which 56 Soulforce members will visit 34 colleges they allege discriminate against homosexuals.

Last year's Equality Ride featured 19 stops, one bus and 33 riders.

"If at all possible, I don't want to see [arrests] happen again," said former BYU student Matthew Kulisch, who joined Soulforce during last year's visit and is organizing the Provo stop. "It's not something the BYU and Utah communities understand very well."

Kulisch and roommate Emil Pohlig are two of five students who were disciplined by the LDS Church-owned university for their involvement in last year's protests.

Neither was kicked out, but the two friends have since transferred to the University of Utah and will be a part of this year's U.S. tour, which starts March 1.

"We want to get the word out and get more people involved," Pohlig said.

Soulforce Equality Riders were allowed on BYU's campus last year to speak with students individually, but administrators warned they would be escorted away if they attempted to assemble and use the campus as a public forum.

Several Equality Riders let administrators know they intended to break school policies and subsequently were arrested for civil disobedience.

BYU administrators said Monday they will not allow a repeat performance.

"[Last year] they made it very clear that their intent was to be arrested," said BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins. "In seeing that, we have let them know they will not be welcomed on our campus as a group or individuals."

Equality Riders also were arrested at Liberty University, Regent University, the Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy during last year's tour.

Jenkins said BYU policy prohibits any outside organization from using the private, LDS Church-owned campus as a public forum.

"We have responded to Soulforce as we would to any organization or group that wants to use our campus," Jenkins said. "We don't change our practices to accommodate any particular organization."

Kulisch said Soulforce has some special events planned for the BYU stop. The group already has distributed an e-mail soliciting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender current or former BYU students to air their grievances with the school.

Soulforce plans to create a "list of concerns" about unequal treatment and present it to administrators. They also will submit it as part of an official complaint to be filed with the accreditation office at the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

The group also plans to stage a six-hour march around the edge of the Provo campus with hopes of invoking shades of the biblical story of the walls of Jericho.

"We see a disconnect in [LDS] Church doctrine and how that doctrine is put into practice at BYU," said Kulisch, who during last year's visit declared he was gay. "But, in the end, this isn't really about BYU, it's about equality."

toddh@sltrib.com

Soulforce II Equality Ride

* MARCH 21-22: Brigham Young University in Provo

* APRIL 16-17: BYU-Idaho in Rexburg