It seems like a whirlwind, but I had a very successful speaking engagement at the University of Washington this Tuesday, May 6. On behalf of the Lambda 10 Project (an educational initiative of Campus Pride), I was asked to speak with the Greek community about LGBT issues.

The day started at 6 a.m. with my flight from Charlotte, NC to Portland, Oregon. Not sure why, but it was a long day of traveling. The campus of UW is two hours away from the Portland (PDX) airport. Well, the day really began at 1:30 p.m. PST when I had lunch with two dozen or so men and women from the UW fraternity and sorority community. The luncheon program was very informal; however, I found the students engaging and sincerely interested in the topic. The group shared a list of a dozen key points and, or educational resources on the topic that they felt were important to their Greek community. We covered many online tools at Lambda10.org and also mentioned our annual OUT & GREEK Leadership Conference (www.lambda10.org/outandgreek) which is the only conference of its kind for LGBT and ally fraternity and sorority leaders.

Later that evening, I spoke to over 750 fraternity and sorority members. The crowd was lively and engaged as was the earlier luncheon. I always ask audience members to text message questoins to my phone while I am talking so I can randomly choose some questions toward the end of the program. I received over 30 which was a good response and the questions ranged from "how to deal with a brother coming out to understanding how one can be religious and accepting gays." None of the questions were out of the ordinary. I think the most telling response was the Panhellenic President who came to me after surprised. She commented that she had never seen this large of an audience that was so "into it" -- basically she expected some behavioral issues (I think) or at least some chatting in the back of the room.

On Saturday April 25th, 2009 I got to spend the day at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. The group of students I met with are in the beginning stages of forming a state-wide coalition of college/university LGBTQIA student organizations. I was amazed with the ideas they were coming up with; why there was a need, how the organization how run, and what the coalition would do, etc.

The organizers of the meeting, Crystal Nieves & Nicolette Laume, did an amazing job of contacting all of the student groups from around the state to come on Saturday. Though they did not get the turnout there were expecting – I reminded them it is not quantity, it is the quality of those who are there and want to do the work. I know with time the coalition that they have started with grow into something wonderful.

I pledged Campus Pride’s support for them. So as they grow larger and need advisement we will stand beside them and help them grow. One of the students was a high school student currently and heard what was happening here in CT. So as he is heading off to college in Massachusetts in the fall he wants to create the same thing there. This will be very exciting.

~~~

During our conversations that day someone asked “Why do we call ‘grassroots organizing’ grassroots?” I had to stop and think for a bit, then I came up with this analogy (all you plant people will link this one):

It's been a busy time for Campus Pride! We have just finished another Stop The Hate Train the Trainer program this past weekend and to date have trained nearly 1200 students, faculty and staff over the last eight years on bias and hate crime prevention at colleges and universities.

Stop The Hate (http://www.stophate.org) is an educational initiative of Campus Pride. The training prepares campuses to prevent bias and hate crimes and the curriculum delves into twelve learning modules ranging from victim support to the attraction of hate to offender motivations and typologies. The training was actually hosted at University of Wisconsin Osh Kosh where we had in attendance area UW campuses. Each of the new trainers will serve as active, visible resource advocates and implement a series of six anti-hate crime prevention efforts over the next year.

Become a Stop The Hate trainer for your campus. Learn more about the program online at StopHate.org!

Trips like this remind me why I love doing this work! So this past weekend I had the privilege of attending the Northeast LGBT Conference – Facets of Oppression at SUNY Albany.

As the saying goes you learn something new every day. Now as a queer activist I should know this fact already, so I look at it as a refresher course – here is that refresher course: Harvey Milk attended what was known as New York State College for Teachers in Albany from 1947 to 1951 majoring in mathematics. SUNY Albany has every right to be proud of this fact!

Much congratulations are in order for the planning team of the Northeast LGBT Conference! There team was lead by Courtney D’Allaird & Stav Levy, both are Campus Pride Summer Camp Alum. From the moment I stepped off the plane, on Friday 4/17/09, I was impressed with their level of organization. They had a detailed plan of who was picking me up from the hotel each day to get me to the conference. Having been on the planning side of conferences like this it was nice to be on the side of just show up and present!

Did you know that you can lead a cow up a set of stairs but not down the stairs? Did you know that when a duck quacks you can’t hear it echo and they don’t know why? Hmmmm… The things you learn in college.

Tonight I got to see two Campus Pride alums John Tapert and Emily Yantis from Wright State University. Both of them attended the Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp last July. John shared with me the fun facts about cows and ducks over dinner while Emily took me on a “scenic” tour of downtown Dayton earlier in the day. I always love seeing past Happy Campers and visiting their campus.

Both Emily and John (a fellow Campus Q Team blogger) are amazing student leaders and I was impressed to see the involvement of many other LGBT and ally students on their campus. Plus, their Rainbow Resource Center ROCKS! Emily had invited me as a guest speaker for “Hate Crime Awareness Week” which started today -- Monday, April 20. Wright State University has recently started a bias incident reporting team, which is an excellent way to support victims and prevent future incidents and hate crimes. I spoke about the “Impact of Hate,” specifically how to prevent bias and hate crimes on campus. I shared resources from Stop The Hate (http://www.stophate.org), an educational initiative of Campus Pride. Most importantly, I shared how we must all be advocates to fight hate and not be spectators when hate happens. This means confronting all forms of bias – jokes, harassment, discrimination, etc.

A few years back I spoke at University of Maine. I met an undergraduate student named Kevin Taschereau. He was President of his fraternity Delta Tau Delta and came to my program OUT & GREEK. I was fortunate to meet him and he has been a strong ally at UMaine since.

A couple months ago he contacted me about coming back to UMaine to speak again. He shared how much my program meant to him as an undergraduate and that he though it was important to have an inclusive LGBT message for the Pride Week. Kevin is now the Coordinator for Student Engagement & Service. It meant a lot to have him invite me back now as a staff person on campus.

UMaine has made so many great strides since my visit nearly four years ago. I was again impressed with the LGBT student group Wilde Stein and the new Allies Alliance on campus. Plus, it was great to see their Rainbow Resource Center as a dedicated LGBT space with support and resources for students.

UMaine has a 4 Star Rating on the Campus Pride Campus Climate Index at http://www.campusclimateindex.org/details/premium.aspx?ID=297

I want to say thank you to Kevin for being such a wonderful ally and leading the way for fraternities and sororities on campus. Also, thank you to the student leaders and other staff. Cheers to PRIDE WEEK and have a great DRAG SHOW on Friday!

Rock n' Roll and southern barbeque.

Well, thanks to a flight delay, I didn't have time to enjoy all of that, but I can see that Memphis is a great place to visit when I have more time.

The reason for my trip is for what some would call work. I call it 80% fun, 20% work. I was a guest speaker at Rhodes College tonight on behalf of Campus Pride (http://www.campuspride.org). I had dinner (sushi) with student leaders from campus and then my program "Coming Out as an Ally" on campus. The campus has 1200 students approximately and has been working hard to create positive LGBT efforts on campus. Thank you to my hosts -- Whitney, Rachel, Todd, Mykkel, Joe, Erica & Olivia.

I have been doing college speaking engagements for nearly 12 years since my first book OUT ON FRATERNITY ROW was released in 1998. It seems like only a couple years -- but so much has truly changed on college campuses across the country. I am personally and professionally empowered by the young adults I encounter who are leaders in their campus and local communities. I often say that Campus Pride has little money (so far) but we have tremendous PEOPLE, PRIDE & PASSION. Sometimes that is all it takes to keep going. That is really what a movement is built on -- college students get that.

I am back in Washington, D.C. this week for the ACPA – College Educators International Annual Convention (ACPA). The convention brings together thousands of student affairs professionals who work at colleges and universities across the country in all types of positions (housing, student activities, dean of students, financial aid, greek life, orientation, etc).

What is so wonderful about this convention is the fact that they are and have been LGBT-affirming for a number of years and have worked hard through the LGBT Standing Committee to challenge the membership to do so. Campus Pride is proud to have partners like ACPA (often referred to ask GayCPA due to the large numbers of LGBT membership/attendance). We have worked with ACPA over the last eight years in various ways and hope to continue building bridges.

Campus Pride this year at the convention was chosen to present a session titled “National Trends: The State of Higher Education for LGBT People.” Sue Rankin (the Campus Pride QRIHE Research Director) and myself are doing the presentation on Tuesday, March 31 in the afternoon. The session will focus on the first year of aggregate data from the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index (http://www.campusclimateindex.org) and will also introduce our new longitudinal Campus Pride College Climate Survey (http://www.campuspride.org/research). We’re very excited to share the national trends and areas for improvement in LGBT services at colleges and universities.

Well, the cherry blossoms have not bloomed yet. But I am in Washington, D.C. today and for the weekend. I actually came early today to do some pre-Camp planning for our Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp this July. We are planning some extra special activities for the 60+ college students this year. It is very exciting and if you haven’t already, please check out our Campus Pride Camp at http://www.campuspride.org/camp.asp

I also had the pleasure of scheduling some meetings with our friends at The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. While I was there visiting, I actually got my first tour of the “Queer Compound” (not the official name btw, but catchy nonetheless). This is where the Task Force has a floor of office space and then other national organizations also have offices like our allies at Out for Work, Stonewall Democrats, Black Pride and the National Center for Transgender Equality. All of these organizations under one roof – how queer-rific!

For lunch, I was invited by Becky Dansky, a straight ally who works at The Task Force, to be her guest at the Q Street monthly luncheon. I must say it was a wonderful, really amazing group of movers and shakers in D.C. who happen to be LGBT and ally professionals on Capitol Hill. Big thank you to Becky! And, then, I stopped by to meet with Candace Gingrich and Betsy Pursell who work at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). I have known Candace since she became part of HRC (over a decade now). Betsy is the VP of the Foundation and both her and Candace have been strong advocates for Campus Pride and opening doors for working together more. I enjoyed our meeting and look forward to continuing our partnerships supporting LGBT & ally college students. HRC is one of our stops for lunch at Camp this summer – Thank you HRC!

Campus Pride is spreading the "queer" message.

Today I am at the National College Media Adviser Conference hosted in New York City. There are thousands of college journalists from newspapers across the United States. I used to write for my college newspaper and yearbook, so this brings back memories -- lots of coffee and straight news (LOL). I can't believe that I even met five students from my alma mater Emporia State University. I think they were as shocked as I was.

Today is "table talking" -- basically sitting at the official Campus Pride headquarters, passing out literature and answering questions. Our table is right next to the Associated Press -- good positioning! Tommorrow, I present my session titled "Report It: Your Campus Gay-Friendly?" Wish me luck!

This is the first year Campus Pride has attended CMA! We are excited to be here and a real big special thanks to Robin Spielberger for all her support!

I love NYC!