Earlier today, we posted a bit on a great discussion our student leaders had at Campus Pride's Queer It Up Youth Leadership Action Institute yesterday at Creating Change, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's annual conference being held this weekend in Balitmore, Md.

The students talked at length on a variety of challenges they were experiencing on their campuses. In part one of the blog post, we explored students' thoughts on program collaboration with campus allies and partners, trans inclusion in student groups and on campus and group cohesion and internal issues.

We'll move on to the students' last two major concerns now: dealing with conservative and religious groups on campus and finding campus resources for fundraising and programming.

Read the rest after the jump...

The Campus Pride crew is in the Charm City this weekend for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Creating Change conference, the largest gathering of LGBT and progressive activists across the country. Baltimore has welcomed us with open arms and we're each excited to be meeting and engaging with so many friends, new and old.

We had a phenomenal day at Campus Pride's day-long pre-conference for LGBT college and university students yesterday, our Queer It Up Youth Leadership Action Institute. MOre than 40 student leaders joined us for a full day of networking, learning, brainstorming and fun.

(Photo right: Students in a small group discuss one of the major challenges facing their campuses.)

As we've done at past Creating Change events, we spent a good chunk of our afternoon discussing the greatest challenges student leaders find themselves facing on their campuses and within their LGBT student organizations. Breaking our students up into five groups, we tackled five major discussion topics that encompass their own set of challenges and opportunities unique to each campus. The students -- representing everything from small, rural schools to large and well-known state schools -- came up with some interesting solutions, tips and tricks.

Here are some of the highlights on three of the topics: program collaboration with campus allies and partners, trans inclusion in student groups and on campus and group cohesion and internal issues. Join us back here later today at the Campus Pride Blog for a longer post on the last two: dealing with conservative and religious groups on campus and finding campus resources for fundraising and programming.

Continue reading after the jump...

HUFFINGTON POST
GAY VOICES
Shane L. Windmeyer, Executive Director, Campus Pride

I commend the LGBT and ally students at both Pepperdine University and University of Notre Dame for not giving up, despite the challenges posed by administrators. Faith empowers us to believe in something greater than ourselves. Your faith is strong and, on behalf of Campus Pride, I thank you for your courage and leadership.

Pepperdine University, University of Notre Dame, and other private, religiously affiliated colleges need to do the right thing. All students deserve support and safety at college. It is time to recognize your LGBT students as part of your faith community.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE ONLINE
GAY VOICES -- HUFFINGTON POST

GSA Day from BARK BARK on Vimeo.

It is, perhaps, somewhat fitting that today's first-ever National Gay-Straight Alliance Day (www.gsaday.org or www.facebook.com/gsaday) should fall in the middle of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)-sponsored No Name Calling Week. For years, LGBT young people have been at the forefront of anti-bullying efforts in their middle schools, high schools and colleges. The work these young people are doing is breathtaking. From working with teachers or administrators to collaborating with their peers, student leaders are helping to shape the future.

There even seems to be a breath of fresh air in some of the most ardently anti-gay organizations. Eagle Scout Bryan Wendell, the senior editor of the official Boy Scouts of America Scouting magazine blogged on Monday about No Name Calling Week. That the Boy Scouts, who still hold virulently anti-gay policies that prohibit openly gay or bisexual youth and young men from membership and leadership roles, would openly discuss and promote an anti-bullying event sponsored by an LGBT organization is a sure sign of progress. Young people -- no doubt influenced by their many peers organizing in high school or college LGBT student organizations -- are making strides to make their communities, organizations and, ultimately, our nation a better place.

Campus Pride's executive director, Shane Windmeyer, hit the issue right on the head in a press release today about National Gay-Straight Alliance Day.

“In many ways, Campus Pride has seen how high school GSA leaders continue activism into college and then on into the workplace and their communities,” Shane said (you can read the full release after the jump). “It is immeasurable the positive impact that our LGBT and ally youth leaders have had over the years. We're excited to finally have a national event to acknowledge these students and campus LGBT and ally groups."

Many of my friends and I serve today as examples of the kind of leadership students can start to learn and develop while in early, secondary and higher education. Like Scouting magazine's Bryan Wendell, I was a Boy Scout -- and a proud one, to boot. The organization taught me lessons and principles that are invaluable. And, like many of the student leaders shepherding change in secondary and higher education-level LGBT student organizations, I, too, was a leader of my high school's and college's gay-straight alliances. Looking back over more than 10 years of my life since, it's hard to imagine that my career in LGBT advocacy really did get a start in as simple of places as a high school gay-straight alliance and the Boy Scouts.

I hope you'll join with Campus Pride, Iowa Pride Network, GSA Network, GLSEN and the many, many others in taking time today to celebrate all of the young student leaders making a difference on their campuses and in their communities. Send out a special thank you and keep them in your thoughts. The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.

Read the full press release about today's National Gay-Straight Alliance Day after the jump...

Shane L. Windmeyer, the Founder and Executive Director of Campus Pride, will now be a national blogger for the Huffington Post Gay Voices. The new section of the site was launched this past year and is dedicated to the diverse voices of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

"Campus Pride believes in the role media plays in shaping the lives of young people. Our mission is to give 'voice' and 'action' to LGBT and ally young adults. My hope is that my blog posts with the Huffington Post will help to do this by highlighting issues impacting our LGBT youth communities," Windmeyer said. "I want our movement to commit to LGBT youth and see the valuable work that Campus Pride does for future leaders."

The Huffington Post was founded by Arianna Huffington in May 2005, and launched a few days later on May 9. The Huffington Post has an active community, with over one million comments made on the site each month.

Being an out transman and a public speaker means that I’m a susceptible target for people who either don’t understand transgender issues or who are fearful, ignorant and immature surrounding things different than them.

I have been fortunate over that years that the transphobia directed at me has not been physically hostile, (verbally is a different story). The newest incident is one that happened while ironically training staff on ways to create a safe and trans-inclusive environment on a college campus. I found out about the incident just after arriving on campus after traveling all morning through airports and by car. The staff person that handled my booking informed me that a poster on campus used to advertise my evening talk had been defaced. My shirtless torso, aligned right of a description of the evening event and directly below my name had been altered, not by a black sharpee or pen, but by items cut out from a magazine and added on top my frame. The transphobic individual first changed some wording on the poster by printing off new lettering and taping over “FTM” to make it “FML.” They then proceeded to find hair and a bra that fit the poster and taped them on me along with two shiny piercings on my lower lip and belly button.

The defaced poster had been found in trash, (obviously someone appalled by it tore it down) and it was taken to the department that was sponsoring my appearance. The college could have not shared this with me, but I’m happy they did because it allowed us to have open conversations and it has allowed me to think more about how to compose and create dialogues that address transphobia. Through conversations with the staff, I knew it was something that shouldn’t be kept secret, it should be talked about and the most powerful person to do it, was the one it was targeted at.

Comer brings knowledge of activism, new media to enhance
Campus Pride’s future growth

Contacts:
Shane Windmeyer, shane@campuspride.org, 704-277-6710, ext. 1
Matt Comer, matt@campuspride.org, 704-277-6710, ext. 6

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Campus Pride, a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization for student leaders and campus groups working to create a safer college environment for LGBT students, is pleased to welcome Matt Comer, a skilled grassroots activist and communications strategist, onto its staff as Campus Pride’s new communications and programs manager. Comer begins work with the organization today.

“I’m looking forward to the new opportunities Campus Pride will provide me to continue serving the LGBT community across the nation,” said Comer. “Campus Pride’s unique mission and vision is essential for ensuring safe learning environments for LGBT students. I’m excited to be a part of an organization that is working to support and build LGBT and ally student leaders – young adults who will and are already becoming some of our community’s and nation’s strongest and brightest future leaders.”

A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Comer has been active as a grassroots activist, outspoken advocate and journalist in North Carolina’s progressive and LGBT communities. He attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, participated in several local and national LGBT grassroots advocacy projects and built a strong local and statewide following as a blogger and civic journalist before taking a position as editor of QNotes, the Charlotte-based LGBT North Carolina newspaper, in October 2007. Last year, he enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he is completing his studies in American history and politics.

As Campus Pride’s new communications and programs manager, Comer will be responsible for overseeing the organization’s communications strategies and outreach and will aid the organization’s continued programs and fundraising development.

“Matt is the right person at the right time for our organization,” said Shane Windmeyer, Campus Pride’s co-founder and executive director. “I don't think we could have found a better fit. He brings a young adult perspective on LGBT issues and significant media expertise to help us continue our growth and success on college campuses. Campus Pride looks forward to having Matt on board in this new position.”

Comer begins work in earnest this week, accompanying Campus Pride to Baltimore, Md., for “The National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change,” the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s 24th annual gathering of thousands of LGBT and straight ally social justice activists and organizers. He will blog from the conference and highlight the stories of young adult leaders from across the nation. You can follow Campus Pride’s blog at the organization’s website, campuspride.org.

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BELIEVE IN -- CAMPUS PRIDE

Campus Pride is the leading national nonprofit organization 501(c)(3) for student leaders and campus organizations working to create safer, more LGBT-friendly colleges and universities. It exists to give "voice and action" in building future LGBT and ally leaders.

LGBT history will never be kept hidden in California now that three public colleges in the state are set to offer students an accredited LGBT Studies Program. City College of San Francisco was actually the first public college in the country to begin offering an LGBT Studies curriculum way back in 1978. The program evolved into a two-year degree program, approved just this year, with over 25 different electives. Students can study almost every aspect of the LGBT community from literature to the biology of HIV/AIDS. There are courses focusing on LGBT people in specific nationalities and ethnicities as well as courses that study specific periods of history. You aren't likely to find a more comprehensive course of study at any other college.

This fall, Napa Valley College, located just one-hour north of San Francisco, developed the first LGBT Studies Certificate Program in a unique partnership with City College. Students from both colleges will be able to transfer to San Diego State University's brand new four-year degree program in LGBT Studies. LGBT Studies Programs have been available at only a couple private colleges and a handful of colleges in California have offered related courses in LGBT Studies.

SIGN THE PETITION:

On November 19, 2011, Florida A&M University student Robert Champion Jr. was found unresponsive aboard a band bus after the school's biggest game of the year. Police ruled the death a homicide from hazing; furthermore, the parents of Mr. Champion, a 26-year-old drum major in the university’s famed marching band, have recently revealed that Mr. Champion was gay. The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the nation’s largest Black LGBT civil rights organization, is urging the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service (CRS) and Civil Rights Division, in addition to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, to launch an immediate investigation into Mr. Champion’s death as a potential anti-gay hate crime. You can help by signing our petition.

The loss of Mr. Champion is an unfortunate reminder of the need for proactive measures that foster inclusive environments for all students, regardless of their perceived or actual sexual orientation or gender identity, and that address the severe issue of hazing at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the country—Florida A&M being one of the nation’s oldest and largest HBCUs.

Who is Mary Emma Woolley?

"Oh! My dear little girl, do you not know, can you not understand, that you do just as much for me as I can possibly do for you? I want to be what you think I am, Jeannette - The fact that I love you makes me wish to be more in the world."

This letter written in April of 1900, by Mary Emma Woolley, who would soon be appointed President of Mount Holyoke College, to her lover Jeannette Marks, who would soon join the college’s English faculty, is indicative not only of the passion between the women, but hints at a certain modesty on Woolley’s part. She was without question – more than most women of her time – very much “in the world.” Indeed, not only was Woolley a prominent scholar and an administrator as well as a renowned public figure, but three decades later, in 1931, Good Housekeeping named her – along with feminist activists Carrie Chapman Catt and Jane Addams – "one of the twelve greatest living women in America." Along with being at the forefront of American education – and specifically in creating new, and groundbreaking opportunities for women – Woolley was also deeply involved in social justice movements in the United States and around the world.